Big News

We received some big news from the doctors…

Davy is scheduled to have surgery THIS Friday at 1pm!

Many of you have been praying for Davy to get physically strong enough to be able to go into surgery and for the wisdom of our doctors to know when is the right time. Well, God has listened to your prayers and in His sovereignty has made Davy strong enough and the doctors feel that the time is right.

Big Prayers

At my church, The Austin Stone Community Church, we’ve been going through our Fall Vision Series titled “Far More” where we are believing the truth of Ephesians 3:20-21 that God can do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. Last week, one of our preaching pastors and my friend Tyler David preached that as a church we are called to be “reliant on prayer” (you can check out that sermon here). In that same spirit, I’m asking that all of you would reach out to God in prayer for our little girl and our doctors in these ways.

• Comfort – I pray that God comforts my little girl. As a dad this is a amazing and scary moment. I want to be there to comfort her through the surgery, but know I won’t be able to be there. However, I know that our Heavenly Father can and will comfort her on my behalf.
• Surgeons – Pray for the wisdom, peace, and skill of our surgeons. Pray that they would have a peace and calm before entering into surgery and that they would experience the presence of God in the room with them.
• Davy & Her Recovery – The doctors have set a realistic expectation that Davy will be very sick coming out of surgery and that recovery will be difficult. I’m praying two specific things with her recovery:
  • That she would recover quickly.
  • That she won’t have to go on ECMO (Read more about ECMO here).

Big God

We serve a BIG God, yet so often we have such a small view of Him.

However, we must remember who our God truly is.

He is the Creator (Gen. 1-2), the Architect who laid the foundation of the earth (Job 38:4), the Sustainer and Maker of all living things (Heb. 1:3, Psalm 146:6), the God of gods and the Lord of lords (Deut. 10:17), the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Rev. 22:13) who is not served by human hands (Acts 17:25) and accomplishes ALL of His purposes (Isa. 46:10).

That is our God. He is a BIG God.

Can He heal people of disease? Can He calm the storms in your life? Can He save the most hardened soul? Can He bring salvation to unreached people groups? Can He heal a little girl with a birth defect? The answer is a resounding YES!

Does He always heal? No. Does He always save? No. Why? I’m not sure. I do know that His thoughts are not my thoughts and His ways are not my ways (Isa.55:8-9) so I won’t have all the answers.

However, we do know these truths.  Sometimes He does heal (Matt. 12:9-13). Sometimes He does bring the dead to life (John 11:1-44). Sometimes He does bring salvation to whole people groups (Jonah 3:6-10). Here’s the kicker. We can ask Him for these things (Matt. 7:7-12)!

I don’t want to get to the end of my life and not have received things because I didn’t ask for them (James 4:2-3). God may say “no”, but that’s ok because our hope isn’t found in the prayer itself, but in the One who has the power to answer the prayer.

Prayer Night for Davy

So I would love for you to come join me in asking God to do “far more” for my little girl before she enters into surgery.

It’s going to be this Thursday from 7-8pm at the Austin Stone St. John Campus in the “large equipping room”.

Please don’t feel pressure to come (I won’t think less of you if you don’t! ;)) and feel free to join us in prayer from wherever you call home.

No matter what, please don’t settle for a small view of God or asking small things of Him. He is a BIG God who is the “God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome” (Deut. 10:17) who is powerful enough to answer all of our prayers (Jer. 32:17).

Will He answer every one of your prayers? No, but remember that’s ok because our hope isn’t found in the answers to our prayers, but in the One who has the power to answer the prayer itself (Psalm 73:25-26).

So let’s ask God to do “far more” in my little girl’s life, our lives, the lives of our families, our churches, our country and the world.