God delights to increase the faith of his children. We ought, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God’s hands as a means. Trials, obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith.
George Miller

The last several days have been very trying. My faith has been stretched in so many ways. The irony of starting a blog to encourage others and then having so many challenging things happen in my own life is not lost on me. And I don’t think it is ironic. It is God. He apparently has decided to serve up a feast for me.

My MRI came back on Friday with a result of “very large disc protrusion”. Well, that explains why I’ve been in so much pain for so long. Anyway, that has led to challenging decisions regarding what kind of treatment to pursue, etc.

In the midst of all of this, I have sought to be cheerful. To be sure there have been some very low moments due to the discouragement of ongoing physical pain which in turn becomes emotionally and mentally draining, but I have tried to remain positive and trust that God has something going on in the midst of all this. There are just too many different things going on and coming together over the past few months for any of this to be anything other than God at work in increasing my faith.

Well, that’s it for now. Perhaps I will share more in the future about all that has been going on, but not tonight. I need to get some rest. I hope you will be looking for ways that God is increasing your faith and also look for opportunities to be an instrument of grace to others who are being stretched in their faith.