A particular trial comes to an end-God was faithful

A particular trial ends for my family this morning. Not a small trial. The kind of trial that lasts for years. The kind of trial that reaches into your chest and threatens to rip your heart out. Yet here we stand, by the grace of God here we stand, whole. Older , wiser, a little greyer, but whole, kept in His hand. And so, in these wee hours of the morning as I cannot sleep, for joy awakes me, I think of all who are in the midst of trials, sore trials, trials that have lasted years yet still you stand by the grace of God and you understand that His grace and mercy is life itself. It is light when all around is darkness. It is hope when the world says there is no hope and oh how we cling to this. And so in this light I have just written the poem below. May it bless you. God has seen the afflictions of His people.

Let the presence of the Lord
Circulate through my heart
Let neither trial nor circumstance
Come and tear us apart

There is a roaring lion
That ever seeks to devour
Let us be ever vigilant
Every day and every hour

Stand fast ye Royal Soldiers
Ye soldiers of the cross
There's one thing certain in this life
That you will suffer loss

Our Lord He understands these things
He sees our agonies and pain
And on the cross of Calvary
Our enemy there was slain

So in the moment of the trial
In the midst of the darkest night
Stand fast ye Royal priesthood
Stand up stand up and fight

There is no trial that is pleasant
No agony easily borne
Yet there is a God in heaven
And we live by promises sworn

For in the book it is written
It is written there by Blood
That He shall raise a standard
When the enemy comes in like a flood

Stand up ye Royal priesthood
There in the midst of the fire
Stand up my brothers and sisters
Come up a little higher

For He has seen your afflictions
And every tear that falls by night
And holds you in His very hand
He has called you to this fight

There will come a day so very soon
Where all your trials will have an end
And though for now you're tempest tossed
You shall not break but bend

So let His presence flow through you
For in these waters you must swim
Through fire and flood and fiercest storm
To be surely found in Him.

Hold fast hold fast hold fast my child
For joy comes in the morning
There is eternal peace ahead
For those who sound Gods warning.

Praise God brother Frank. It is wonderful for the relief and fruit of such afflictions to be felt from time to time on this side of eternity. God is honoring you for bearing with His strength through it.

Thank you brothers and sisters for rejoicing with me. It is not always often we can get the opportunity to celebrate, as brother Greg put it so well, " the relief and fruit of afflictions." Today is such a day and my burden as always, is to remember constantly the Body of Christ who daily suffer for the cause of Jesus. Please join with me in prayer for my wife who, in quite a separate matter, will have a pet scan on Monday. They discovered a 3.1cm lump in one of her lungs a few weeks ago. I have been around long enough to know how the enemy works and just as one trial passes it seems that another is never too far away. Yet praise God, I have been around long enough to know that my Lord has carried me through these burdens and trials and that He is faithful indeed despite our circumstances. He has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love and of power and of a sound mind. Love and power and soundness of mind, these are gifts from God so that we may navigate this world and even stand in the midst of the fiery furnace............bro Frank

my dear brother,
I will pray for your dear wife, with all my heart, and I will praise God for the other triumph in His Name, I love you brother Frank, in Jesus love, wee neil, who esteems you as well.