Lent is also a Time of Thanks for God's Blessings I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1 :4 Thank you. Thank you for your many prayers Thank you for your kind words, cards and meals As a pastor I am usually the one praying for and with others. I am usually the one with words of comfort and encouragement. You good people at Shepherd of the Hills have been kind to Margie & me. Thank you. Now I more fully understand the words the apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1 :3-5. The words apply to many of you. Read how Paul describes you in the following words. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, [4] who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. [5] For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. Kari, our daughter is home. Margie will stay with Kari, Kirk and their three children for several weeks. While Kari gains strength Margie will care for her and the children. As far as we know at the time I am writing this, following the two successful surgeries, Kari is cancer free. Please continue to pray for her to grow strong and for the quarterly MRI and exams to affirm that outcome. This experience is a reminder to me that we live in a broken world. This is a world in need of healing. That is why Jesus came to this earth so long ago. Jesus came to heal the broken hearted. During Lent we recall His suffering for our transgressions and His enduring our griefs and carrying our sorrows. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:3-5 Jesus knows what it is like to suffer the grief we feel for those we love. Jesus has felt that pain. Jesus knows the hopeless feeling of physical suffering and pain. Jesus knows that we feel as if we bear each of those burdens alone, even as HE was alone and forsaken by God. Yet we are not alone in our suffering. Jesus is with us. His Holy Spirit remains in us. All Jesus endured He suffered willingly. He bore all those terrible things for our sake. These trials in life do not drive us away from our Lord, but rather serve to draw us closer to our Savior. While my daughter struggled with cancer and her pain grew intolerable, I prayed more often. I read the prayers of others. I sought sources for strength. I asked for your prayers. Margie and I gave thanks for the blessings of children, grandchildren and had many deep heart-to-heart visits with our LORD. We gave thanks for the family God blessed us with and the many acts of kindness and words of love they willingly brought to Kari. Our God of love "forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases." (psalm 103:3) In the end, "Our help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth." (Psalm 121: 1) Pastor Stein