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Bad News or a Good Thing?

Yesterday I got some news I didn’t want to hear.  Then I read these words from Oswald Chambers:

“If God can accomplish His purpose in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?” 
“If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others.  Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way.”

Yes, my doctor told me I needed some spinal surgery.  Then in the pre-op process, he discovered another potentially more serious complication.  But he couldn’t give me a clear definition of what he meant.  He said, “I will give you a full report and an opinion this coming Tuesday.”

The first thought was:  Oh, this is terrible news.  Why did this happen to poor little me?   Then I saw these words from Chambers.  And God has reframed my ‘bad news.’ 
Instead – no matter what the doctor tells me Tuesday -  I chose to believe that God is preparing me for something important.

What do you think?

Lynn Anderson

I am convinced there are more Marahs in our wanderings than Elims. We certainly enjoy the fountains of Elim but we do not learn much that is useful to us or others there. When the bitter waters come He will make it sweet and in some way enable us to drink of it. May your faith sustain you. Much love to you and Carolyn. I will be in prayer.

By Brad Carman on June 16 2009

clay, vessels, branches; shaped, poured out and pruned. i resist - He patiently loves me into his plan.

By gary pigg on June 16 2009

Hey man of God,

Please know that our family will be praying for you as you encourage us all through this trial of your faith.

Thank you exceedingly for your being the rock of faith and courage to so many of us to drink from through your powerful example.

Praise God for you my brother and thanks for the courage, insight and vision you continue to give to me.

Sincerely,

Kinwood H. DeVore

By Kinwood H. DeVore on June 16 2009

Dear bro. You of course are in our prayers. I think we
are catching up to our sisters in age and health. You
are always an inspiration to others the way you deal
with hard times.But I know for me the waiting was worse
than the knowing. Our hearts and thoughts are with you
and you and Carolyn and your family.Love your little sister.

By marg muirhead on June 16 2009

Lynn,

I will be praying for you and for God’s purposes to manifest themselves through all of this.

In Christ,

Chris Altrock

By Chris Altrock on June 16 2009

Hi Lynn,

Struggles like this are so painful…..especially when the added piece of “waiting’ is included. However, I see them as clicking our own personal “reset’ buttons. We are able to process many things very quickly and once again re-rank priorities.
I am sorry that you and Carolyn are having to go through this. I am thinking of and praying for you.

By Jan Dunn on June 16 2009

Lynn—You know you are loved and prayed for.  Yesterday, two friends of mine and I established—somewhat humorously—“The Dead Seed Society” based on the passage in John about a seed/grain falling in the ground and dying.  (We hope to put some thoughts in writing and call it “The Dead Seed Scrolls” ).  I’m afraid that moments like this are part of the dying, and we really don’t want them.  But as Chambers says it is God’s way of preparing us for his use.  He’s already used you in big ways.  No telling what He is up to now.

By Rick Brown on June 16 2009

Lynn,
  Thank you for sharing what’s going on in your life right now.  I trust God’s faithfulness will not only sustain you through this, but will display His glory in a powerful way.  You know you are loved and will be covered in prayer by hundreds of us.  Blessings, my friend.
Because of a cross and empty tomb,
Curt Sparks

By Curt Sparks on June 16 2009

Yikes! It’s scary to hear such news!  May I suggest you read Exit: Stage Right by one very dear friend of mine and a friend I haven’t met yet.  They have the same questions you do—and have already wrestled with answers, which God already knows.  I have already prayed, and will continue.  Love you, big brother.

By Anne Silkman on June 16 2009

Lynn, You and Caaroline are in my prayers.  I love you two so very much and know how strong you are in the love of God.  You have taught me so very much throuogh these years- more than I can count,  Take care and God blessings.  Hang in there my friend.  Marie Shipp

By Marie Shipp on June 16 2009

Lynn - You’re in our prayers!  Keith Fussell

By Keith Fussell on June 16 2009

Lynn,
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  Thank you for a life time of seeking the mind of God.
You reflect the joy in the storm.  Terry

By Terry Sanford Smith on June 16 2009

Lynn, I pray that the Lord keeps leading you to places of refreshment like Chambers.  I’m convinced that our times in the wilderness are often those wildernesses we select.  They end up being places and experiences we know we can handle.  The gospel says that Jesus was led, even driven, into the wilderness by the Spirit.  We sometimes go kicking and screaming into those places, but in the end we come out in the power of the Spirit, as with Jesus.  I pray this wilderness will be in every way filled with the Spirit’s working.  peace rc

By randycouchman on June 16 2009

Lynn,

    I was stunned by the news but encouraged by the quote from Chambers….both for your life and my own. It’s really hard to keep that perspective and I pray that you will do it.  We want to know “the rest of the story” as soon as you find it out and will be in prayer for you and your family until then.  God bless.

By Don Kleppe on June 16 2009

I pray that your news will be far better than anyone might fear.  May His strength be with you and Carolyn.

By Terrell Lee on June 16 2009

Lynn,
  You know that there is no neet to tell you that you are in our Prayers.  Our love for you has always been deep and the help you have given us through the years is so appreciated.

Love,
Van and Joanne

By Van Alessandro on June 16 2009

Brother Lynn: 
I do not know what size of a health problem you may be facing.  But I know we have a powerful, miracle-working Lord who is waiting for us to “Test Him and see . . !”  When we first began our little community of Christ-followers four years ago, we determined very early to claim any and every gospel promise so that ours could be a dynamic First Century kind of relationship with the Lord.  We insist upon embracing these promises in the bosom of their own relationship with the Lord.  We determined never again to rationalize away these wonderful promises from a practical application of the biblical text.  To deny or rationalize these promises robs his power from their own hearts and lives.

