Wintering The Soul: Get a Glint (2)

Posted on by Gary Fultz

After 6 years…This post has a conclusion at the end. (Originally posted January 2018)

I ask a coworker friend often; “How is your wife doing?” Before saying anything past a long drawn out “OH,” and a sigh “you know”; there is a telling glint in his eye that means more than words.  A small deep glint at the core encrusted within weary, torn and sad eyes. The glint matches the smile on his face and humor held in check by 3 hours of sleep a night. “We pray for you often;” I say. “We know and feel it” he says, and we go about our work.

Sometimes there is a Bond of Brotherhood that defies depth and definition. Pain has hunted us down and we are fighting it together. Lots of people have pain. Awful pain. It’s normal to just survive it the best we can, hoping for better days. As hard as it is, there is more than just a dark side. There is a side that produces my coworkers steely eye glint. The Aurora Borealis of glints in an eye.

It’s a choice.

Pain, especially ongoing never-ending pain, causes people to pick a path. Some of us go numb for a while, retreating into a shell. We play the “poor me” card. Some wave a big flag and call attention to all their woes. Many cards are usually played here including the “send me money” card, and there is a whole deck of personal reaction cards. I want to tell you about our friends who live differently in their pain than most. I will call them Mr. and Mrs. B.

Mrs. B’s story (short version)

Mrs. B has had a degenerative disease for many years which has led to her body not working correct on many fronts. She is bedridden and can sit in a wheelchair sometimes when seeing doctors and such. Her pain is so bad she is chipping her teeth from clenching her jaw. A mouth guard is now needed. Her pain triggers a PTSD type situation where she does not recognize her husband for time periods. Mr. B is the main caregiver as well as husband and is totally committed to seeing her through. Mr. B has long hair and a long ponytail (from the old days) that he will never cut off as Mrs. B can only be convinced that Mr. B is really her husband as he has her grab his ponytail. He gets about 3 hours of sleep a night after keeping any sharp objects away from her. God, humor and friends keep them going, mostly God. I asked our company to hire him and let him leave and come back as often as he needs for his wife. Every company needs a Mr. B (for 100 reasons plus his work ethic and influence on work culture) although he falls asleep in meetings.

Another side of the story

Early last Sunday morning Mrs. B felt “weighed” to pray for our pastor. She did not know he would have to quit in the middle of his sermon and ask our associate pastor to step in and finish. She seems to know things before they happen because of her unusual walk with God, this is normal. Her trust in God is a Redwood Forest of trust compared to a normal forest. Seeds grown in the soil of pain and nurtured by walking with God.

Mrs. B had her doctor in tears because of her reaction last week to all the bad news about how bad her body is doing. She assured her doctor that she was really OK because in the big picture she knows where she is going and life here is but a blip on the screen of eternity. She has that glint in her eye that is physically real. I believe (totally unsubstantiated) God has given this couple a glint connected to eternity.

The hundreds letters of encouragement by Mrs. B to missionaries, scores of college students and others in the community that have needed prayer have waned over the years. The ability to host a small group in their home is probably gone. A silent unseen spiritual warrior gaining more strength in the heavenly realm as the physical slips away. Who does this? Actually, there are many stories, many silent lives strong in faith and weak in body. Mrs. B has been assured deep within her soul, by God; that she will someday have her body redeemed. Our Spina Bifida daughter is another and you may know someone like this. Should we not all have this faith and assurance in the depth of our being? Should we not all “Get a Glint”?

Romans 8:22-24 (NIV)

 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 

Now that’s something worth glinting for!

Gary

Mrs. B went home to be with her Jesus a couple days ago. In all her pain she finished well. Watching, I am without excuse. We all get a conclusion. Bye Deb… Bruce and I will see you at the gate. Final sunset, silent taps.

41 thoughts on “Wintering The Soul: Get a Glint (2)”

  3. Well done. Thank you for sharing their testimony in a powerful way.
    Yes, we all know someone with that ‘glint.’ God does that for His reasons, for both the glinter and the glintee. May we have eyes to see that glint. His is all the glory.

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  4. Thank you, Gary, for sharing and updating this beautiful testimony. Your statement “Watching, I am without excuse.” says it all doesn’t it? Most times I think a lot of us have no idea, but one day we will. Give Bruce a hug for us please. Blessings!

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    1. I will…He is a hugger. Sometimes when things were really tough he would start his workday by going to every station in the plant and give everyone a hug. Then he would say “I’m not a hugger but you needed one”

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  5. Powerful, Gary. You described it as only one who knows can. Those who watch a loved one daily suffer, suffers along with them. They enter it with them. I can’t see that glint in your eye directly, but I can see it in your words of many of your blog posts.

