It's been about four months since my back surgery, and though I still have five to eight months till full recovery, I'm grateful and amazed by all that the Lord has brought me through.

I remember the day after the surgery, I decided that I no longer needed pain meds (I don't recommend this). Not realizing that the pain meds were what were helping me manage my pain, I requested I be taken off of them. When the effects of the pain meds wore off, my body screamed for mercy from the excruciating pain. It took a full day for the meds to kick in, but God's mercy worked faster and gave me comfort and peace better than any medication could.

Because the medications hadn't set in yet, I couldn't even sleep though I was exhausted. So my darling husband began to read the Word of God while I lay there nearly in tears due to the pain. Within minutes, my soul was quenched and my body benefited from the eternal feeding I was receiving from the Word of our Lord.

When my husband saw how amazingly God's Word was able to bring me blessed comfort, he began to do this on a regular basis, even when the pain meds kicked in the next day. For weeks, this became our new habit...and a wonderful one at that.

My sweetheart would start a book of the Bible and read all the through it, then we'd discuss it (if I was still awake). We even began doing this at bedtime when I came home. There's just something special about my darling reading the Words of God to me. For some reason it seems that I somehow understand it better. I'm not sure why, but it's really a lovely thing. And if I hadn't been given the opportunity to suffer such a painful surgery, then we wouldn't have been able to experience the awesome power of God's Word in another beautiful way! So though I hated the pain, I'm even more grateful for my heavenly Father's words and the comfort I received from the God of all comfort.

We too often take the words of the Almighty for granted. We pull it out and dust it off only when we find ourselves in a mess. But when we get to enjoy light and cheerful times, we forget to thank God for them and we forget to offer Him the praise that He is due.

Let us learn to not only call out to Him when we're in the valley, but also shout His praise and give thanks to Him when we reach the mountain top.

"I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil." ~Psalm 119:162