Every spiritual blessing...

It has been a rough week, for so many reasons, and I know it has been for many people. It seems that we are under siege, and that Satan is trying his hardest right now to bind up our minds away from Christ and His finished work on the cross. Many heartaches and struggles are going on all around me...death, families being torn apart, sickness, rebellion. It is the complete fulfillment of God's Holy Word! He said, "In this life you will have many troubles" and we believe every word of God is wholly true. So why do we question Him when He shows us that?

I got bit by something almost two weeks ago now, and it has slowly taken over my whole body, yet only the red spot on my toe has been visible. Yesterday I went to the hospital after several unsuccessful visits to a clinic, and finally got some much-needed treatment. The funny thing is...the first doctor I saw prescribed an antibiotic, but when I went to the ER, the doctore there wanted to cut open my toe and drain the posion from my body. What an amazing picture of SIN!!! It may look only like a red bump, but it has quickly infected the entire body, without my being able to even see it! And I can soothe it a little with some medicine, but in truth, only cutting it out completely will remove it and kill the bacteria running through my blood! When this reality hit me, I felt like such an idiot, I have heard truths like this before but what a merciful God to allow me to experience it so personally and harshly! I remember Pastor Tommy teaching about how Agag was hacked to pieces in the Old Testament and how that is what we must do to our sin...this is the same type of picture. There is so much sin all around me, within me...the only hope is to kill this poison.

While I have been lying in bed each night in much pain, my Mom has been reading to me from Ephesians. It has been so sweet, as the Lord quickly reminded me that regardless of anything else I have or don't have, He has "blessed me with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus". These spiritual blessings are more than enough for me, and could sustain me in all circumstances. What a gracious God! I am relying on those promises right now, as I am still healing slowly. Just like sin, the effect takes time. I am not immediately healed overnight, but I must now follow the doctor's orders, finish all my medications, and really take care of myself so that it will heal entirely. Sin must be monitored...checked and rechecked. I pray that the Lord will continue to check my heart and purge the sin from it!