“Praying for a Special ‘Angel’”

“Those who wait for (“on” NKJV) the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.” (Isaiah 40:31, Amplified Bible) As I begin this new day, my thoughts are far from this computer desk this morning. They are about 25 miles from my home with a precious little ‘angel’ – “Angel Thompson” who is undergoing emergency surgery as I type this morning’s WOTD after being diagnosed less than 36 hours ago with a brain tumor. AFTER my first FB posting requesting prayer for ‘Angel’ yesterday, we learned that this little 5-year old girl is a bright young student in one of our church member’s kindergarten classes at a local Christian school. Since learning of this situation yesterday afternoon, my heart has been filled with various emotions as I have been reminded afresh of ~18 years ago when we first learned the shocking news of Traci’s cancer and stood at the dawn of a new journey that would forever change our hearts and our lives. In times like these along life’s journey, we can only ‘wait on the Lord & hope in Him’ for the situation now facing Angel and her parents is totally in the Lord’s loving, sovereign hands. But God is always at work … in fact, speaking with Angel’s teacher late last night (she and her husband have been dear family friends of our family for many, many years), she shared with me how she believed the Lord had somewhat prepared her heart during our service last Sunday morning. In the current series I am preaching, Sunday’s message began a 2-part message on “Perseverance.” As a part of preparing our hearts for His Word, we had invited a young lady who has been on a long journey herself with cancer. The teacher shared that she strongly felt the Lord wanted her to hear this special testimony before going out with the small kids which she was teaching that morning. Being obedient to the Lord’s prompting, she asked her husband to take the kids while she listened to the special guest share her personal testimony with cancer. She said it was amazing to now look back and see how God prompted her to hear that testimony which He would use in the present situation with ‘Angel.’ I too am amazed to watch God work in all this situation and truly believe that Angel’s testimony – her courage and precious faith – is already being used by Him to touch many hearts/lives for Christ. Angel’s teacher shared that the school had called a special prayer assembly yesterday and all the kids and teachers assembled in the gym – she shared it was awesome to see little kids on their knees before the Lord praying for their friend and fellow classmate. You see, God is already at work in this. Romans 8:28 declares, “We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him. They are the people he called, because that was His plan.” (NCV) In Jeremiah 29:11 (our family’s life verse), God tells us through His prophet, “‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE.’” So today I invite you to enjoin hearts in prayer for this precious ‘Angel’ who is under the watchful eye of our Heavenly Father throughout this new journey she and her family are facing – pray fervently for His divine strength, peace and loving trust for her mom and dad along with other family and friends as they walk with our Lord through this most difficult season, heart to heart, hand in hand. James 5:16 declares, “… Pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (NLT) …Selah!

Today's Spirit-led video is by CCM artist Chris Tomlin and is dedicated to "Angel" and her family this moring as a prayer offering before the Lord - I pray that the Lord will use it to touch hearts and motivate believers everywhere to enjoin hearts with this family in their new journey of faith. It and can be viewed by clicking on the on the song title, "Everlasting God (Strength Will Rise)" - G3 for God's beautiful and spirit-filled gift of ministry thru Christian music!