hope from despair – Thankful in all Things

October 18, 2020

Looking back, allows you to look forward

Last week I played my annual 100 holes of golf to raise money for FCA and AIA. When the person I played with found out about my recovery from Guillain Barre, his 1st response was “that had to be really scary.” My answer, in all honesty, is nothing scared me once it was determined I would not need to go on a ventilator. That in itself was a blessing as the doctor gave me a 78% chance of that happening within 24 hours of being admitted to UVA. It was the only time I cried. I have thought a lot about not being scared and it boils down to one thing. My faith allowed me to trust God in as Paul writes in Hebrews 11, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” I also trusted a good friend who is a doctor when he said, “this is going to get worse but you will get better” But why did I have such a trust?

The trust came from being able to look back over my life to the significant moments where God met me in that place and showed me the way forward. As I shared my GBS story with my golf marathon partner, the book “Hinds feet in high places” by Hannah Humard came to mind. The author titled it based on Habakkuk 3:19, “The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds‘ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.” and also from Psalm 18:33 “He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights.” I was not scared because I believed my strength would return, I would walk again and yes, even be able to play golf all day long for FCA/AIA. “Much Afraid” in Hinds feet “had the feeling that somehow, in the very far-off places, perhaps even in far-off ages, there would be a meaning found to all sorrow and an answer too fair and wonderful to be as yet understood.” I have experienced that same wonderful meaning in my life.

Elizabeth Elliott expressed where rest is found in marathons or any challenge we face: ”God is God. If He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere but in His will. and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.” Pamela Bunn writes in her blog https://astherainandsnow.com/author/astherainandsnow/, “Though Elijah had his weak moments of discouragement and fear, Elijah would learn by experience that the Lord would never ask him to do anything for which He was not enough. Repeatedly, His adequacy came forth out of lack and impossibility, and that is where it best shines. (1 Kings 17:11-16; 18:32-39)

Prior to GBS there have been many times in my life that like Much Afraid in Hinds Feet, God met me which gave me the strength and courage to persevere in the midst of the adversity. Each time it made me stronger having gone through it. Little did I know I would need those times to not be afraid when lying in a hospital bed with GBS unable to move. Here are some things I learned from a sermon by Chip Ingram at https://livingontheedge.org that I hope will help you the next time you come up against a challenge.

God uses adversity to make us more mature because we are forced to depend on God rather than on our own power
We are weaned from the worldly and temporal things and made to realize what is really important In our lives
We get to witness the reality and Power Of God.
God gives us the privilege of showing others what it looks like to trust in God.
Finally, going through a struggle gives you the ability to help others who are experiencing some kind of trial in their life.

Paul sums it up well in 2 Corinthians 9:8. “It is in these very hard circumstances that His enough is the most welcome, satisfying, and glorious, showing forth the bounty of His nature toward us.” I pray you will find joy in knowing God is indeed enough. Be blessed!

To learn more about my GBS story visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/michaelguthrie If you want to support my FCA/AIA golf fundraiser, click on this link. https://my.fca.org/donation?name=fcauvagolfmarathon I can be reached at [email protected]

April 26, 2020April 26, 2020

Anyone else tired? Is it any wonder why?

I was grappling with why this past week has been long and hard. It should have been one of excitement because it led up to yesterday marking one year from when I walked out of Albemarle Rehab. Ironically, today marks 43 days of self-isolation as well. Things started to come together when I heard a comment listening to a podcast. On a side note, there is a positive take away from my having and recovering from Guillain Barre Syndrome. For reasons I won’t go into here, I have never liked to be read to by others. Now I listen to books, sermons, and podcasts of interest regularly but I digress. ?. The comment made was, “we can be infected mentally as well as physically by COVID-19. We all certainly need to protect ourselves and others from getting the Coronavirus. We also need to protect ourselves and others from allowing this pandemic to drag us down into a place of discouragement. This thought was reinforced by an excerpt I read from a Regent College class “The Great Conundrum” taught by friend Steve Garber. Here is what he wrote. “the word disease was created to communicate a state of “dis-ease,” its etymological origin from an old word for “ease,” for things being the way they are supposed to be. A life with no trouble, at ease, simply said. When we use the word, we are saying that human life has been disrupted, that we are in disarray, that sometimes something has gone wrong, terribly wrong.” I am guessing we have all felt this feeling that something is terribly, terribly, wrong but have had trouble putting our finger on the part that it has nothing to do with our health.

