O Love of God, How Strong and True

I was up most of the night dealing with the onset of some side effects, both gastrointestinal and fatigue related. My mother also was up early heading back to Maine, so I didn't feel up to going to church this morning. Instead I watched the service at Park Street Church in Boston, where my parents are regular attenders. The sermon was a powerful reminder about the kind of worship that God deserves, based on who He is and what He has done.

I am very thankful for the way that God took away some of the nausea that had been overwhelming me in the early stages of my treatment the first two times. I appreciate the reprieve that it gave me these first 72 hours to know that being miserable wasn't a requirement of these treatments. While the second round of side effects seem to be returning as they have before, I have hope that we'll be able to control them more effectively. I think that this is an important step forward for me, because I have been rather overwhelmed, and noticing that my body would respond negatively to me even thinking about chemotherapy, which was adding an unnecessary layer a stress onto an already stressful situation.

I'm thankful to God for giving me a window of relief, and for honoring my cry for help, rather than my more natural response that I could handle this on my own. It was beyond my ability to deal with and I needed the reprieve, and the chance to get help so that I can more effectively deal with the symptoms and how they are affecting me in mind, body and spirit. Thank you for continuing to send encouragements my way and for your prayers. They are helping to sustain me in tangible ways.

The church service ended with the Hymn "O Love of God, How Strong and True", and it echoes my praise this morning to Him for his sustaining grace and love for me.

O love of God, how strong and true!

Eternal, and yet ever new;

Uncomprehended and unbought,

Beyond all knowledge and all thought.

O love of God, how deep and great!

Far deeper than man’s deepest hate;

Self fed, self kindled, like the light,

Changeless, eternal, infinite.

O heavenly love, how precious still,

In days of weariness and ill,

In nights of pain and helplessness,

To heal, to comfort, and to bless!

O wide embracing, wondrous love!

We read thee in the sky above,

We read thee in the earth below,

In seas that swell, and streams that flow.

We read thee best in Him who came

To bear for us the cross of shame;

Sent by the Father from on high,

Our life to live, our death to die.

We read thy power to bless and save,

E’en in the darkness of the grave;

Still more in resurrection light,

We read the fullness of thy might.

O love of God, our shield and stay

Through all the perils of our way!

Eternal love, in thee we rest

Forever safe, forever blest.