My friend has been dealing with an ailment that I can only imagine how difficult it is. Her disorder adversely affects her life minute by minute. I told her I would pray for her, and I have. Daily and fervently.
No doctor of any kind could pinpoint her problem. Physicians would have her try various regimens, but nothing worked. Or they misdiagnosed the problem, and her health got worse. I prayed harder. My hope that God would heal her remained high, but I worried her faith would wane.
Then she was diagnosed with a condition that was promising, and she had a good couple of weeks. I was praising God.
In her next email, she said she’d contracted an ailment that exacerbated her illness and took three miserable weeks to heal from. I had to tamp down over and over my “Why God?” thoughts. I asked God whether He was worried, as I was, that she’d give up Him. My husband and I prayed for her healing.
The next day she sent me a quick email that she was in the hospital with an attack from a third illness! I was shocked. And disappointed. I didn’t know what was going on. I told God I knew He loved her, and I knew He was working in her, but was she able to hold on to this? I asked God to bind Satan.
In a Bible study, we sang Horatio Spafford’s “It Is Well With My Soul.” My friend popped into my mind in the way that God often speaks to me. “When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.”
I sent my friend Spafford’s hymn and the story of his losing an investment, his son to Scarlet fever, and his four daughters in a sinking ship.
In her next email, she said that in the end the hospital stay was a good thing. She found the right doctor who was ordering tests that should have been done long ago. They’d already ruled out scary diseases. She told me she felt blessed and was ready to handle whatever ailment she had to deal with.
What an example for me!
I was so humbled. God knows what He’s doing with people’s faith through their trials. He knows their strengths. He’s taught me much about trusting others’ faith and God’s work in them. I don’t know if the tests and the right doctor will be able to treat my friend’s ailment successfully, but I’m simply called to pray and care. I know she’s in God’s hands and is willing to trust the Lord.
When have you recognized blessings among your trials?
Sometimes when you pray hard for someone else, God is working a lesson in you. Click to Tweet.
Zoe M. McCarthy believes that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Her first novel is Calculated Risk. She has two more contemporary romances and a nonfiction book to help writers ready their manuscripts coming out soon. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John.
Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com
Calculated Risk
What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…
Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.
Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.
Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books
 |
| Zoe M. McCarthy |
No doctor of any kind could pinpoint her problem. Physicians would have her try various regimens, but nothing worked. Or they misdiagnosed the problem, and her health got worse. I prayed harder. My hope that God would heal her remained high, but I worried her faith would wane.
Then she was diagnosed with a condition that was promising, and she had a good couple of weeks. I was praising God.
In her next email, she said she’d contracted an ailment that exacerbated her illness and took three miserable weeks to heal from. I had to tamp down over and over my “Why God?” thoughts. I asked God whether He was worried, as I was, that she’d give up Him. My husband and I prayed for her healing.
The next day she sent me a quick email that she was in the hospital with an attack from a third illness! I was shocked. And disappointed. I didn’t know what was going on. I told God I knew He loved her, and I knew He was working in her, but was she able to hold on to this? I asked God to bind Satan.
In a Bible study, we sang Horatio Spafford’s “It Is Well With My Soul.” My friend popped into my mind in the way that God often speaks to me. “When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.”
I sent my friend Spafford’s hymn and the story of his losing an investment, his son to Scarlet fever, and his four daughters in a sinking ship.
In her next email, she said that in the end the hospital stay was a good thing. She found the right doctor who was ordering tests that should have been done long ago. They’d already ruled out scary diseases. She told me she felt blessed and was ready to handle whatever ailment she had to deal with.
What an example for me!
I was so humbled. God knows what He’s doing with people’s faith through their trials. He knows their strengths. He’s taught me much about trusting others’ faith and God’s work in them. I don’t know if the tests and the right doctor will be able to treat my friend’s ailment successfully, but I’m simply called to pray and care. I know she’s in God’s hands and is willing to trust the Lord.
When have you recognized blessings among your trials?
Sometimes when you pray hard for someone else, God is working a lesson in you. Click to Tweet.
 |
| About the Author |
Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com
Calculated Risk
What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…
 |
| Calculated Risk by Zoe M. McCarthy |
Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.
Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.
Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books
