God’s faithfulness in death

God determined to display his faithfulness in the form of cancer in the life of my wife, Ruth.  Last October, God demonstrated his faithfulness in calling Ruth home to be with him. In God’s gracious plan for Ruth he brought the most lethal type of brain cancer into her life – Glioblastoma Multiforme. The Lord severely restricted her ability to write and edit. Her short-term memory was impacted. This is striking because she was among the most literate and articulate of anyone that I have known. 

Ruth fully understood that the skills that she most valued had been removed from her by the God that she loves. When she was troubled, she was comforted by knowing that God was actively, faithfully caring for her. Her faith never wavered.

I share this with you because Ruth is an example of what it means to be “all in” for God. The cancer was not the reason for her attitude of faith and courage. The cancer only demonstrated what was the condition of her heart. She spoke often about how God’s people are held back from loving him because they love too many things that don’t matter. She prayed constantly that his people would love him for who he is.

Ruth’s life now continues in the presence of the God she so passionately loves. She never feared that her life was in the hands of her Lord. Her life was not hers. It belonged to her God. The great truth is that all of our lives are equally in God’s hands. Ruth embraced this good and hard reality. I pray that I would also have the courage to embrace this truth for my life. And I pray that each of you would come to see that this is reality for your life as well. May all of us take hold of the life that is truly life.

I am grateful for Ruth and to God beyond measure.

We all live, move, breath and die at God’s pleasure.

Ruth drew deep comfort from this precious thought from her God:

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

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