The Backstory

My physician’s words choked the air out of the already masked hospital room: “Anything you need to say to those you love, I suggest that you do it tonight.” 

I was scheduled for a procedure the following day to address extensive blood clots threateningly near my heart.  Menacing clots had formed throughout my torso, legs, and lung; but this 5 cm clot was especially worrisome because of its size and location.  Lodged both above and below a previously inserted IVC filter, the clot was breaking loose, and already traveling through my heart and into my lung.

I knew the gravity of my current reality; seven years prior, I had lived through multiple pulmonary emboli.  I was blessed to have survived so far, but the hours ahead would be critical to staying that way. 

My wife Laurie and I both understood the magnitude of my compassionate doctor’s words: it was time to “call in the family,” Covid-era version.  Since only Laurie was allowed in my hospital room, our conversations with loved ones during the hours to come would have to be virtual. 

For the next 24 hours, Laurie and I stood at the threshold of the mystery of forever.  During that time, we walked through a wide range of emotions and realizations and awakenings—experiences that continue to reshape our perspectives on much of life.  Those hours have reformed our worldview in most every way. 

Not long ago, Laurie suggested that I share some of the lessons we learned, as they may be helpful to some.  I hope you find these lessons comforting, yet challenging; familiar, yet new; shared, yet personal. 

 

Lesson 1 – The Familiar Gift

Now that you know the backstory, I offer this first lesson I learned: When facing the unknown, look for God in the familiar. 

During those 24 hours, God revealed Himself in ways that I had never experienced before; and I hope to share some of those extraordinary moments in subsequent writings.  But God was also present in many of His familiar ways, and that truth is the subject of this lesson.

As soon as the doctor departed the room, Laurie and I understood we were hovering on the precipice of the unknown.  Even so, I was thankful to see a familiar flicker in my wife’s eyes, a look that I had seen time after time.  I knew in her eyes that God was showing up in a familiar way.  God’s peace settled in our room in the form of Laurie’s spiritual gift, the gift of encouragement.  That gift would now buoy us through the next 24 hours of uncharted waters and even as we navigated far into the future. 

In Romans 12:8, the word often translated “encouragement” means more literally “to call near.”  God has blessed Laurie with the gift to call people near to His intent for their lives.  Her life has been to encourage others to seek, discover, and act on God’s purpose for their lives. 

In all my associations with church leaders and congregants around the country, I have never met another individual with a more pronounced spiritual gift of encouragement.  Laurie would have given Barnabas himself, the Biblical paradigm for encouragement, a run for his money. 

Personally, in that moment, I needed to know that God would give meaning to those 24 hours.  Seeking His purpose is how I have met challenges in life, and God knew that I needed Laurie’s spiritual gift to find His greater good this time.  I understood the epiphany in her eyes, because I had seen God use her similarly over the years to encourage so many to find God’s intention, no matter their circumstances.

I recognized her affirming look as she encouraged countless young adults to come back to Christ after they had drifted away from the faith of their childhood.  It was her reassuring look as she supported hundreds of parents through their struggles to apply God’s truth in raising their children.  It was her look of confidence as she encouraged person after person to apply their own spiritual gifts to God’s glory, often resulting in the person’s accepting roles of church leadership, or singing in worship, or teaching Bible studies, or investing their lives in service to others.  It was her loving look as she peered into the eyes of so many Nicaraguan orphans and comforted them with the truth that God’s love transcends earthly struggles.

During those 24 hours in September 2020, God appeared through Laurie’s gift to encourage me to draw closer to His higher purpose for how I could experience those moments.  That is exactly what I needed.  I did not need a cheerleader to spur me to stay positive.  I did not need a researcher to educate me on Dr. Google’s odds for my survival, nor did I need placating comfort that all would be fine.  For me, hope exists at the intersection of God’s purpose and life’s challenges.  I found hope through Laurie’s familiar gift.   

When the doctor left the room, I looked into Laurie’s eyes and saw all those poignant expressions I had seen over the last 40 years.  I knew that wherever this journey would take us, Laurie would be at my side, encouraging me to see God in all that was happening.  My writing these words is a direct result of Laurie’s encouragement to offer my experiences for God’s use.

As the clock ticked off each hour to the procedure, God’s light sliced through the looming dark shadows in a very familiar way.  God often works that way.  It is part of His faithfulness.  God does not abandon us when the road gets difficult.  Rather, He walks with us, right where He has always been and, very likely, looking just like He has always looked. 

The challenge is that we must develop familiarity with Him now when the seas are calm.  If we do not travel with Him when the waters are smooth, we may not recognize Him in the storm. 

When you find yourself on a difficult stretch of road, consider how you have recognized God’s hand over the years.  How have you known God was with you?  Have there been certain people who have pointed you towards Him?  Have you found a song or passage of Scripture particularly helpful?  Have there been specific circumstances that have led to your awakening of God’s presence?  Remember, when you are traveling a completely unknown and unsure path, God knows your steps and may meet you there in the most familiar ways.  

Believe me, Laurie and I prayed earnestly for signs and miracles during our 24 hours, supernatural assurances that God was in charge.  We wished He would break into that moment and miraculously change the reality of our situation.  I will share more about that later. 

But thankfully, in the midst of our prayers for the miraculous, we recognized God, right where He always was, looking just like He always had.  He was there, fully present in Laurie’s spiritual gift.  It is true: when we faced the unknown, we found God in the familiar.

• 24 Hours to Forever Posts