Something I have not shared too much about is that Jon has been dealing with some heart issues over the past month. When he was in an accident on Mt. Hood in 1999, he developed a racy heart. His heart rate will rise and drop dramatically because it is out of rhythm, and it has been controlled by medication for ten years. At the end of last month (January) it started happening again, and after several trips to the Cardiologist, it was decided that they would do an atrial flutter ablation on the right side of his heart. We enlisted some of our closest prayer warriors to pray for success for this procedure, and we really felt that we put it in God's hands.
Unfortunately, when the doctor got in and mapped out Jon's heart, it was found that his problem is on the left side of the heart, (atrial fibrillation) so they aborted the ablation. Jon woke up to the news that the procedure did not happen, and we were both very disappointed. A left side ablation is much more involved, and the success rate is not high.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways. - Isaiah 55:9
Sometimes the prayers of many are not answered in the ways we had hoped. It is also true for the parents who beg for their child's life as they lay dying, or the person who pleads with God that their recent medical test does not show cancer. We sometimes come up empty handed, and it causes us to wonder what God is thinking and why He is silent.
The apostle Paul wrestled with this same question, which he wrote about in Romans 11. Paul's prayers, and the prayers of many did not always bring the desired results that Paul hoped for. However, when Paul stepped back he saw how God was working on a bigger picture, which caused him to write:
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[i] knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”[j]
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”[k]
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen
Knowing that many people were lifting you in prayer in the midst of an unanswered situation does make the pill a little less bitter. We have found the power of prayer to be so amazing, that we have to learn to take the "no" just as faithfully as we have taken the "yes". Although we don't see the reason for it now, at the end of the day God's ways have greater meaning and purpose than our ways. In Jon's case, the medication has been doubled and his heart rate is back to normal. We will have hope that this normal rhythm will last a long time.
Phillip Yancey wrote, "The unsolved mysteries and unanswered prayers all fade to gray against the panorama of God's plan for the ages. In the end, unanswered prayer brings me face to face with the mystery that silenced Paul; the profound difference between my perspective and God's."
Always trusting,
Sandy (& Jon)
