MAY YOU FIND JESUS SUFFICIENT AND WORTHY By Lakan Mariano I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 4 Kim and I prayed, and I still pray daily, that our children would find their joy and their delight and purpose and fulfillment in God and God alone. And that long after we are gone from this earth the Lord would allow the gospel to go forth through our children and their children and their childrens children. It was a delight for me yesterday to get to sit and listen to our son Micah explain and apply Colossians 2:6-10 to a roomful of youth during Seek Week in Brownwood, Texas. Then when I got home from prayer meeting last night I read what our son-in-law Cole wrote on their Belize blog. I thank the Lord for continuing to draw our childrens and their spouses hearts to Him. The following is what Cole wrote: My sincere apologies for the belated final blog. Im tempted to offer a bunch of excuses, but I know that you all love us so much that they would render unnecessary! The truth is that our lives have changed dramatically in a very short period of time by the loss of Rachels mother, Kim Hammond Mariano. We received a rather unwelcome phone call on the 13th of May that Kims health was deteriorating rather suddenly. Thankfully our wonderful church quickly rescheduled our flight and we were back home the day after! We were afraid that we would be too late, but thankfully our gracious Father gave us 8 more days with Kim. I cannot begin to explain the beautiful way God allowed our family to experience Him during those 8 days of sorrow and turmoil, but it is just like God to surprise us with His goodness, even in the saddest of circumstances. Truly He reigns supreme over every situation. Kim, or Kimma as we affectionately called her, had been battling breast cancer which then became liver cancer and then eventually brain cancer. She was such an amazing, godly woman, and throughout her sickness she displayed Christ in every way because, as all that were around her can attest, she refused to be defined by her cancer. Instead she recognized and held tightly to her identity in Christ. Kim was and is defined by nothing less than the glory of the Lord Jesus because of His life, death, and resurrection. Its hard not to wonder why we went to Belize in the first place. Could we have really made that much of an impact in 3 1/2 months? Did we misunderstand God when He told us to go to Belize? Did He actually say You need to stay in the States because Kim will pass away in 3 1/2 months! As silly as all these questions sound, they are the exact things weve seriously asked, and in all of our asking we think the Holy Spirit has been teaching us that we dont need to know the impact we made in Belize (if any at all) because our impact wasnt the point, and if you think about it how arrogant of us to think that Gods plan relies so heavily on us! God will accomplish His purpose despite our flaws and inadequacies. He only desires that we be obedient! In fact obedience is the point! Jesus desires us to love Him by our obedience to Him. (John 14:21) I pray that God allows us to return to Belize someday, and I pray even harder that He blesses The Kings Home. I pray that He will call every kid there to salvation and that they will respond to His grace by faith in the risen Christ. I desire so badly that they know the joy of our Lord and that they understand the miseries of this world are only temporary and a blink of an eye compared to the eternity that awaits those who love the Lord. Will you pray that with me? Its easy to get discouraged and fear the worst, but instead I will trust the Lord with all of my worries and with all of those that I love so dearly. During the hardest trials it was with great hope that I remembered there were friends back home praying for us. You are all so wonderful, and I pray that God shows His glory to you in the same way that He has shown us. Kim was actually the one who started this Facebook page and updated it faithfully. Losing her here has shaken our world, but no matter how shaky this life seems I know that my God is unshakable and His will is unstoppable. He is worthy of our praise. He is worthy of our obedience. He is worthy of our lives... May you find Jesus Christ sufficient and worthy.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 10:46:45 +0000
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