Perspectives from My Recovery
Musings from the Garden
By Peggy Wyar
Here I am at a bit over four weeks after my surgery. I have been reflecting on the love of my Heavenly Father. He knew I needed this recovery time to face the lies my heart has been believing.
You may hear the same inner voices at times saying things like:
“You’re an inconvenience.”
“You are not worth bothering anyone for help.”
“You shouldn’t need others.”
Some of my dear, wise sisters in the Lord have set me straight. They have gone out of their way to let me know of their love and concern for me. I have received meals and flowers, texts and phone calls, cards and face to face visits all designed by my heavenly Daddy to tear apart the stronghold of lies I had not even realized had been built up in my heart.
Here’s the truth I believe God’s Word wants me to embrace in this season:
God gives gifts in the body “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”. Ephesians 4:12
Every act of kindness and every prayer offered for me are gifts from Abba. These Holy Spirit inspired gifts build up the whole Body of Christ by encouraging unity, by giving an avenue for imitating God’s love and by showing God’s amazing grace being fleshed out.
If the motivation of a sister had been anything less than the love of Christ, these offerings may not have accomplished as much. Colossians 3:14-17 NIV says,
“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
But because my sisters were walking with the Spirit, my heart was refreshed and blessed. Unity within the Body was being maintained. I am so grateful that God placed me in a family of His that chooses to “do” Scripture. Now, when the father of lies begins his litany of deception, I have significant evidences of truth to battle him.
May we all become whole hearted participants of the ministry that is happening within the Body of Christ, one to another. The many ways God shows up through encouragement and prayers and service and grace are all designed to build up the Body so we may become mature.
Ephesians 4:13-16 NIV
“Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”