GOD'S GRACE


God hath not promised skies
     always blue
Flower strewn pathway all our
     lives through;
God hath not promised sun
     without rain
Joy without sorrow, peace
     without pain.

     How  many times I had unthinkingly hymned  these  words by  Annie
Johnson Flint.  Like many who had not known the "graduate  school of pain," I
too  was lulled into false security.  I honestly thought   Christians
experienced  only "skies  always  blue...   joy   without sorrow,  peace
without pain."  In  one brief instant,  however,  this imagined immunity from
suffering was swept away.  A  world-renowned internist  pronounced those dread
words one feels will always happen  to  somebody else but never  to himself.
Objectively impersonally, the physician said, "You have cancer."

     Oh,  the shock, the cold clutching terror  of  the moment.   The agony
of driving  home and of sharing this  grim news with loved ones must certainly
be one  of life's great  crises.   I,  who seemed  so whole,  so full of life
and energy,  was  soon  to learn  in  human suffering   some   of  God's
greatest lessons.

     The  throbbiing nightmare did  not go away.   It was undeniably there.
At that   paralyzing  moment,   my   every thought  was  the   thumping,
pulsing question, "WHY ME, LORD? WHY ME?"

     We  phoned  family,  friends,  and churches where we had served.  I
called Dr.  Baker James Cauthen at the Baptist Foreign   Mission  Board  in
Richmond, Virginia.    With  quiet  assurance  he promised  to pray for me.
Only months later  did  I  learn  that  immediately after   our  conversation
he   cabled missionary      "prayer      warriors." Consequently,    a    vast
chain   of intercessory   prayer   encircled   the globe.    Prayer  changes
things!   It changed   my  attitude  of   fear   and rebellion   to   one   of
trust   and affirmation.   The  big human  question mark  straightened into an
exclamation point  of praise!   As the recipient of intercessory  prayer,  I
could  testify with  my  whole being,  "Not  my  will, Father, but thine be
done."

     My cancer surgery lasted for eight hours, my stay in the hsopital for
over six weeks, and recuperation at home for another eight weeks.  I knew
battering, engulfing,   excruciating,  unrelenting hurt.   Like  a knife,
pain pared  the core of my being.   Yet through it all, as a Christian I could
draw upon  God's all  sufficient  grace.    His  blessed assurances
strengthened me.

     The inevitable postoperative tests began about three months after
surgery.  The  best  news  lay  yet  ahead.    No evidence  of  the malignancy
could  be found!   The  prognosis of "poor chance for    survival"    was
overturned.  Something  beyond the power of  medical science  occurred.
Doctors could  not fully  explain  what happened to me  in that New Orleans
hospital room.  Prayer precipitated a twentieth  century miracle  in my body.
God heard.   God responded.  God healed.

           FOUR CERTAINTIES

     Through  these  intervening  years since  my  bout  with  cancer,  I
have forged  four  certainties.   I  believe these  "tested"  truths can
sustain  a Christian during times of crises:

    1)  God,  through Christ Jesus, is our all sufficient  resource
    in every trying circumstance.;

    2)   God has the right to allow his  children to be  tested  in
    the crucible of pain and trial;

    3)    God  has  an   overruling reason  for  permitting  us  to
    suffer;

    4)   God  has a reward  through the suffering experience and in
    aftermaths of tribulation.

     Through illness I have come to the realization that as God's child, I
can, no matter what the circumstance, always count  on  Him.   I have  learned
that whenever  crises  overpower  my  waning strength,  God reinforces.   He
stands ready to help.

     Are  you  in the grip of pain  and suffering?   Then draw upon God's
ready resources.   He  will  strengthen.   He will  sustain.   His grace is
more than sufficient for our every trial.

                     For God hath promised strength
                          for the day
                     Rest for the labor, light for the way
                     Grace for the trials, help from above
                     Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

                           ------------------------

     Adapted    from   Claude    Rhea's autobiography:  With  My  Song  I
will Praise  Him  (Broadman  Press,   1977).  Claude Rhea



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