{"id":29390,"date":"2020-12-18T03:30:24","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T11:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=29390"},"modified":"2020-12-13T14:30:15","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T22:30:15","slug":"december-18-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2020\/12\/18\/december-18-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"December 18, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cAs you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Colossians 2:6-7<\/p>\n

Uprooted Yet Rooted<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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The photo I am attaching is ME!\u00a0I feel empty. I feel like something has been lost, and I feel like I’m looking for part of me that has disappeared.\u00a0The photo is so vivid. It really describes everything I feel right now.\u00a0However, you will note that in the midst of all the emptiness and all the sand being gone and in the midst of so much that isn’t there, the one thing that is clearly there are the roots.\u00a0The roots have not disappeared.\u00a0The roots have not gone! The roots are strong and firm in the midst of everything else being washed away.\u00a0If you look closely at the picture, literally everything around it is washed away and yet the roots are firm and secure and still there.\u00a0This is how I feel right now too!<\/p>\n

I have been through an unbelievable trial\u2014in fact I’m still in the middle of it\u2014and yet in the midst of feeling very empty in that trial I also feel very full because my roots are secure.\u00a0I can’t tell you how good that feels.\u00a0I don’t think I’d make it through the trial without those strong roots surrounding me in the midst of the emptiness and barrenness.\u00a0I’m so, so grateful.\u00a0In the midst of our relationship with the Lord, this is truly what we can look like.\u00a0We can still stand, we can still be rooted because we are planted in Jesus.\u00a0We can even keep growing because our roots are deep in Him.\u00a0Hard times, difficult times don’t have to leave us barren.\u00a0We may look like it to outsiders, like we are barren but we’re not.\u00a0We’re strong, we’re firm, we’re rooted in Him because of who He is.<\/p>\n

It seems like ages since I’ve been able to communicate with you personally.\u00a0My huge, huge thanks to Julie.\u00a0Her carrying on with communication and keeping you in touch with how I was doing and how things were going in the interim was so important. It was not an easy time, but I feel she kept you in touch with how things were so that you knew how to pray.\u00a0I was so very grateful for your prayers. Thank you.\u00a0They have meant the world to me, they have carried me along and I’m so grateful.\u00a0Thank you for carrying us during this time.<\/p>\n

As of right now I have spent much of the last four and a half weeks in the hospital.\u00a0I still don’t know what’s ahead.\u00a0It’s a big question mark.\u00a0I am diligently working on eating well, working with my therapist to regain strength and doing everything on my part to rebuild, but I still need some very big miracles.\u00a0One of the prayers on my heart is that I can be home for Christmas.\u00a0I would love to be in my own home, I would love to be with a few friends.\u00a0It will take some miracles in my body, it will take practical miracles and it will take a lot of the Lord’s help.\u00a0So please think of us in this season and please pray that I can be home.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your love, care and generous giving to us. I know that many of you dear ones are going through your own hard times.\u00a0Your sharing with us means so much\u2014more than I have the words to express.\u00a0Your gifts allow me to continue caring for Floyd, to care for my needs at this time, to care for our\u00a0personal needs, and to share in ministry needs. I’m\u00a0so grateful.\u00a0Thank you!\u00a0I wish we could have written each of you personally to tell you how grateful we are.<\/p>\n

Lord, thank You for giving Sally assurance during this time. We join her in asking You that she could be home in time for Christmas. Thank You for your work in her life. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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