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Late summer, 2018
on... Impressions from the Incapacitated
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Amy Carmichael once said, “In acceptance lies peace. When we can accept the constraining circumstances of our lives as something allowed by God for purposes we may not understand, we can quit blaming ourselves and others, and let the task at hand be experiencing His presence and our growth. Instead of asking, ‘Why?’ one might ask, ‘What can I learn in this circumstance here and now?’”
This quote is all the more impacting when one realizes Amy Carmichael spent her last nineteen years bedridden on account of a catastrophic fall into a hole in Tamil Nadu, India, where she founded and guided the Dohnavur Fellowship from 1901 to 1951 (the year of her death at age 83), an incredible work of God among young girls and women snatched from forced prostitution to Hindu Temple gods. Were it not for those difficult latter years of her trials and suffering we today would be all the more impoverished for not possessing her profound writings given from a vantage point looking heavenward from a bed.
As recovery from my ankle surgery moves ever so slowly forward I thank God for giving me weeks of immobility where I can look out over these beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountains and contemplate things I so seldom make time to do. Accepting my present circumstances has not only brought peace, joy and rest in Him, but I find it also produces in me a renewed sense of worship of God for all that He has done in, and through me over the years. Lying on my back with my foot in the air I remember the good times and bad, but quickly push back to ask what it is He wants to teach me right here and now in my present circumstances. This leads me to prayerful reflection regarding what it is He still has for me to do for Him as I look to the future. I pause, remembering again the words of a good friend, “Kelly ol’ boy, you need to know the best decade of your life, your sixties, is still in front of you, right around the corner!” (yes, it is true, I will be 60-years-old come March 1, 2019). I choose by faith to believe the words of my friend, not because he’s my friend, but rather because “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day,” [2 Timothy 1:12, KJV]. I likewise find solace in Holy Scripture with words penned by Paul of Tarsus, “…I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling…” [Philippians 3:13b,14, NLT]. With these words I repent of reflecting too much on the past; rather, making a conscientious choice to assume Paul’s resolve for a transformed future. Peace comes to me. It is the same peace that comes in acceptance of our circumstances. “Then God’s peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7, GWT.
This quote is all the more impacting when one realizes Amy Carmichael spent her last nineteen years bedridden on account of a catastrophic fall into a hole in Tamil Nadu, India, where she founded and guided the Dohnavur Fellowship from 1901 to 1951 (the year of her death at age 83), an incredible work of God among young girls and women snatched from forced prostitution to Hindu Temple gods. Were it not for those difficult latter years of her trials and suffering we today would be all the more impoverished for not possessing her profound writings given from a vantage point looking heavenward from a bed.
As recovery from my ankle surgery moves ever so slowly forward I thank God for giving me weeks of immobility where I can look out over these beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountains and contemplate things I so seldom make time to do. Accepting my present circumstances has not only brought peace, joy and rest in Him, but I find it also produces in me a renewed sense of worship of God for all that He has done in, and through me over the years. Lying on my back with my foot in the air I remember the good times and bad, but quickly push back to ask what it is He wants to teach me right here and now in my present circumstances. This leads me to prayerful reflection regarding what it is He still has for me to do for Him as I look to the future. I pause, remembering again the words of a good friend, “Kelly ol’ boy, you need to know the best decade of your life, your sixties, is still in front of you, right around the corner!” (yes, it is true, I will be 60-years-old come March 1, 2019). I choose by faith to believe the words of my friend, not because he’s my friend, but rather because “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day,” [2 Timothy 1:12, KJV]. I likewise find solace in Holy Scripture with words penned by Paul of Tarsus, “…I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling…” [Philippians 3:13b,14, NLT]. With these words I repent of reflecting too much on the past; rather, making a conscientious choice to assume Paul’s resolve for a transformed future. Peace comes to me. It is the same peace that comes in acceptance of our circumstances. “Then God’s peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7, GWT.
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Last name: G
Personal account #: 004527
Project account #: 024527