We can allow this discouragement to mentally weigh us down. Little did I know what I wrote here last week was to help me not to succumb to what I would experience this week. Webster defines succumb this way “ I realize that to not succumb into despair I must choose to focus and trust the One from where comes Hope. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5) A Charlottesville pastor, Pete Hartwig and his son Peter are doing an online daily devotional. I listened to one recently on one of my self-isolation walks. It was about the woman who Jesus healed in Luke 13. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Until Pete shared it, I never thought Jesus may have healed this woman from the mental burdens she was carrying vs a physical one. Did you catch it? He placed His hands on her and she immediately straightened up. He wants to do the same for each one of us.

What infirmity are you allowing to weigh you down like it did the woman in the story? What unnecessary baggage or burdens are you carrying through Covid-19? The Lord wants you to let go and give them to Him. He promises in Matthew 11:29-30 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” When dealing with GBS, I chose to do this very thing. I can’t speak for you but, Like the old ad for Alka Seltzer said “Try It, You’ll Like It”. Find the peace only God can provide. Like the woman, you will begin to straighten up as the burdens are lifted off of you. Go out now and find others to encourage out of their “dis-ease” and into the peace and contentment God promises even in the midst of this season of unbelievable challenge.

March 22, 2020March 22, 2020

Out of brokeness can come beauty

Phillippians 2:4 “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

bottom left picture is from my “Self-Isolation Rapunzel Self-Isolation Tower” above our garage

I shared my word for the year was Generosity in my 1/1/2020 blog post. My friend Liza Borches Myers in her keynote speech to my company shared her company’s word was Courage. Little did we know then how both would be so desperately needed at this time due to the Coronavirus world we live in today. “Things are bad and probably are going to get worse” Do you remember these words? They were shared by a doctor friend of mine right after I had been admitted to the hospital. He then said, “but you will get better.” That gave me hope then and it gives me hope today. It took courage for me to battle back from the effects of Guillain Barre and the generosity of so many to encourage us along the way. Dottie wrote this on our CaringBridge a year ago this weekend. “Meals delivered, overnight help, visitors, cards and notes of encouragement, and prayers have sustained us. We are blessed and grateful.” That statement is as tru today as it was then. Like my recovery, I have hope that the world will recover from this Coronavirus and we will find it better. There are reasons for such confidence. We sit in this incredible dark time and yet can glimpse the first slivers of the dawn’s light as we watch the Coronavirus’ impact releasing its grip in China and South Korea. Even in Italy where things are at its worse there are signs that have brought hope. I shared the following on Facebook a couple of days ago.

In attempts to see the positive out of this pandemic, here is a quote translated by an Italian journalist to read whenever we feel worried. I added a few things in parenthesis. “The people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced, (many sang to each other from their balconies. A US ship in port played the Italian national anthem from their PA system.)And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. When the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully (as evidenced by the canals cleaning up so that dolphins have been spotted swimming there) and they had been healed.”

Further proof of the world being made better is found in this quote “The bottom line: “Beyond the public health and economic crises, [Riccardo Valentini, a professor at Italy’s University of Tuscia] said, the pandemic ultimately could trigger the most significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of the past century.” God’s Word is true. Paul wrote about my sickness and the Coronavirus challenge we fact today in Romans 8:28 “know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

I love the song “I can only imagine” by Mercy Me. It talks about what it will be like in heaven. If you haven’t heard it, google it on YouTube. Philippians 2:4 says, Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Could it be that with, what is going on and how we are generous and mindful of others, itwill make a very positive difference in our world going forward? We can only imagine.