BBD 01.22.11 When Problems Come (Classic)

#1 · January 22, 2011, 11:13 am

Quote from Forum Archives on January 22, 2011, 11:13 am
Posted by: edwrather <edwrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net
www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of more than 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive
prayer requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you love to send and receive inspirational emails the Burning Bush
Inspirational Group is for you. To join send an email to
bbinspire-join@welovegod.org

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
www.theburningbush.net.

The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 736 new subscribers since January 1, 2011!!
There were 4010 new subscribers during 2010!!
Classic from 2002

01.22.11

When Problems Come

Today's devotional is from an article written in 2002 by my son, Clark
Wrather, for his church newsletter. Clark is the pastor of the First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma. The title and Scripture were added for the
devotional.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For
he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots
by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green,
and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding
fruit. - Jeremiah 17:7-8.

"No one really wants to hear that their baby is not perfect." Those were the
words Libby and I heard from a pediatric neurosurgeon at Children's Hospital
in Dallas a few weeks ago. All I could do was nod my head. The doctor
continued and said, "...we're most likely looking at surgery." The phrase
hit me like a shot to the belly from Evander Holyfield.
Mason, the newest addition to our family was born with three dimples at the
base of his spine. According to his doctors, this could be nothing or it
could be something. Sometimes these dimples indicate that there is an
underlying problem with the spine. The problem could be several different
things and most of them are easily correctable by surgery. Often there is a
connection that leads from the dimples on the outside all the way to the
spinal cord on the inside.

There could be a microscopic opening from the dimples all the way to the
spinal cord. This means any infection that Mason has could enter through
these openings and travel to his spinal cord. An infection there could cause
paralysis or death. Because of this, the neurosurgeon did not recommend that
we wait until Mason was older to do surgery. Because it has the potential to
be very dangerous, the doctor said that exploratory surgery should be done
even if an MRI does not show anything.

"Surgery" - the word just reverberated through me when I heard it. "How
could they do surgery on such a small baby," I wondered to myself. Needless
to say, Libby and I were dazed and upset during our drive home from Dallas.
The upcoming months no longer seemed like a future full of wonderful
opportunities waiting to be discovered. Instead, they loomed dark and
menacing inspiring the kind of fear that only the great unknown can give.

At times, I have thought about why this happened or that it seemed unfair. A
couple of times the thought, "how could God do this to my family," would
float across my mind. Usually, another phrase would come to me at these
times: "they killed my Son (God speaking)." It was a still and quiet voice,
but gave the impression of iron beneath velvet. My Lord was right. It could
be much, much worse. I should be deeply thankful that Mason's problem may be
correctable with surgery.

I know my Father in heaven did not make this bad thing happen, but he could
use it as an opportunity to work creatively in my life. I also know that
whatever happens in the dark weeks ahead, my Good Shepherd will be right
beside me, leading and guiding me through them.

(It has been nine years since this devotional was written. Mason is doing
well, and has had two surgeries for his condition, even though he still has
some physical problems. We love him very much, and thank God for him! - Ed)

Copyright © 2002-2011. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the
devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush
website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email
version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began
writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison
facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

For information about how to hear my testimony in your church visit this
link: www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=22160

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
connect.tangle.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

Posted by: edwrather <edwrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net
http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of more than 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive
prayer requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you love to send and receive inspirational emails the Burning Bush
Inspirational Group is for you. To join send an email to
bbinspire-join@welovegod.org

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
http://www.theburningbush.net.

The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 736 new subscribers since January 1, 2011!!
There were 4010 new subscribers during 2010!!
Classic from 2002

01.22.11

When Problems Come

Today's devotional is from an article written in 2002 by my son, Clark
Wrather, for his church newsletter. Clark is the pastor of the First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma. The title and Scripture were added for the
devotional.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For
he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots
by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green,
and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding
fruit. - Jeremiah 17:7-8.

"No one really wants to hear that their baby is not perfect." Those were the
words Libby and I heard from a pediatric neurosurgeon at Children's Hospital
in Dallas a few weeks ago. All I could do was nod my head. The doctor
continued and said, "...we're most likely looking at surgery." The phrase
hit me like a shot to the belly from Evander Holyfield.
Mason, the newest addition to our family was born with three dimples at the
base of his spine. According to his doctors, this could be nothing or it
could be something. Sometimes these dimples indicate that there is an
underlying problem with the spine. The problem could be several different
things and most of them are easily correctable by surgery. Often there is a
connection that leads from the dimples on the outside all the way to the
spinal cord on the inside.

There could be a microscopic opening from the dimples all the way to the
spinal cord. This means any infection that Mason has could enter through
these openings and travel to his spinal cord. An infection there could cause
paralysis or death. Because of this, the neurosurgeon did not recommend that
we wait until Mason was older to do surgery. Because it has the potential to
be very dangerous, the doctor said that exploratory surgery should be done
even if an MRI does not show anything.

"Surgery" - the word just reverberated through me when I heard it. "How
could they do surgery on such a small baby," I wondered to myself. Needless
to say, Libby and I were dazed and upset during our drive home from Dallas.
The upcoming months no longer seemed like a future full of wonderful
opportunities waiting to be discovered. Instead, they loomed dark and
menacing inspiring the kind of fear that only the great unknown can give.

At times, I have thought about why this happened or that it seemed unfair. A
couple of times the thought, "how could God do this to my family," would
float across my mind. Usually, another phrase would come to me at these
times: "they killed my Son (God speaking)." It was a still and quiet voice,
but gave the impression of iron beneath velvet. My Lord was right. It could
be much, much worse. I should be deeply thankful that Mason's problem may be
correctable with surgery.

I know my Father in heaven did not make this bad thing happen, but he could
use it as an opportunity to work creatively in my life. I also know that
whatever happens in the dark weeks ahead, my Good Shepherd will be right
beside me, leading and guiding me through them.

(It has been nine years since this devotional was written. Mason is doing
well, and has had two surgeries for his condition, even though he still has
some physical problems. We love him very much, and thank God for him! - Ed)

Copyright © 2002-2011. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the
devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush
website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email
version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began
writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison
facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

For information about how to hear my testimony in your church visit this
link: http://www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=22160

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
connect.tangle.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
http://www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.