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God is in all and through all. He is not just in charge of everything and everyone. He actually owns it.
Even though I can say that and write that, I am challenged to live it. There is one final place I would like to have a deciding vote.
My body. It bothers me when it does not work like I want it to. I am deeply disturbed when I cannot find anyone to fix it.
I know God can fix it in a millisecond. I ask Him to get right on it. I get other people to join my petition. They beg Him on my behalf too.
But sometimes, He just does not do what I am sure is the best fix. God has a mind of His Own.
And there is one more key Truth. My Body is not mine. It is His.
Paul said,
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of The Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own!
1 Corinthians 6:19
God created the bodies we believe are ours for His Purpose. He constantly remodels them for His Purposes.
What is The Purpose of our body?
To continue the work God began in Jesus. God created everyone with Himself inside them, but it seemed no one really understood that until God revealed Himself through Jesus.
He showed us The Truth Jesus spoke.
“On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.”
John 14:20
Jesus said, “This is My Body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
He did not give us the broken, mangled body on the cross. He gave us the body in which He now lives with us.
The purpose of this body is to give us the privilege of getting to go with Him as He continues His Ministry here on earth.
When He says, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” He wants us to remember how He lived life when He was in the body as Jesus. He wants us to remember He is still living that Life through us now.
Jesus’ Mission of which we in our bodies are a part is simple. He included it in what we call The Lord’s Prayer.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10
There are 21 times recorded Jesus said, “Follow Me.”
This past week, God has brought into acute focus His Truth that He is not going with me. I am going with Him.
We went places I did not want to go.
He allowed His Body to be used in different ways, some of which were not pleasant at all.
But there was Joy along with pain. Hope among despair.
I saw Him work up close and personal with people in places I would never have been except for Him.
He did not sugar coat anything. He said in this world, there would be trouble.
So He said to take heart because He had overcome the world.
He reminded me that to accomplish His Mission, sometimes His Body will need to be remodeled.
Intruders will need to be removed. Cleansing will need to happen. But He already has new things ready to spring forth.
He told me that living in this body with Him will sometimes seem like labor pains. But He assures me He will be my constant labor coach.
Along the way He gives me previews of what is to come after the work is complete.
There is Love, Joy and Peace. There is Light.
So after a week that both terrified and exhilarated me, He told me there was more remodeling needed.
The left eye that was filled with infection from a hole in the cornea needed to be removed immediately. We had only a few hours to decide whether to agree.
Because this is His Body, I also recognized my part in protecting the other parts that were in danger if the infection spread beyond the eye.
After much prayer, we knew what we needed to do. The very human side of me fought anxiety, doubts and fears.
The human side of me lay in bed for a sleepless night and went through an unending lists of “what ifs.”
The human side of me tried to control every aspect of preparing for the surgery.
But in the end of one chapter of my life, there was peace.
I did not lose anything. You cannot lose what was not yours to begin with.
I did not surrender to satan and let him win a battle.
God simply chose to change my plans to His Plans, which He is only revealing to me one puzzle piece at a time.
I prayed for everyone I came in contact with. Some I had the honor of sharing prayers. I prayed for them. They prayed for me.
I went to surgery singing to the OR staff as I went. (And it was not because of drugs. It was The Gift of Joy God was giving me and those around me.).
Even with a dry throat from anesthesia, God let me sing to the recovery room staff. It was His Joy coming through me.
And somewhere inbetween pre op and recovery, God took me to a sacred place and removed the diseased eye.
He carefully guarded the rest of His Body from infection and has set me on a new path.
I have no idea where we are going next, but He is reminding me of all the wonders I have seen in the past week. Yes, I am seeing His World in a different way.
I hope to be able to share the view of the good things of this past week’s adventure soon.
But for now, He and I are at a rest stop.
He just said,
See! I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19
