II Timothy 1:7 - "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

Yesterday I read a prayer that went like this:

"Faith is not about asking God to stop the storm, but trusting Him to strengthen us as walk through the storm. Amen."

This prayer has so much truth in it. If life were perfect, Doc would not have pancreatic cancer. If it were perfect, we would not have any worries at all. But because of sin, life is not perfect. It won't be perfect until we are with our Heavenly Father in heaven. Until that time, we must live out our faith on this earth. We must not allow fear to take over during the storms of life but instead must allow God to empower us so our faith can go deeper through them. We must allow Him to be our Guide. I think of the song Oceans this morning...

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise my soul will rest in your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Yes! He is there for us. All we have to do when we feel like we are being taken down by a storm is call out to Him. He may not stop the storm but He will strengthen us so we won't be taken down by it. We have a choice when the storms come. We can either give in and allow them to win or we can trust and allow God to win. I'm no quitter. My earthly Daddy taught me to fight the storms of life. He had over sixty surgeries while on this earth, beat cancer multiple times, had a broken neck from being hit by a train, survived a gun shot wound, etc. Yet he never gave up. I cherish the phone calls I would get each morning from him. They were such an encouragement. I will never forget his words when he found out I was having a tough day with my MS. He would say, "Now Sheila Babe, it's OK to be in bed but you can't stay there. You gotta get up and move so it doesn't take off." So. so true. His and my Momma's faith were/are a great example to me on how to live. I am so thankful for their examples. My faith has gone deeper over the twenty-five plus years with MS. It has gone deeper with my breast cancer diagnosis three years ago. It also has gone deeper with the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in Doc. There are definitely days I just want to go to bed and cover up my head but I know neither my earthly nor my Heavenly Daddy would approve. Therefore, I continue on. I refuse to give up. I refuse to allow the enemy an open door. I will stand grounded in my faith. I will be intentional on not only loving God but sharing His love with others. As my sister said the other day, "We are McHenry's. We'll get through it." Most importantly, we are Daughters of the King. Therefore, we are equipped for the storms that come our way. Woo hoo!

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for Your love, mercy, and grace! Thank You for the encouragement You give! Thank You for taking my faith deeper! I know the only way for this to happen is for me to be pure in heart! Cleanse me so You fill me so I can be who You desire me to be. Father, I pray for Doc's physical, mental, emotional, and most of all spiritual being today. May You be greater than the pancreatic cancer. I pray for complete healing in his physical body. I pray You will encourage him to great lengths today. Lord, continue to heal physical bodies but most importantly I pray for a healing in spiritual bodies. As we studied last night, issues in spiritual bodies can effect a person in other aspects of life. May more people be cleansed. May more believers share You with them so they can be cleansed. Lord, continue to take our faith deeper. Thank You for being Our Faith Builder! Amen.