Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Rebecca's Journey - 53 B

Rebecca's Journey - 53

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Rebecca's room! I returned home last evening, and will be leaving again for several weeks in a couple of days. Rebecca wants to get a note to you before my departure.

We both want to thank you for your prayers. The time when many of you interceded for her several weeks ago was very effective. She is significantly stronger and the numbness is substantially less. We thank the Father for you, and thank you for helping us through prayer.

From Rebecca: "On the morning of October 4th I said to my nurse: 'Today is my anniversary.' In French the word anniversary can mean birthday, so the nurse responded by saying Happy Birthday. I said: 'O, no! It's not my birthday. It is the anniversary of my accident.' 'I'm so sorry,' she said. 'Don't be sorry,' I responded. 'The first two years were full of great difficulty. But we've passed through that. And who, at my age, gets to have a whole new life.' I went on then to share with this particular nurse, for the first time, how good the grace and purpose of God is.

"That evening we had a small dinner party here at home with several friends. I couldn't help but marvel at where I have come, compared to where I had been.

"Coming back to my room after dinner, my eyes fell on a pewter picture frame that a friend had given me. Engraved across the bottom is 'Journey'. Engraved around the rest of the frame is Jer. 29:11: 'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.' The frame is so significant because the Scripture is one that has been given me many times by friends. I've put a wonderful picture in it of our family gathered around my bed. We're all laughing together. It so expresses our journey in Him. Again I'm reminded of Ps. 84:6. 'Blessed are those who have set their hearts on journeying. As they pass through the valley of weeping, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.'

"Recently, the Lord spoke to me that the autumn rains referred to the rain on the latter part of our lives. And in that season we become deep pools for others to drink from. That is His good purpose.

"It is so interesting to me that some months ago Paul named these e-mails 'Rebecca's Journey'. For many years I have referred to our walk in God as a journey. We're not where we were yesterday. We're not where we will be tomorrow. And in it all, we're carried by One whose name is Love. He can not be anything but good because it is His very nature. He builds one day upon the next, and, as we yield day by day to His hand, we become pleasing to Him. (And isn't that our heart's cry?) And our destiny is fulfilled."

Paul again! Annie has moved in and is getting settled. Today Rebecca Joosten, from Mobile, Alabama, arrived for three weeks. Rebecca J. will be helping Annie and Kristina care for Rebecca during my 3 weeks' absence.

The ladies, with help from some other friends, are "putting the garden to bed" for the winter. The weather is cool. Periodically we bundle Rebecca up so she can still enjoy sitting in her garden. Soon she'll enjoy it only through her windows - until spring, when the new life will again burst into leaf and bloom.

Love from us both,

Paul