God Is Still On The Throne

God has been proven faithful again! In October, Vicki, my wife, and I contracted the Coronavirus. We went into quarantine but Vicki’s breathing became increasingly more labored. She grew weaker by the day and eventually had to be hospitalized for five days in Orangeburg, SC. I was not allowed to visit her in the hospital. (We have been in South Carolina taking care of Vicki’s parents who are up in years and struggling with cancer and other difficult health issues.) I ended up doing the cooking and cleaning for her parents during Vicki’s stay in the hospital, while I myself was still extremely weak from the Coronavirus. During this time, her father also tested positive for the Coronavirus and a week later her mother tested positive as well. Her father, struggling with cancer and low white blood cell count, was already weak and he became even weaker. Good News! Graciously, God spared her mother from any symptoms. Eventually, Vicki was released from the hospital and returned to her parents’ house. Naturally, I continued serving the three of them faithfully, by God’s good grace. Yes, this was a precious time of trial.

As I relaxed I began having problems with my right leg and thigh. I thought I was having a sciatic nerve problem, but four days later I broke out with a bad rash. It covered my right side from my belly, downward, all the way around to my spine. It was burning and hurting. I went to an urgent care center at the hospital where I was officially diagnosed with shingles. When it rains, it pours. Medicine was prescribed for 10 days. Vicki was still taking medicine for the Coronavirus as well. In our weakened condition, we seemed pretty pitiful, but God’s grace was still sufficient. Many people prayed for us as the news circulated. We praise God for the prayer warriors that God has given us through the years. We had people praying for us all around the world, literally. We received notes, cards, text messages, and phone calls. It was so good to have so many people praying for us at a time like this.

God allows trials. “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
Our family will be very, very thankful this Thanksgiving!