A Prayer

October of last year was full of much activity…some exciting some not so much.

• October 4th ~ We left the states to come to Georgia.

• October 6th ~ We arrived in Tbilisi in the early, early morning hours. Later in the day, our “boss” came to take us to lunch. He informed us that he had to go back to the states because his father was critically ill. He departed about 24 hours later, leaving us alone in the country. We are thankful that Megan had already been in Georgia, so suddenly being left alone like that did not really cause us any problems. He was able to return by Thanksgiving, and his father is still doing well, despite what the doctors thought a year ago.

• October 23rd ~ Wade started experiencing extreme pain in his abdomen area. By the 25th, we were in an emergency room at a Georgian hospital, and by the 27th, he was going into surgery to have his gallbladder removed. It was gangrene and the infection was on the verge of spreading to other organs. It was an intense surgery, requiring a full incision. Wade spent 10 full days in the hospital before he finally got to leave, and those 10 days were under not so pleasant conditions. You can check out our posts from October and November 2010, in case you missed this event in our lives.

We started the month off so well, so excited for the time ahead in Georgia. It turned into a rough start for us. While hanging out in the ER (before we even got to the surgery part), we were wondering what went wrong. Why was this happening? Now? Here? Should we have even come to Georgia? Some of the questions can be answered to some extent…others not so much. Maybe someday it will be more clear…maybe not. One thing it did do was “disturb us” and draw us closer to the Lord. Those initial storms revealed His mastery…His healing power. We recently came across this prayer below.

Prayer of Sir Francis Drake

Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

It is one of many reminders to set our eyes on Christ alone. To seek Him first and foremost above all other things. To abide in Him and draw strength, courage, hope, and love from Him.

The events of one year ago have passed. Our first year in Georgia (together) has passed. It’s had some extreme ups and downs. But we face our second year in Georgia with greater strength, courage, hope, and love.  This is our prayer.