(1) t is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night,
3 On an instrument of ten strings, On the lute, And on the harp, With harmonious sound.
4 For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.
5 O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.
How great are Your works! That is a bold declaration - and when we see God move, our response as believers in Him should be to be glad in heart and to rejoice in His goodness. When we call upon the Lord in prayer...and see the answer, then we can be full of joy at the tremendous love and power that He shows toward us. We can be intent to recognize how He has moved in our lives and in the lives of those for whom we pray - and give Him praise!
+++++
When the Church comes together and prays for needs about which we become aware, we can rejoice together and share in the blessing as we see God move. We can be reinforced in the truth of Ephesians chapter 3:
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
To many, he's known as "Baby Gus," and the parents have entrusted their child to the Lord in the aftermath of a heart transplant just a few weeks ago. Movieguide reported:
Thousands have been praying for the miraculous recovery of Augustus “Gus” Elliot Joubert, a two-month-old baby who is fighting for his life following a heart transplant.But, following the transplant, it certainly wasn't a smooth road - " Gus’s new heart didn’t start beating right away...," according to the article, and Gus had to be placed on an ECMO machine that would essentially beat for him while the new heart became acclimated. The article goes on to say:
On Jan. 16, Gus’s father, Mark, shared on X that his family had been given new life as his son received a successful heart transplant after being on a donation waiting list for only 11 days.
“Old heart is out, new heart is going in…” Mark wrote. “Thank God for the family that chose to donate. It’s been a long day. We probably won’t see [Gus] until 8 pm. The Lord is our refuge.”
Though scared for his son’s life, Mark relied on the Lord, asking for prayer and that the “Lord be glorified.”On the 24th, the father posted, "Please pray for his lungs to recover and inflammation to reduce,” adding, “These are big obstacles, but we continue to plead with our Heavenly Father for intervention and healing. We pray Gus remains stable overnight and that we can all get some rest. Time is of the essence. Thank you to all who have prayed for us. Please continue to intercede.”
After two days of no progress, Gus’s heart began to weakly beat over the night of the 18th. During the next day, the strength of Gus’s heart continued to grow, though he still required the assistance of the ECMO machine. With time running out, Mark pleaded for another round of intense prayer.
“Friends, though not without natural anxiety in the face of this hardship, it is from faithful anticipation & not just fear that we keep asking God for more: Gus has pulsivity, yes – but echo shows poor function remains & time is limited. Pray with us for a functioning heart!” Mark posted on the 19th.
You can follow Gus' story at Mark's Twitter feed, mark_joubert. A big step was anticipated over the weekend: closing Gus' chest! Mark tweeted out on Saturday:
Hello, friends! Gus did well throughout his chest closure. He came out stable with acceptable blood pressure. Now, as he's adjusting, we're praying his blood pressure remains within an acceptable range and his lungs are able to function well under these new conditions. Overall, we feel good about this progress, but trepidatious as we wait to see how things settle out. He's still adjusting.
But, pragmatically speaking, as he wrote, "much remains to be done." But the Jouberts are enjoying another milestone, as Mark related in another tweet "...we finally get to hold him again!"
In light of the saga of Gus Joubert, we can consider several things: First of all, we are seeing the result of the power of prayer. You know, when we pray and see the answer, it's important to give praise and honor to God and allow those times to build up our faith. We can continue to walk expectantly regarding what God wants to do in our lives and in the lives of those for whom we pray.
We can certainly give Him the glory for our lives. Our lives are gifts of God, and even though most of us will encounter health challenges, we can look to the One who has given us life and sustains us. We can be determined to use this gift for the glory of God, not dreading the days ahead, but expecting Jesus to show up in and through us - not in presumption, but in anticipation.
And, we can also thank God for the gifts of those who serve in the medical field - they are literally saving lives. We can also be thankful for the advances in medical procedures and technology that enable us to live longer and more fulfilling lives. Just imagine: a baby just under three months old receiving a heart transplant - that would have probably been unthinkable when I was born. What a mighty God we serve!
No comments:
Post a Comment