shrimp

Time is passing very slowly and I'm putting labels on envelopes.

I was thinking about my friend, Catherine, who has stage 4 cancer, and I was thinking about one of my relationships that seems broken, or at least crippled. And the feeling I had was that these are both impossible situations. Catherine won't heal and my relationship won't mend. Then I thought about that phrase Christians say all the time---something like "with God, all things are possible." So I prayed, and then I realized that I was saying the words yet praying without hope for a change.

Miracles aren't normal. God usually lets things run according to their nature, which is sinful and that means death. People get sick and die and relationships are broken and destroyed. But the truth is, God is able to save; He is able to work miracles outside of the natural order. Knowing that He can and praying that He will doesn't mean that He'll do what I want, but I have to learn and know that He is able and willing. Not that He'll do, but that He's able. And it's impossible for me to know that when I don't see it happen. I'm like the Jews who kept asking Jesus for a sign, though it didn't always lead to belief. No, God empowers me to believe the impossible, whether I see it or not.

And I felt some reluctance to mention my relationship in the same instance as my friend who has cancer. But God is in relation (the Trinity), and He has made us in His image as relational beings. I think the brokenness of relationships in this life is just as horribly unnatural as death is. Jesus's death was coupled with a severing of His relationship with the Father. And that sacrifice gave us the very real hope of life and healed relationships, even if we don't see them before Jesus returns.

Praise God for His power! Praise God for His ability and willingness! Praise God for His faithfulness! Praise Him for His goodness!