In countless ways, Ian is an example of Christ to me. I was sitting in my car today, thanking God for bringing Ian and I into each other's lives. Then I started thinking about how even since those first few days in the hospital, Ian was able to show me that he loved me. God gave Ian many ways to show me that he knew my voice and loved me, even though he couldn't talk. For the past two years, the man who can do very little has always done at least one thing.Ian has remained faithful in his love to me. There is little that I understand about Ian now because he can't talk to me. I don't know what memories he still has, I don't know what specific sins he struggles with or what a session of therapy is really like for him. But I do know that he loves me and has remained faithful to me.
So how does this remind me of Christ? I do not mean to compare Ian to God or say that in any way Ian's love is perfected as Christ's is. But we are reflections of Christ and are microscopic images of our creator. And so in Ian, I see the faithfulness of God's love: like my unknowns about Ian, there is much I don't know about God. I don't know when He will return. I don't know why he has not answered our prayers for deliverance. But I do know that he loves me, made manifest and permanent to me in Christ's death on the cross. That is what has remained when all else seems to have crumbled.
And so God has given me another evidence of his love through Ian. God's faithfulness shown through Ian's faithfulness. And that is only one piece of how Ian's love has affected and changed me. I could write an entire blog about that:)
"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10)
-Larissa
-Larissa
8 comments:
Thanks for that reminder. Amazing how we need that reassurance again and again. May the Lord continue to open His Word to you, Ian and the Murphy family -- and provide the Spirit's counsel and wisdom.
Thank God for his grace!
Hi Larissa,
God bless you for your faithfulness to Ian and the courage you have shown. You challenge my life everyday, would i stand with my beloved even in such adverse circumstances? and joyously so?
Find strength in the fact that "God's strength is made perfect in our weakness." and also "He will never allow us be tempted beyond what we can bear".
God bless.
Grace,
Nairobi, Kenya.
Larissa,
What a work God is doing in you!
Your heart is clay in the Father's hands...ready to be molded as He desires!
Tears and prayers for you today!
Mary Ann K.
i think someday you will write a whole blog/book about your life, with ian now, and how he was. god is showing you so much, and you are showing us so much ...but how painful it is. i have heard it said that we 'learn' the most in the valleys, but i sure could use some hilltops...but god's will shall be done as he sees fit. i think he does give us the grace for it...sometimes we just don't see it. ok, this is too long...goodnight.
This is one of the most powerful blog I have read.
Thank you for your insight into God's love.
My best friend was in an accident a little over a year ago on his beloved Harley Davidson and was in a coma for a week, when the decision was made to let nature take its natural course instead of the different types of assistance that he was receiving at that point in time. He was 19 years old. He stayed alive longer than the doctors thought he would and then passed away. Your blog is a God send. I love and respect Ian , Ian's family and friends, and especially his WONDERFUL girlfriend (not sure if that is the correct title). I think of Ian and pray for him and all you guys. You have enough faith to move mountains!!! I rejoice in he fact that God has shown me this example of faith in action. Keep up the good work. You are a great example to me and anyone else who comes in contact with you. God Bless, and thanx so so so much.
Love and Respect,
John Plain
Larissa,
I am consistently challenged and inspired by how you are walking through this. Thank you for sharing it with us.
-tina
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