Remember the famous quote from president Kennedy? “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

I will have quite a few people who have promised to pray for me tomorrow when I have my new right hip put in. This will by my first ever surgery but it is comforting to remember that however it turns out, it is out of my hands and God is in charge and will either give me healing or grace to deal with it.

I was joking that quite a few of the prayers would probably go something like this “Lord it would be a real pain in the neck to find a new psychiatrist so keep him well, amen!” I also sense that quite a few prayers will be because people really like me and wish me the best. My co-workers in the partial hospital had the chaplain anoint me and they all put their hands on me and prayed for me.

The thing that struck me is why do I appreciate the Lord. Is it because he saved and pardoned me and empowers me. Is it about all he can do for me? Or do I happen to find him a true friend and am concerned for his pleasure, how he is feeling, how to bring him glory? In Colossians 1:24 Paul says the our own sufferings are part of the suffering that Jesus took upon himself when he went to the cross. He is glad to bear my pain with me but what can we do for him in return?

Romans 12:1 says Offer yourself full of life as the one gift he will accept and be pleased with. Isn’t it awesome that he wants this gift–the gift of ME!

Don’t just love what he does for you – do for him what he wants you to in return: GIVE HIM YOUR LOVE, keep with the first love-ever fresh and new, don’t get sidetracked by trying to give him labor or zeal. These will be abundant if you focus on just loving him.

I go to surgery early tomorrow 9 29 and am at rest in the Lord.

Your fellow lover of Jesus. Verle