Jesus' power...

7.04.12

Hebrews 3:6

"But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house.  And we are His house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory."

I would usually start my blog off with an anecdote from my life, but lately my life has been very interesting so I have decided to use my blog as an opportunity for folks to hear updates on my dad and to know how to pray for him and my family.  This one may be long, but please read and be encouraged by Jesus as I have been encouraged by Him tonight.

Today is the fourth of July.  I am not big on fireworks and huge noisy crowds, so I am spending the night in the hospital with my dad.  I did not expect God to answer prayers so quickly, but then again God has a way of blowing my expectations out of the water.  Tonight is no exception to that thought.  

 One of the things that I have been praying about over the last several weeks is that God would open a door for good conversation with my dad.  Tonight God showed up and I don't think I could be more thankful for his sovereignty in every situation of my life.

I have to start this story with something that happened about two or three months ago.  I was driving in my car and I felt a very strong conviction to go buy my dad a Bible.  It came out of nowhere, so I know it was from God.  This was one of those convictions that you can't ignore.  I waited about a week but was encouraged by a friend to listen to God and go buy the Bible.  I went that morning and bought the Bible for my dad and brought it to him at work that afternoon.  I also brought a few slices of pizza because we Abbamontes bond best over a couple of slices of pizza.

When I arrived at my dad's work we sat, ate and I gave him the Bible which I had wrapped very poorly.   He opened it and I believe that he was very thankful for not only the gift but the what the gift was.  As we sat and talked he told me about how he prayed every morning.  I can not tell you the feeling of joy I felt leaving him that day hearing that phrase.  My dad always impressed me, but that day I was almost was blown away by the man that I get to call my father.  He has always been a huge encouragement to me; that day it solidified with me even more how amazing of a man that God has made him.

About a week ago I ran over to my dad's work and grabbed his Bible off his desk and brought it to him in the hospital.  His co-workers asked as he was doing, but one man ran after me as I walked to my car and asked very specifically how he could be praying for my dad.  His name is Sean.  As Sean and I talked, my mom called and told me that my dad had asked for me to pray very specifically as he was going in for his next round of testing.  I put my mom on speaker and with Sean standing there the three of us prayed together.   

 Flash forward to tonight.  As we settled in to watch TV, let me re-phrase that, as I settled in to watch TV and dad settled in to play spider solitaire (he loves playing that game) I saw the Bible sitting on his counter.  I took it out of the box and told my dad that we should do some reading tonight.  Let me just tell you I've never done anything like that before.  I usually just assume that he is reading it and that's good enough.

He handed the Bible to me and said pick out a good chapter.  I prayed quickly that God would find something for us to read together.  God placed the book of Hebrews on my heart and I turned to chapter 3.  As I read the chapter to my dad we sat and talked about faith.  Once again God immediately answer a prayer.  

My father assured me that he was still praying every morning when he wakes up.  He also assured me that he knew that God was with him through everything going on.  I told him how I've been thinking a lot about the power of the Holy Spirit and I encouraged him that Jesus left the Holy Spirit as a gift for us so that we can always remember that God is always with us and at work in our lives.  

Tonight my heavenly Father reminded me of his presence in not only my life, but his power and majesty in my families' lives.  I am so encouraged by my father and his relationship with Jesus.  I know that God is watching over him throughout all of this.  I also reminded my father tonight that he is the strongest man I know and that if there is anyone who can beat this it's him.

My dad has always been someone that I go to for advice and council.  I have had lots of conversations with my dad over the years, but I think I can honestly say tonight was one of the best conversations I have ever had with him.  I don't know if I could ever thank God enough for the talk that I got to have with my dad this evening.  

We got some tough news last night as we were told by the doctors that cancer was found in dad's bone marrow.  I will ask that you continue to pray for my dad and my family.  Please pray that my dad continues to feel God's presence and work of the Holy Spirit in him during this time.  Again I am very thankful for all the texts, calls and prayers.  You will never know how much they mean to my dad, me and the rest of my family.