Hi there - long time no post, I know.  Thanks to those of you who notice when I go awhile without posting!  There's no real reason - things have just been hectic.  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by this mitochondrial diagnosis and all that it entails.  There are so many facets of this disease - from chronic pain to digestive issues to muscle fatigue.  I'm in 'research' mode and it can get really thick. It's amazing how much the whole body suffers when your mitochondria don't work.  Yet it makes total sense.  Cody doesn't have enough energy to support his organs and muscles, so therefore every single body operation suffers.  Headaches, muscle pain, stomach pain, you name it....it is affected by mitochondria.  So much to learn.

It continues to overwhelm me.  And yet in the midst of the worst days, God intervenes and shows me Himself without fail.  This devotional below really sums up life with adversity...and we all have it, don't we!?!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  Thanks Lynda for sending it.  I know this past year brought you your share of heartache - so it means all the more coming from someone who is experiencing the "trials of believers."

with love, Shawna

Truth For Life Daily

March 4, 2009

My grace is sufficient for you.
-- 2 Corinthians 12:9

If none of God's saints were poor and tried, we should not know half
so well the consolations of divine grace. When we find the wanderer
who has nowhere to lay his head who still can say, "I will trust in
the Lord," or when we see the pauper starving on bread and water who
still glories in Jesus, when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in
affliction and yet having faith in Christ--oh, what honor it reflects
on the Gospel.

God's grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of
believers. Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that
all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent
evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring--that their God will
either work a deliverance for them speedily or most assuredly support
them in the trouble, as long as He is pleased to keep them in it.

This patience of the saints proves the power of divine grace. There is
a lighthouse out at sea: It is a calm night--I cannot tell whether the
edifice is firm. The tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know
whether it will stand.

So with the Spirit's work: If it were not on many occasions surrounded
with tempestuous waters, we would not know that it was true and
strong; if the winds did not blow upon it, we would not know how firm
and secure it was. The masterworks of God are those men who stand in
the midst of difficulties steadfast, unmovable--

Calm mid the bewildering cry,
Confident of victory.

The one who would glorify his God must be prepared to meet with many trials. No one can be illustrious before the Lord unless his conflicts are many. If, then, yours is a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will be better
able to display the all-sufficient grace of God. As for His failing
you, never dream of it--hate the thought. The God who has been
sufficient until now should be trusted to the end.