Sparky in the snow covered field at sunrise

I’ve been married to Dale for 33 years, I thought I knew everything there was to know about this man, not so. For two weeks straight I’ve watched him endure  the pain of a kidney stone, it was so great that he couldn’t sleep for 36 hours at a time. In his greatest hours of pain (Scale of 1-10, pain was a 10) I witnessed something indescribably priceless, he worshipped the Lord. He would pace for 10 hours straight glorifying his Lord and Savior.  I’m talking non-stop walking and praising!

Kidney stone  pain isn’t like a contraction where you experience great pain and then you get a two minute reprieve. It’s straight pain with no reprieve. With no reprieve from the pain, he worshipped. I would follow him while he paced the floor, you would have thought I would’ve been the one with great strength leading him in prayer, but he was leading me.

When the pain was  bearable he would turn worship music. When it was intense he turned it off, the only way to endure it was to converse with the Lord audibly in prayer. What a testimony to watch Dale suffer such a painful trial and see Jesus glorified and honored every hour of it!!

I saw in my husband a man stronger than I had ever seen before, and I thought I had already seen strong!  In his greatest hour of pain, he  remained unoffended at Jesus and embraced Him, all the more. Peter says that fiery trials test the genuineness of our faith which is of greater worth than gold. Trials  heighten our spiritual alertness and prepare us for greater purposes in Him.

Thank you for praying for Dale. The stone has been broken, but  hasn’t passed-yet.

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” I Peter 1: 6-7