Nothing but the Blood of Jesus

*Update on the update: Please continue to pray for Laura. Today was not good. 1 step forward, 2 steps back. Pray she will be calm and not have to be sedated!*

Wonderful update on Laura, from her mama (Sunday): [but please continue praying for all of them!!]

At 10:00 this morning, the nurse taking care of Laura called me saying, "I've got good news." She said, "I think you're going to like what I have to tell you." She said that on her way in to work this morning she had prayed all the way for Laura and that when she got there Laura had taken a shower, gotten dressed, put on her make-up, and fixed her hair. She said that Laura had told her that she wanted strawberries, bananas, grapefruit, wheat triscuit and a marble cake with whipped chocolate icing like she had on her birthday. I said, "You've got to be kidding!" "You've got to be kidding!" She said, "No, I'm not." "Would you like to talk to Laura?" I said, "No way." She said, "Here she is." Then I said, "Laura Ellen!!!" She said, "Hi mom." I could not believe it. She proceeded to tell me what the nurse had told me she had said she wanted. This is a very long story I'm giving you the abridged version to but I just had to tell you at least this much.

Clinton and I were in disbelief--reluctantly optimistic. So at 2:00 Clinton went to see for himself. He says she is leaps and bounds improved. Even the nurses are amazed. He said he thanked them for letting her "put them through hell." They have been unbelievably patient with her. Never have I heard them complain--not even once. They just say this is what we do. Some of them have done it for over twenty years and they want to.

My sisters yesterday at 5:00 three of us went to pray over Laura. At 2:00 a.m. I called and Laura was violently screaming to the top of her lungs and had had to be moved to another room because she was so violent she pulled the shower head out of the wall. Sometime around that same time I started writing a message, and my friend woke up to find Jeremiah 40:4 which says, "But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists." She believed LAURA (THE CAPTIVE) HAD BEEN SET FREE!!! and my sisters she had. As we were praying over Laura I sang the song, "What Can Wash Away My Sins? Nothing But the Blood of Jesus." "What can make me whole again? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus." Today my sisters, the song Wes led during communion was "What Can Wash Away My Sins?" "Nothing but the blood of Jesus." I looked at clinton and he just looked back at me.

Praise God! Here's another part of a message from Teresa:

If Laura could only comprehend just a fraction of the good her illness has caused she would be in disbelief. I can't imagine what she would do if she knew the rest of the story.

Through all of this, God has been glorified and that is important to me--more important than my prayer being answered just the way I want. Even if I disagree with His answer and my situation, the important thing is God being glorified. Years ago while in the throes of depression I realized what Hebrews 11:6 meant. "But without faith it is impossible to please God: for anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him." After really "getting" this verse I gave God permission to do nothing. I realized that He could do anything He wanted, whether I agreed with him or not. Basically, He could do anything, even though I had given him permission to do nothing. I simply had to believe that He existed and that He would reward me if I diligently sought him. Period. It was at that moment that I gave God permission to be God. My job was to glorify Him. That is what I hope I have done thus far and what I will continue to do in the future. My heart's only desire is to glorify God.

"God does not require of us to have able bodies" is a quote I memorized long ago. It was significant to me, beause I didn't have one. I still don't. If I had to wait to glorify God until my body was able I would never glorify Him. That is why glorifying Him regardless of the situation is so significant to me. Even though Laura's body has been shackled her ability to glorify God has not. Even in her deepest hour, God through Laura brought me the verse that comforted me in my deepest hour. She glorified Him. I pray that by fleshing out the verse "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" I glorified Him also. [Just before being hospitalized, Laura chose this verse for our group's weekly meditation, not knowing what a strength it would be to her mom and all of the rest of us while she was going through all of this.]

God is in control. His timing is perfect. He never makes a mistake. God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

P.S. If you are on Facebook, join us on "The Titus 2 Group". It's a women's group led by Teresa. We are doing weekly meditations, in addition to other devotions. Jump right in!