JESUS IS OUR LOVER OF THE SOUL

It was a quiet March evening. My wife, LaRee, was sitting in her favorite chair beside the fireplace that you see in the photo above. She was knitting while I was writing a post for this blog and listening to J.S.Bach's "Saint Matthew Passion". Something occurred to me. I said, "It was 30 years ago yesterday that I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis." LaRee paused, put her knitting down on her lap, looked over her reading glasses and said, "We won. We beat the MS." It was of those revelations of life when the experiences of decades melt into a single moment: The room filled with thunderous silence  LaRee was right. We rose above the disease.

I gazed toward the fireplace and became lost in the flames. Our terrifying journey with MS did not drive us apart, it drew us closer. In the midst of the consuming fire of a terrible disease, we embraced each other tighter when the flames grew higher. Multiple sclerosis crippled my body but not our humanity nor our love for each other. In fact, our anguish made us grow spiritually and mature.  Like the mature fire warming our living room, LaRee's simple but profound words warmed my heart and my soul. We looked at each other with a deep understanding no words can express.

There have been times when all we had was love -- our love for

LaRee and me

each other resting in the divine love of God. We need not fear that which destroys the body if our souls are safe in Christ. (See 1 Peter 1.3-7.)

The love of God will prevail. Jesus is our lover of the soul. -- Mark

(Click on image below for Hillsong, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mff8_hwgWy4 )