FATHER’S GIFTS—Our Father always wants to give good gifts to his children when they ask:
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
(Matthew 7:11, NIV)

COLLECTIVE PRAYERS—Jesus promised that our Father is especially responsive when his children agree to pray together on important matters:
Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.  (Matthew 18:19-20, NIV)

MOVING MOUNTAINS—Jesus promised that nothing is impossible and his followers can “move mountains” when they have even little faith planted in the soil of his will:
Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.  (Matthew 17:20, NIV)

HEALING THE SICK—When spiritual leaders pray for the sick, the Lord promises to make the sick man well at many levels of sickness—spiritual, emotional and physical:
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  (James 5:14-16, NIV)

MORE THAN WE CAN ASK OR IMAGINE—The Lord’s incredible power promises to do more than we can ask or imagine and that power is for the disciples of Jesus in all generations:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV)

DIVINE INTERVENTIONS – These brothers and sisters in Miami cite a number of powerful interventions from the Lord as they worked mightily among them.  I want to share a couple with you, Lynn. 
  This is the account of how the Lord’s incredible power went to work to bring about a marvelous healing in my own life in 2006.  I fell late one Saturday night while walking my dog.  I braced my backward fall with my left hand.  I was alone that night as my wife was away.  By 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning (4 hours after the fall) I woke with gut-wrenching pain and considerable swelling.  Being alone, it took an hour to dress because of being able to use only one hand.  A fracture was confirmed by clear x-rays in the nearest hospital emergency room.  The wrist was placed in a soft cast and the patient was given a full week’s supply of codeine for pain management. 
  The medical prognosis called for six weeks to heal the wrist.  A few hours later at our little congregation’s Lord’s Day gathering, I asked my fellow-shepherds to share a prayer for healing and “anointing with oil in the name of the Lord.”  By Wednesday, just three days later, I was aware of there being no pain present.  I stopped the pain medication. By Saturday morning, just six days after the break, I was examined by my personal physician for a follow-up visit. When the soft cast was removed and the wrist and hand fully manipulated by the physician with no pain, the cast was thrown away and the believing physician, with a new x-ray in hand, respectfully acknowledged how the Great Physician completed a healing in six days which should have taken six weeks. This Christian physician expressed no real surprise to see the Lord work in such a dramatic manner.
  One of my fellow-shepherds recently visited the bedside of a young man who was critically injured in a motorcycle accident.  A persistent high fever delayed necessary surgery to repair his broken body.  The young pastor felt very unsure about how to make this very serious visit and was even more unsure about what to say to a stranger in the local community hospital.  He and his wife prayed that the Lord would give him the right words to say.  The Holy Spirit helped them recall the gospel narrative about Jesus’ healing the fever of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.  The young man of God went into the hospital room and shared the gospel narrative about Jesus, Simon Peter and Peter’s mother-in-law.  He shared this with the young man and his mother to help prepare them for what was coming.  He then laid hands on the boy and prayed that the Lord would “remove the fever.”  Within a couple hours, the man’s fever was gone! 
  These and scores of other divine interventions helped move this little circle of saints away from cold rational theology to the point of expecting to experience the presence and power of the Lord in their individual lives and in the life of their congregation.

FORM WITHOUT POWER—  One of the great challenges for congregations or Christian movements and denominations, which have been around for awhile, is to remain strong in mountain-moving faith. 

The greatest shock of a recent trip to Europe was seeing once proud cathedrals and chapels turned into dusty museums. Likely, these were sanctuaries where once strong believers gathered, worshipped and served the Lord. Hopefully this still may be the case for some.  But so much of what can be seen today as having been left behind is but a hollow shell of the faith earlier generations of Christ-followers knew in those same communities.  This is likely a symptom of a deeper spiritual problem, “holding a form of godliness but denying the power…”  This disease of spiritual impotency is equally a challenge for individuals as well as groups of believers.  It is so easy to hold on to the forms and essentially deny the imminent and incredible power of God available to the people of the Lord in all generations.

MY PRAYER—My brother, my friend, my professor, during 21 days of fasting and prayer in our little circle of Christ-followers here in Miami, our combined prayer is offered for your healing in the powerful name of Jesus:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV)

By KIETH MITCHELL on June 16 2009

Jannie and I are praying for you now, in regard to the
medical “issue” and in regard to your faith. Chambers is always challenging, but that’s the way God has used him. Love you muchly. Ken

By Ken Chaffin on June 16 2009

Jamie and I will be praying for your healing Lynn.

Let us know if you need anything.

By Randy LArson on June 16 2009

Lynn and Carolyn,
What lovely blogs these are!
There is no doubt that the 2 of you are highly qualified to be able to deal with this cancer business.
You have comforted so many for so long.
You have helped me over and over in so many ways…......
You will have your eagles and angels over you tonight, I have heard.

I know from my experience that this first day is the WORST.
After that your mind will clear and you will heed God’s direction and how to proceed with optimism.
I think I understand fully that I am in that line with you.  You are not alone.
We are with you all the way.
With love and appreciation for all you have done and are doing.
Carolyn and Ken

By Carolyn and Ken Bryan on June 16 2009