“you whom I have upheld since your birth,
and have carried since you were born.
Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”  Isaiah 46:3-4

I’ve been repeating this and getting comfort from these precious promises.  I’m having surgery this week (tomorrow as I’m writing this).  Nothing serious.  Very common for old ladies.  But still needed God’s tender reassurance that he cares.  These verses are the balm my nervous jitters needed to calm down.  He doesn’t throw us away when we get old and infirm.  He still upholds, carries, sustains, and rescues!  And we seem to need it more and more.  I love that he uses his own name in these promises.  He revealed himself to Moses as, “I Am.”  The One who is the self-existing, eternal God.  In need of nothing.  Source of all.  This same God reminds his people through Isaiah, the prophet, generations later that he is still the I Am.  And mighty as he is, he stoops to tenderly carry those he made.  He holds us up, and when we can’t stand any longer, he carries us.  He has sustained us since he formed us in the womb and faithfully sustains us our whole lives.  He has rescued each of us innumerable times.  Sometimes it’s clear: that near miss on the road, the recovery from illness, the blessing of a good spouse instead of the one you thought you wanted to marry.  But, often his rescues are without us even realizing it.  Then there will come a day when he will make our ultimate rescue.  He’ll deliver all those whose faith is in his Son, from this sad world into a realm so full of light and life, and happiness that words fail and our brains can’t comprehend, an eternity of bliss.  Let these promises sink deeply into your thinking and feelings.  We are created, treasured, and cared for by a trustworthy God.  We are upheld, carried, sustained, made, and rescued by the great I Am.

P.S. Everything went very well.  Mercy on top of mercy.  Kind and skilled doctors and nurses. The best home care nurse, dear Husband.  Loving calls from kids.  Caring texts from friends and neighbors.  Thank you, God.  You carried me just as you promised.