Prayer Request - an update


Thank you for your prayers for my Pastor. He has recovered far quicker than expected

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty the King of creation....

I wanted to update all of you on my pastor's condition and thank all of you for your prayers. What the doctors thought would take two to six months, at minimum, has almost completely cleared up in a little over two weeks. It is truly an amazing work of God's providence and an answer to prayer. Let me recap what has happened...

As I mentioned in the original post, Pastor Russ woke up on a Thursday to find that half of his face was paralyzed due to Bells Palsy. This was the Thursday before the Sunday he was to preach on how we all have our own crosses to bear. Russ preached that Sunday, and it was not only a great sermon, it was magnified in meaning due to his condition.

The next week, Cliff - a friend of the congregation who preaches for us from time to time and is, hands down, the best preacher I have ever heard - offered to preach for Russ for two Sundays. This gave Russ some time to rest up and study, and it took the burden of preaching off of Russ. Russ could still speak fine, but preaching requires a lot of reading and speaking, and he was finding it hard because of the reading. So Cliff preached at our church for the last two weeks, and did an absolutely wonderful job. This last week I have seen Russ a few times, and his Bells Palsy is almost completely gone. This means that by this Sunday when Russ returns to the pulpit, he will hopefully feel almost no effect from the Bells Palsy.

This is truly an amazing illustration of God's providential care for us. Anyone who asks in this case, "Where was God?" can find the response: First, he used Russ' condition to more powerfully effect the lives of His people in our church. Then, He provided an excellent preacher to stand in for two weeks and take care of the preaching duties while Russ regained his strength. And within those two weeks, God healed Russ to the point where he is able to preach tomorrow. Personally, I think it requires more faith to look at this and see coincidence than it does to simply praise God for His providence.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for Russ, and who trackbacked the original post. I pray that God used this experience to strengthen your faith as well. And I ask that you join me in thanking God for His providence.

Posted: Sat - January 29, 2005 at 03:24 PM | | | | | | |

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