Always in Judah

Tonight was another incredible night at Hillsong Church. That place never lets me down, but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I go expecting to experience God and be in a positive, happy, and encouraging environment. Expectation plus people who love God equals a good time. I was SO SO tired today, just a long one. We are still going through light therapy with Kieren and it's helping but it's so hard. She cries most of the time, and it's painful, but also just hard for her to be in a 'doctor' environment at all. AND she has a bad case of bronchitis so was up sick from that lots of the night. Ugghh, it's hard. Hard because her body (chest specifically) is still not healing, but even more hard because she is still having so many bad moments. She is uncomfortable, tired of being poked and prodded, now coughing her brains out, and just exhausted from this whole thing. Some moments we see glimpses of happy Kieren but today, we saw more of the tired and sick Kieren. But, as God always does, just when we think we can't go further, God intervenes and gets us through. My friend Mandy showed up at light therapy to say hi (her friend is practitioner) and offered to watch Kieren tonight and bring her to light therapy, while we go to church. GREAT idea that we hadn't thought of! We were just going to drag her through church, THREE parties, and then church again, sure she would love that... So she had a great night with Mandy, who she loves, and we got a break and some wonderful encouragement from our God.

My friend, Pastor Lucinda Dooley preached tonight (seriously only reason I dragged my sad self there) and it totally spoke to me. So many things were challenging, but one piece I thought I would share with you. She spoke about Daniel and his journey. Daniel was at first in the town of Judah which means 'God's provision' and then he is moved to Babylon which meant 'confusion' and was a place of worldly focus. This really spoke to me because I feel like we were in a place of God working, and major favor and provision and then all of a sudden the rug was pulled out from us and we were thrown into darkness and confusion. We STILL don't know which way is up at this point, even though everyone is ready for Kieren to be feeling better - and we are too! It's still hard, and I feel like I am many moments grasping ANYTHING to make sense of it all. Many times I grab for God, but other times it's whatever around. But what Daniel had to decide was that He was going to claim that even though his life was changing and challenges were hitting hard, GOD defined who He was and He was still in the place of God's provision even if it seemed the opposite. Daniel is an incredible example of courage and strength and he was a hero for God. In the midst of the biggest trial in my life, and even when everything around me seems like confusion, I know I am in God's hand and He writes my story. I will continue to trust in Him and I know He will never let us go. We are ALWAYS in Judah, in the place of God's provision.

Prayers for this week, for Kieren's healing and health, our strength and endurance, and for God to be GLORIFIED through all of this!

Lots of love,
Sarah