Dear Me,
It's a regular Wednesday. Wednesday, September 23, 2015. And I am writing this letter for you to read in about a month, when you're laying on your bed recovering from your thyroidectomy, possibly a little discouraged, in some pain, feeling like you'll never get better, and wondering what life looks like after recovery. And then for you to read a few weeks later as you're getting better but also preparing for the iodine treatment. And then for you to read months later as you're on the other side. And then to read years and years later to simply look back and just give thanks and glory to Jesus for all the mountains He moved and for His Great Healing.
I'm writing to remind you of God's Great Love for you. I'm writing to remind you how you walked into your doctor's office on September 3 convinced you didn't have cancer, and how you left knowing you did - with an unexplainable peace. And how Jesus carried you every minute in that office. And how when the doctor leaned you back in that chair for the Fine Needle Biopsy and told you to look up to the ceiling and "go to your happy place," the only thought running through your mind was "He's a Good, Good Father." My anthem lately, the song of my heart.
YOU'RE A GOOD, GOOD FATHER
IT'S WHO YOU ARE, IT'S WHO YOU ARE
IT'S WHO YOU ARE AND I'M LOVED BY YOU
IT'S WHO I AM, IT'S WHO I AM
I'm also writing to remind you that this season won't last forever. The resting and the recovery are just part of your story. Hosea 6:1 says, “Come, let us return to the LORD; for He has torn us, that He may heal us; He has struck us down, and He will bind us up."
I'm here to remind you what has become your favorite part of life and favorite thing in the whole world recently: simply the presence of Jesus. He's with you right now and He was with you in that Operating Room. He's what you're living for and He's who you're living for. His presence is the Great Peace that has overtaken your life lately, drowning out the small fears and anxieties of these past few years. You've felt His Presence more this past year than ever before. He's been the Lifter of the Heaviness and He will lift the heaviness in your spirit as you move forward in recovery. He lifted the heaviness on July 20 at Sharptop Cove, Georgia, when your Young Life girls shared of divorce, deaths, sadness, abuse, depression and more sorrows than your soul thought it could ever bear in one setting. Not only did He lift the heaviness in that room, He lifted their heaviness - individually - by calling 16 of them to give their lives to Him just days later.
That was just over two months ago. His presence has only grown deeper, richer, wider, and more life-giving ever since.
"I Will Exalt" by Bethel Music has these lyrics that have been my prayer:
Your presence is
All I need
All I want
All I see
And without it there's no meaning
I have a lot more to say. But I will write another day.
HE is good, Mary Grace.
Love,
Mary Grace