Prayer and Praise

Our two very handsome young men! We are blessed to have such wonderful sons!

After a really nice evening out with my wife, with my little one tagging along, so I guess you can't call it a date night, we settled in for a wild night of partying. I drove to Wal-Mart to buy milk while she baked some pumpkin bread!!! Yep, partying like it is 1899!!!! We sat on our hind parts and watched a Netflix movie. What can we say? We are some wild and crazy folks.

I should have known it was going to be rough night when about 10 pm a kidney stone started moving. Felt like someone had knifed me and was just spinning the blade around! Been up most all of the night, even now it appears no end in sight!

But I don't intend this to be a negative post! My relentless battle with kidney stones is what it is. It is horribly painful and unfortunately, not fatal! ;-)

I did want to share a verse God gave me over the last couple of days and some praise. I am just now seeming to come out of the worst physical tail spin I've had in about 16 months. The last time I've been this bad, I spent 6 days in Baylor hospital and was told to get ready to spend the rest of my life in the wheelchair. So, you can imagine how my last couple of weeks have gone.

I started declining rapidly the day my Uncle Bill went in for surgery. By the day after I was struggling to walk even short distances. I could barely lift my hands above my shoulders. By the second day I could not get out of a chair without assistance. Getting out of bed took minutes, not seconds. My pain has been unbearable. Every muscle seemed to scream with pain. Simple tasks like personal hygiene or getting dressed were quickly becoming huge obstacles. I didn't say a lot about it, because I wanted everyone of my friends to be focused and praying for my Uncle who is very dear to me and not be fixated on me. My condition stinks but is not usually fatal! His was the more serious prayer need by far!

By Tuesday of this week and into Wednesday, I had reached a new low. I was struggling physically that was obvious. I was also struggling mentally and spiritually. It was really difficult seeing all the progress I've made in these last two years just slip away and be right back where I started. My seizures were as bad as I've had them. I've had seizures back to back to back. Days have been spent just barely getting out of bed.

I received a baptist newspaper, The Southern Baptist Texan, in the mail yesterday and my eye was immediately drawn to one story. It was about a burn victim and his amazing story of recovery and faith. In that story, which I will put a link to at the bottom of this post, a verse was given that the Holy Spirit really used to lift me up and encourage me when I needed it most. The verse was this:

"Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD." Ezekiel 37:5-6

I know the context of the verse is different than my personal application, but I know God gave me that verse to encourage me when I needed it. What the world says is dead, what the world says can't ever live again, is never impossible with God. My God is the almighty and living God. Nothing is impossible for Him!

Many of you have already read how some 16 months ago, when I had reached the lowest physical point of my life the Lord assured me in my spirit that HE would heal me of this disease, in His time, and HE would receive the glory! I still believe that, I've never stopped believing it, though I know at times my faith has stumbled. God's faithfulness has never stumbled. I've already seen the doctors prognostications proven wrong. I've gotten so much of my life back, though it is give and take at times. I've been able to return to pastoral ministry, something you would never have believed had you seen me in that hospital bed back then. God is faithful! He can say to this body, LIVE! And it will have life. In Him alone I trust. In Him alone I have complete faith! He is still on His throne and His promises to me from 16 months ago are as true today as they were back then! I will live! I will serve Him! He will receive all the glory! I cannot ask for more!

On the praise front, I am improving. (minus this miserable kidney stone!) :-) It is slow and painful but I was able to drive myself to Walmart last night and grab a small dab of groceries. I know that task seems insignificant, but if you knew how far I'd fallen physically of late, you'd know just how significant that is! By the end of my little jaunt I felt like I had run a marathon and was about to fall out, but I had still done it. All praise to God!

My Uncle Bill Sillivan has made great improvements. He is out of ICU and on the road to recovery! I am so thankful and want to praise God for His wonderful faithfulness in answering the prayers of His people. Thank you for praying for him!

Thank you all for your continued prayers for me and our church New Beginnings. I am going to try and write later today on the church blog a summary of some of the things God has done for us over the last year! What an amazing God we serve!

I still have many questions. I am not sure how long it will take me to recover what I've lost. Not sure just how bad the seizures will be before they get better. Even though I have questions, I know Who has the answers. To God be all glory, power, honor, and praise!

In His Service,

Micah

Here is a link to the amazing article about the burn victim I told you about:

http://www.texanonline.net/default.asp?action=article&aid=6534&issue=12/21/2009

Here are some recent pics of the kiddos:

My almost 15 year old son Zachary. What a fine young man he is becoming!

(And dashingly handsome like his father too!) ;-)

Zachary at two years old....now wait till you see the next one!

Yes, that is the same outfit exactly! We are amazed at how much they look alike! Their smiles are different in the pictures, but we have seen both smiles on both boys so we REALLY see how much they look a like. Samuel is about 5 months younger in this picture than Zachary's picture but since Samuel is a whopper, I don't think it makes a lot of difference!

Happy New Year everyone! We love you all!

The Mauldins, Micah, Carrie, Zachary, and Samuel