My dear friends,

You continue to bless and encourage Mary Sue and me with your cards and notes, thoughts and prayers, and expressions of kindness. Thank you so much for standing with us and blesssing us as you have in this season of our lives.

I want you to know that my recovery is continuing and I am making steady progress. In my rehab program at Mt. Vernon Hospital, I have graduated from occupational therapy, and it looks like I will finish up with the speech/cognitive therapist next week. We are praising the Lord for the healing He has given and the progress made so far. I will probably have 3-4 more weeks of vestibular physical therapy, working on exercises related to my balance. By God's grace, I am doing much better than a few weeks ago. But we are not yet where we want to be or hope to end up! So, as we thank you for your prayers from the bottom of our hearts, we humbly ask you to continue your prayers on our behalf, that the Lord will bring to completion the good work He has begun to do in us.

Praise God for this: Since I began taking a new medication two weeks ago, the Lyrica, my headache pain has diminshed. I am still having daily headaches, but for the most part (with a few exceptions), my headaches have been more dull. That seems like an awkward expression - "more dull" -- but I am sure you know what I mean. I feel greatly blessed and am encouraged by this, though I look forward to the day, whether in this life or in heaven, when I do not have a headache at all.

Our daughter Lindsay will graduate from Grove City College in Pennsylvania this coming Saturday. I praise God that I am well enough and strong enough and mobile enough to attend! Many of you, I know, have been praying very specifically for several weeks that the Lord would enable me to be able to go -- and He has answered your prayers -- heartfelt thanks to you for praying for this specific desire of our hearts. This will be my first real road trip since my surgery, and I am thrilled to be able to go with the rest of my family. We are so proud of Lindsay, and we praise God for the woman she has become.

I think that's all for now . . . except this: I have been reminded recently of what David said in Psalm 34:1-3:

I will extol the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the LORD; Let the afflcted hear and rejoice.

Let's stop right there for a moment. "The afflicted" is not just some theoretical person or group. I am part of the afflicted. Some people's afflictions are more serious and debilitating than mine, and some are less serious. The point is that the Lord is speaking through David to me in the midst of my life circumstances right now. I am going through a time of affliction. Maybe some of you are, too. What am I (are we) to do in the midst of afflction? I am to respond with rejoicing. Rejoice in the Lord in the midst of affliction -- I cannot get away from this truth. That is God's calling in my life. And yours. David goes on to say in the next verse:

Glorify the LORD with me; Let us exalt His name together.

That's what it is all about, no matter what is happening in my life or yours. I want to glorify God in this season of affliction and recovery in my life. I want to exalt His name with my words and my life, together with all of you. LORD, let it be so!

I am looking forward to the day when life for us returns to normal. But I know that the "new normal" will likely not be exactly like the "old normal". That's okay, because Jesus Christ is still Lord of all!

May God's grace and peace be yours,

Neil