Bill's TakeAways from
Bill's TakeAways from
Ed Dobson,
Seeing Through the Fog: Hope When Your
World Falls Apart, David C. Cook Publishers, 2012, read in early Feb 2014
Dr. Ed Dobson was diagnosed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease" and this book recounts his battle mentally, emotionally,
spiritually to deal with it, live with it and find purpose beyond imminent disability
and death. These are some of the gems I gleaned from reading it this week. I am so glad I Ed wrote it…and that I read it.
See also his blog: http://edsstory.com/
which is a great companion to this book.
The locations numbers below are from the Kindle version
of his book.
311 ch 2 The Fog, quote
context is Ed’s first Thanksgiving dinner with his family after being diagnosed
As I look back on that
day, I wonder why people who have had the air knocked out of them try so hard
to give the impression that it didn’t hurt.
Why do we put up such brave fronts? Why didn’t I feel I could be honest
with my family?
334
God, I want to live.
Help me to make the choices that will help me to live.
…every day is a
struggle between choosing to die and choosing to live.
397 ch 3: Connecting with Others
It is one broken
person talking to another broken person. And there is power in that.
Ch 6 Giving Thanks 567
…I have concluded
that I am not obligated to give thanks for
the disease. Rather, I am obligated in
the midst of the disease to be grateful for other things. [italics
his]
587
So whatever you
are facing right now, when you wake up in the morning, I challenge you to pray,
“Lord, thank You for waking me up this morning. “
602
It is very
difficult to see His grace when everything seems to have gone wrong in your life.
613
…focus on what I
can do, not on what I can’t do
659-662 ch 7 When God is Silent
….God has answered
my prayer with either ‘no’ or ‘wait.’ And I find this answer rather
unsatisfying! If God has the power to heal and if God really loves me, then why
in the world is He not healing me? So where do I find God when heaven is
silent?
Over the years, I
have found Him in the family and friends He has put around me. They have become the hands of God. They have
become the face of God. They have become the feet of God. They have become the
heart of God in my life.
741 [about Jesus and his humanity, being forsaken by God
from the cross]
He felt abandoned
by God. Whether or not God actually turned His back on Jesus, I don’t’ know.
What I do know is that Jesus felt forsaken by God. I find great encouragement in the idea that
the Son felt abandoned.
954-958 [putting this verse on index cards all over the
house/car/office/by bed….]
God has said, “Never
will I leave you: never will I forsake you.”
So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper: I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?” Hebrews 13:5-6
…Whenever I began
thinking about the future and start sinking in the fog, I would take a
five-minute time-out. I would look at the
card and repeat the verses for five minutes. The first time I quoted them, I
barely believed a single word. But as I repeated them, they began to sink into
my mind and soul. By the time I had
finished, I was refocused on the present and not distracted by the future.
1032 ch 10 Healing
[a pastor came to pray and anoint Ed with oil but cautioned him…}
“Don’t’ become
obsessed with getting healed, Ed,” he said. “If you get obsessed, you will lose
your focus. Get lost in the wonder of God, and how knows what He will do for
you.
This is some of
the best advice I have every received.
And he was right: I had become too focused on my own disease and my own
future.
I needed to shift
my focus from myself to my creator.
1044-1047 [story of the blind man in Jericho & Jesus]
“Jesus, son of
David, have mercy on me!”
Even though I have
read this story many times … reading it as a man with ALS allowed me to see it
anew and inspired me to pray, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” I am not telling God what to do. I am not
believe that He will heal me if I am without any doubt. I am not asking God to heal me if it is His
will. I am simply throwing myself at His
mercy. And just like the blind man, my
faith is exercised every time I pray for mercy.
1063
“I delight in
weaknesses, in insults, in hardships….” 2 Cor 12:7-10
He found that God’s
grace was sufficient to face all of the difficulties and trials of life, and
therefore he welcomed such challenges. Incredible! …. But I am not at the point
where Paul was: I don’t delight in ALS…
But I read Paul’s story and am inspired to keep looking for that
strength, to open myself completely y to God’s grace and allow it to lessen the
burden of my disease.
1078-1088
From a Biblical
perspective, healing is first being at peace with God… the second aspect… is to
live at peace with others. …The final element needed for healing is being at
peace with yourself and your circumstances. Phil 4:11
“…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”
1120
Jesus knew the
limitations of living His life in the flesh. And if He did that, I can do this,
too.
[re: Jesus’ incarnation and putting aside the outward
expression of His glory…]
1267 ch 12 God in the Past, Present and Future
But I did find God
in the people around me. So whre is God when life falls apart? He is there in the
people He puts around us.
1279
They are God’s
grace when I need it most. They are the presence of God in my life.
1289
I have set three
goals for my future. First, I want to speak for as long as I can. Second, when
I can no longer speak, I want to write as long as I can. Third, when I can no
longer speak or write, I want to live as long as I can. That’s it. Those are my
goals.
1334 [words Ed’s dad often used to tell him]
You are indispensable
until your work on earth is done.
1387 ch 13 Heaven
Of his longing to go
and be with Christ, Paul stated that to do so would be ‘better by far” than
what life on earth can be (Phil 1:23). Those three words always stuck with my
dad, and when my mother died, he put it on her gravestone. So what is heaven
like? ….
1406
…It’s all the
wonder and joy of the here and now. Except, it’s better by far.
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