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  6. Pingback: Winter Wonder Wander – garyfultz

  7. Thank you, Gary. This is a side of real Christianity we don’t hear about too often but I wonder just how big the iceberg really is. Real Christians have a faith that often makes no sense whatsoever in the natural. I think of Paul’s writings about the “natural man” and such a person’s senseless inability to discern spiritual things. We are all there, of course, before our new birth in the Lord. But on the flip side we see things we never saw before and are also blessed with an understanding that usually can never be explained, kind of like that battle Job went through. How difficult it must have been for the Lord to pretty much see EVERYTHING while having to deal with know-it-all dunderheads who had zero self-awareness and an IQ to match.

    I am reminded of those spiritual stalwarts mentioned in the Book of Hebrews: “Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection…” [Hebrews 11:35]

    Hmmm. A better resurrection. So. Did Mrs. B have an opportunity to be delivered and did she forego it for reasons we cannot comprehend? When my blessed mother passed away several years ago I wrote a short tribute in her memory in which I noted that she chose the right way to die, in that she had to deal with an end of life illness for many months but bore it all with such perfect beauty and dignity.

    Is it possible that people like Mrs. B are somehow more spiritually effective in great pain than otherwise? This is such a difficult subject, Gary, one you are so familiar with, especially knowing that the Lord came to give us abundant life and free us from bondage and pain and did so for so many during His ministry. There is also the story of Lazarus:

    “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom…” [Luke 16:19-22]

    I call this the Lazarus Ministry. I believe his sole ministry, at least during that time in his life, was to stay outside the rich man’s house bearing his pain and terrible condition as a way to hopefully melt the rich man’s hard heart so his soul could be saved. And though it never happened we know the Lord did everything He could to save him including His enlistment of a super disciple whose ministry was likely never recognized outside of heaven. Lazarus was nonetheless 100% faithful and obedient, however, and got his reward. He obeyed God. He wanted a better resurrection.

    Here’s hoping Mrs. B was able to succeed in a way Lazarus did not, though, again, he was all in to give it a go that a soul may be saved against all odds. Regardless, I am so very glad you followed up on this story of a stalwart disciple at last getting her reward.

    I can only imagine, to quote the familiar, what it must have been like for her to suddenly be delivered of her pain as she entered the joy of the Lord and heard the awesome words from her most happy Savior at their meeting up yonder, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

    Amen!

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  8. Good questions and comments RJ. Mrs B covered the bases. As her husband put it “She brought in the big guns to lay hands on her and pray for her healing. Her faith and trust were as Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Our daughter is very similar.

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    1. Thanks Malcolm. It almost seems wrong to have the privilege of knowing people who have developed a strength in faith, purpose and pure grit because of the harshness and pain of life. Pain and suffering here either destroys any semblance of humanity or it becomes God’s gym to get that warrior glint of faith. Sometimes God just plainly delivers us, but I do not see that very often.

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  10. When we see the all the pain in the world and all the countless countless expressions of it, it’s almost impossible to believe we WILL be in a place and time where there will be no more pain…….
    I love that you got Mr. B a job and that you kept praying for them – GOD bless you!

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    1. I agree. we are too used to a world run by Satan who is the “god of this world” HIs MO is destruction, and he controls the mind and thoughts of those who do not belong to Jesus. A world where everyone is healed full of light and love seems fantasy.
      Mr B was thankful. Mrs B was thankful. They lived close to the work place so he was a phone call away if needed.

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  11. Praying for Bruce! Thank you for sharing this story of faith. I like what you said about how Bruce gave everyone a hug. Sometimes, there are no real words to convey or express what we feel. A hug can ‘say’ so much. Love is the legacy we create every day, day in and day out. It can be created in little and big ways, through kindnesses that seem small at the time. Our lives and our legacy are not measured by our physical person, but by the content of our hearts. It is this treasure within our hearts that multiplies with our faith…a great ‘mustard ‘tree’ that blooms from a tiny seed. (Matthew:17:20)

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    1. Thanks Linda. Who would have thought that great faith looked like an old scarfed up hippie with a long silver pony tail? Till you got a hug and looked him in the eyes and heard some stories. Yes, quite a legacy, in the making still

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    1. Thanks Manette. They often talked about how much a proper reaction to pain and suffering is intentional. There are choices to make in the pain and the option to just roll over and endure was not an option. They wanted to make a difference to somebody. God honored those “seeds” of faith in multiple ways with many people.

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  17. It’s funny how God leads us sometimes. I haven’t visited your blog in a while and today I had the thought that I needed to visit and see what was going on with you. Then I read this. I have no doubt in my mind that God lead me to this today. It inspired my faith in a special way. I can’t put my feelings into words after reading this…. Thank you, Gary. Blessings!

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    1. I know about those impressions Cindy. The Spirit knows what we need and nudges us. Someday we will find out what went on behind the scenes in our lives on God’s end….for now we trust him with our lives direction and the rest is bigger than us…thats a good thing

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  19. Praise God for Mr. & Mrs. B and others who allow the Light of Jesus to shine from within them–even as they face difficult circumstances. Thank you for sharing their story, Gary. I pray when I reach the end of my life, I too might reflect our Savior’s light–even through pain or heartbreak–without self-pity or complaint. God will give me the wherewithal as I trust in Him (Philippians 4:13).

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