Being “all right” is not the same as being of sound mind and good mental health.  It’s sometimes just an answer for people, but it’s sometimes true.  Compared to the “normal” of a sick person, being “all right” is a good day.  And sometimes the things sick people do to make themselves feel “all right” are not the things God would have them do.  This is what the Spirit had been leading me to find out as I stayed at the Eagle’s Nest; this is what He wanted me to know when He sent me to Thessalonica.  “I know you are in pain and confusion.  Here is your cure.”  Stand resolute.  Stay in the Word.  Lean not on my own understanding but on God.  I just needed to follow these guidelines in order to keep from falling into other difficulty, other sorrow, other illness.

After studying those books over and over again, sitting and contemplating what they mean, I have decided they mean a little of both.  First of all, they are a call to be resolute in following Christ, to follow the teachings in those two books.  For if one follows that teaching, although the path to restoration is still difficult, the chance of further problems from bad choices, those things one does to “feel better,” are eliminated.

In those dark moments of time at the Eagle’s Nest all my mind could fathom was restoration, the promise Christ gave me.  But in reality, He was telling me to stand firm in the truths I knew, for those truths would lead to the restoration I was needing.  That resolution to follow Him, even when I didn’t understand how He could “let” all these events happen, was the message.  The resolution would ultimately lead to a restoration.

I encourage you.  Stay resolute in talking with God (I’m not sure yelling and saying all sorts of horrible things to Him counts, but…).  Stay resolute in attending church; even when we aren’t feeling very “Christian,” go anyway; it eventually draws our hearts into peace.  Stay resolute in following Biblical guidelines; they’re for our health, not God’s.

“And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore encourage one another with these words.”  1 Thessalonians 4:17b-18

Our Sunday School lesson this past week was about Joseph, the son of Jacob, the favorite son out of the 12, the son who got the beautifully ornamented robe.  The son hated by his brothers.  How could one ever imagine being sold to the Egyptians as a young man, just a boy, would work for the glory of God and the betterment of men?  But it did just that.

Over the years I have seen people dealt such harsh blows that I didn’t know how they could stand.  But they did and do.  Not only stand but firmly still trust that God is in control.  A young man who lost his wife and girls in a car accident.  A mother and father who forgives the drunken driver who caused the death of their daughter.  The list goes on and on.

I will never understand the “whys” of this life nor am I strong in my faith as these other people.  There are truths I know for a certainty because God in his wisdom and loving kindness has shown them to me.  Why He would do such a wondrous thing is beyond me.  I cannot imagine, as in the case of Joseph, how any good comes from tragedy, but, again, I know it does.  Who would ever have thought the accident that Joni had as a young woman would bring her fame, enabling her to help so many, as well as glorify God?  How does the young Nick come to terms with a life void of arms and legs?

It is through the movement of a Spirit; a Spirit that is God.  The Spirit that moves those who love God, that sustains them through life, that even creates something majestic out of nothing, from what seems dead and useless.

Our Father God, our Savior God, our Spirit God:  the Trinity.