For H

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear

guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I... 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and

satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never

fail. Isaiah 58:8-11

“Go before”, “hold”, “strengthen”. Those were the words running through my mind as I searched my memory, and then my online search tools for words from His Word to comfort my baby girl. Following knee surgery last June for a torn meniscus, Hannah has been working to rejoin her basketball team and to run track in the spring. However, her pain has not subsided as expected. A MRI last week revealed the reason why - Hannah's knee is not healing, it is deteriorating, rapidly. Her doctors see no good course of action, thought action must be taken. We will see a specialist in Chicago on Monday.

Hannah loves to move, to run fast, to jump, work hard and sweat. It has always been a joy to watch her. She also is in love with her Savior. She knows where to take her joys and her frustrations. She shares those things with her family and friends, but she knows as humans we may fail her, and that her Savior never will. She is looking for the mercies He is already showing in this trying time, taking note. She is grieving over the losses but anticipating His works.

God has knit Hannah together so marvelously, and you, and me. Hannah’s knee contained a meniscus that is unusually circular and thick, and her femur, where it enters her knee joint, is flattened rather than the usual rounded shape, variations that worked beautifully together until she was injured. These variations are also what is challenging to her doctors... she needs a meniscal transplant, but she is not a good candidate because of her unusual anatomy. Those are the facts from our perspective. The marvelous truth, however, is that Hannah’s Lord God is privy to a COMPLETE perspective, to all of the wisdom, to all of the power, to all of the mercy, and to all of the love needed to deliver Hannah however He chooses. What a delight to live as a daughter of such a God, with out fear in spite of sadness, with hope in spite of pain. Thank you for joining us in lifting Hannah up to such a God, and to Him be all the glory.