Happy Friday!

Luke 22: 42 “Saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but Your will be done.”

My friends, how many times have we been faced with things we don’t want to do? I don’t mean like laundry or dishes, but situations that have been placed in your hands that require great emotional care with life changing outcomes.

I was faced with this level of situation when the nurses asked me to tell Casey that there was nothing else that could be done to prolong his life. The chemotherapy did not work and the cancer had almost completely taken over his lungs and there were no more medications or procedures that could help. This is not a conversation that anyone wants to have, but especially not to have with their child. I remember finding a place to pray and remember asking God to let this cup pass from me, but if He truly wanted me to have this conversation then He would have to give me the words and He had to show up and guide me through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you remember this passage, Jesus was in the garden following the Last Supper . He went there to pray. Jesus knew that all He had ever done and every road He had ever walked had brought Him to this place. Even though Jesus was fully human and fully divine He prayed to His Father for this cup to pass from Him. Essentially Jesus asked His Father if everything else had been done. Was there anything else that could work? But if all possibilities had been exhausted then to let the will of the Father be done in Me.

I believe that this moment in Jesus’ life was witnessed and recorded for one reason; at some time in each of our lives we have to go to the garden, kneel before the Father of all, Creator of the universe and pray this same prayer. Jesus modeled the perfect example of obedience and trust in God’s perfect will for the life of His Son. God answered the prayer of Jesus. Jesus then followed the will of the Father. God allowed the events in the following hours to play themselves out in the trial, crown of thorns and crucifixion. Then God fulfilled His own promise by raising Jesus on the third day.

Whenever I am faced with a “not my will, but Your will be done” situation, I try to remember that God knows best and that He only wants the best for me and that for which I am praying. Sometimes it is hard for me to accept God’s will for my life, and when that happens God understands and I pray for His loving presence to surround me and to help me accept without fear the outcome of the situation.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.