Amen

There's something people who don't follow Jesus as the One true Way need to understand: God is real. He knows everything about you, even the stuff you don't tell him. And if you're distressed and you cry out to him for help, for peace, for comfort...he'll give it to you. Granted, not many times will you see him come down from the clouds himself, since he's a spirit, but he does a lot of other things in your life to show you he's listening and does really care about you.
I hope this is encouraging for you.

My brother, Jonathan Luu, was recently admitted into Carolina Medical Center at University due to a collapsed lung, caused by a rupture in the organ that caused air to leak into his chest cavity. I went to see him today, and he is doing amazing, considering his condition. He is sitting up, eating and drinking--more than he normally does in a day--and is interacting with the many, many people who come to see him; still making less movement than he's ever made in his life. According to the doctors and nurses, he is recovering rapidly. The nurse said there's dramatic improvment in the second x-ray, and the surgeon that put the tube in his chest to vacuum out the oxygen in his chest cavity said that he is one of the best conditioned patients he's ever had in his entire practice; there is no reason to worry about his other organs failing; they are very, very strong. Jonathan himself said he's doing pretty good, despite the conditions.

I, however, had a little bit of a harder time accepting all this good news. All i heard was "Jonathan's in the hospital"...which meant he was bad enough so that he wouldn't be doing okay outside the hospital room. I don't know how you would react to it, but it scared the life out of me. I cried a lot yesterday, so much fear running through my mind. But I did what I've been trained to do--pray. I prayed like crazy. I prayed that Jonathan would be alright, that he would make a fast and favorable recovery, and that I would have peace and comfort in my heart about the situation. I prayed for a peace of mind, so that my day entirely wasn't thrown off by this news. God calmed my mind a lil bit, and then used a couple indirect things to help things ago. One of the things came in the form of York Brady. He has his quiet times, and then sends out a mass text of a scripture he looked at during the quiet time. Usually they come at 6:45 in the morning. This time tho, it decided to arrive at 10:30 at night. God planned it that way so I would have some comfort--I believe it with everything in me.

Revalation 7:17--For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

That encouraged me so much. It helped bring peace to my mind. And then today, when I went to visit him, at one point it was just me, him and his girlfriend, Niki, in the room, and Jonathan suggested that someone find an encouraging scripture to read, since he hadnt had a chance to have his quiet time yet. Niki looked at me, implying that I should do it. So I picked up his bible and opened it, just trying to find a starting point for where to look. The page it happened to settle on, and the verse my eyes just happened to see first, was Jeramiah 30:17.

'But I will restore you to health, and heal your wounds,' declares the Lord.

If that isn't direct encouragement that everything'll be okay, I honestly don't know what is. So here I am, getting encouraged out the wazoo, yet still stressing about Jonathan being in the hospital. It just didn't settle well with me that one of the guys I considered invincible was lying in a hospital bed.
But I went to Bible Talk tonight, and Jeff did a message based off the scripture in Matthew 7.

vv13--Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Basically, what the point of that lesson amounted to, was that God needs to be the focal point, the complete Lord of my life. We can't try to squeeze God into our standards; it won't work. You're not close to God by doing that. We have to submit ourselves over to God. Everything. Not just what's convenient.
I felt kinda out of it during Bible Talk, so all of that didn't impact me immediately. But once I returned to my room, I began to feel overheated. Something in me told me that it was God telling me to go outside to pray--I would feel cooled off, and closer to God all at the same time. So I did that. And in my prayer, I realized what Jeff was talking about during his lesson, and gave everything over to God. Including my nagging anxiety at Jonathan being confined to a hospital bed. I gave it over to God and told him to deal with it, because there is more I need to do with my life, than worry about something I already know is okay.

Lemme tell ya--doing that did numbers to my mind and heart. I felt peace, I felt joy. Jonathan is in good hands--both with God on his side and with the excellent doctors and nurses taking care of him. I have no reason to worry. God is awesome, and can do anything he pleases. I just gave it to him, and let him have it, and then thanked him for everything he had done in my life--from letting me see Jonathan, to letting me wake up that morning, to saving me from the darkness I was covered in.
And now, here I sit. At peace with the situation, and joyful that it'll get better. And my thoughts are focused on God--I am applying the scriptures I have heard and absorbed to my life, to get rid of the earthly nature that threatens to destroy me, and to get closer to God with all of my being.

God is amazing. If you don't believe, look again. Ask him to meet you where you are. There's no harm in doing that--and you never know just how astonishing the results actually may be.


I love you all!!!!!