Month: February 2024

Yesterday was my sweet daughter’s birthday. For those of you who do not know, Leonard and I had the honor and privilege of adopting a sweet toddler from China 21 years ago. I cannot express to you the blessing she has been to our lives. I will share one area. When I was told in June of 2015 that I had 18 months at the most to live, I seriously contemplated doing no treatments at all. I already knew what sarcomas do watching what Zach went through. In a lot of ways it seemed pointless to me to even try. Marah or June Ji as she is called was 15 years old at the time. When I got home that afternoon and waited for her to come in from school, I contemplated how I would tell her. In the end I just leveled with her. With tears streaming down her face, she told me I had to try. I realized then how much she stilll needed her mother and how selfish it was of me to not try.

Sometimes I believe God places people in our lives to encourage us or give us a hint of which direction to go. Absolutely reading His Word is the most important to grow and learn and hear Him speak. We can also see if we choose to through those special people placed in our lives and sometimes also in complete strangers. This life is precious. Love those in your life while you are still here to do it regardless of whether you are in good health or not. Praise God this day and keep being courageous!

I live in a small town. We have two grocery stores. I frequent one of them out of loyalty to the chain since my son works for that chain and the staff there is very friendly. There is one particular gentleman who probably is younger than I am but has worked many years at that store. I don’t care what kind of day it is. It can be a freeze, rain, thunderstorms doesn’t matter. If you ask him how he is, he is going to respond with “another day in paradise” with a huge smile on his face, one that reaches his eyes so you know he is sincere.

I sometimes think of his response and his positive attitude. To my knowledge he does not have a personal relationship with Christ. Yet he shows one attribute that all of us who claim to have a relationship with our savior seem to lack. He seems genuinely happy with his circumstances in life or should I write content. This is a concept that Paul talks quite frequently of in the New Testament. It comes to my mind because it is so important that we have this same characteristic to help us through whatever we are walking or just help us through life. I did not ask for cancer. It came my way anyway. I did not desire cancer for my son and I certainly would have loved to have had him until the end of my days. It did not go my way. Should I be bitter? Should I be discontented the rest of my days? If yes, what does that gain for me? Even if God’s opinion of me did not matter to me I cannot see myself happy because I gave in to bitterness and anger for the rest of my days. As I have written many times, this life requires that we be courageous. It is not for the weak. We intentionally make the decision to seek joy in the smallest of things and to be content.

It’s Friday and I often like to reflect on the many and I do mean many blessings that God has bestowed on me and it is always my hope that you will do the same. I couldn’t help but think about the number of times I complain about various things from the achiness in my bones upon rising to too little sleep I received the night before. It seems like in our human nature we are all prone to complaining about something. In fact we do it so much that we don’t think anything about it. When you read the Old Testament, a clear picture arises that this may not be the best habit we have normalized. Complaining got the children of Israel in a whole lot of trouble. It also appears contradictory to praise God in one breath while in another complaining about something.

How about you and I making a decision that we will consciously praise God this day and stop the habit of allowing complaining words come from our mouths. Our spouses would probably appreciate that if no one else:) In reality the many good things for most of us living in the United States is far better than what can be found in many parts of the world. We all have so much to be grateful for. Keep trusting. Keep believing.

We hear a lot about God’s will. For many of us that can be a confusing concept. Television preachers tell us that God only wants good for us and that He wants to prosper us. We look around and at our own situations and think maybe it’s how prosperity is defined. We are after all sinful at nature and expect often more than we receive and typically judge ourselves to be better than the next guy.

That is how I often think we get into wrong think regarding God’s will. We think the right will is to be ours and that is not how it works. God is holy. We are not. God does not sin. We do. We cannot relate to His righteousness which is why we are supposed to always strive in that direction. All of this process is what helps us cope when things don’t go the way we had hoped. Things like the mundane from losing the job we loved to not paying the mortgage and losing our homes to the most painful of losing a loved one. Since God is in control, He does allow even the most painful things in our lives to occur. He is still on the throne. He is still worthy of our love and desire to grow in knowledge.

Recently I asked you to pray for two individuals. My sister in law is doing great recovering from her knee surgery. What seemed really dire is healing great. Praise God! My friend who has a sister battling cancer and had a tumor removed from her brain, not so well. More cancer lesions were discovered in other parts of her body. Clearly current medication is not working in her situation which is common for many cancers. God is in control in both situations. One appears to go on to enjoy many more days in this world and the other seems to have shorter time. All still God’s will. He is loving. He is kind. He is merciful and He is still on the throne. Life requires us to be courageous. Consider each day a gift and each moment a blessing.

FYI – I am now going to post on this blog on M,W,F only. God’s blessings to each of you

This weekend my husband showed me a story of a man who went to the doctor complaining that his nose or the inside would not stop bleeding. Peering inside the ENT spechialist was able to determine why. There were 150 bugs moving and eating inside the lining of his nose! Can you imagine! The doctor was able to remove all of them and there was posted a live video of what that looked like. Yuk! The patient was not sure how they got there. I found myself for the remainder of the weekend rubbing my nose and wondering each time if something was moving inside that shouldn’t be. Such is the power of suggestion.

The above true story did have a happy ending though I feel the journey getting there was tough. A continuous bleeding and aching nose could not have been fun. Sometimes the journey we walk is a tough one with many ups and downs. We look for resolution to end it and that journey can be a lot longer than the above scenario described. I know because I walked it. If you are walking that type of road currently keep going. It is tough but a resolution is coming. Keep trusting and keep believing that God is who He said He is. However your journey ends, you can not go wrong if you trust and believe the God of the bible and His son with your eternity.

Thank you also to all of you who prayed for my sister in law and her knee surgery. All went spectacular and she is back at every day living.

In grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. That is what goes through my mind this Wednesday morning. God’s grace is amazing and infinite. Yesterday I asked all of you to pray for the sister of a friend of mine who is facing a major battle with stage 4 cancer that now involves her brain. The tumor was removed and all went well. I also asked you to pray for my sister in law due to a staph infection in her knee that occurred with a knee replacement two years ago. That also went well. These are major health issues and in this rollercoaster of life, both finished on a high point. I would also point out that because we know God is in control of all situations, even if one or both had hit a low point God was still in control. There is a plan that He has. Again all brings us back to the main thesis and that is that this is not our home. None of us will live for immortality. If we truly believe that God is real and His kingdom is so much better then what this world has to offer, why would we hesitate not to join Him?

This is my final post for this week. I leave today to join my husband for an adventure. Keep reading your bibles. If you don’t, please start. No one speaks better for Himself then our Lord does. Blessings to you for the rest of the week and weekend!!

The book of James in chapter 5 references an often quoted scripture – the prayers of a righteous man availeth much. Notice that it is written “a righteous man.” How do we interpret what a righteous man means? My guess is that it is someone who loves the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. Someone who puts God above their own fleshly desires. Someone who honors God by obeying His laws. Examples would be someone who chooses willfully not to lie, to cheat, to steal, to fornicate or practice any sexual sin outside of marriage. I know all of this seems like ancient stuff compared to modern American morales. However the simple truth is God’s laws don’t change. They don’t become hip and they are not affected by woke thoughts. They are consistent. Conclusion: if you are desiring your prayers regarding health, personal relationships, etc to be blessed, consider where you are currently living as a righteous man (or woman).

Speaking of prayers, please lift up my sister in law Lenise Howard today. Her kneee surgery is today and all of us would covet your prayers regarding the works of her surgeon and how well she responds to the antibiotics to stop the infection. There is another lady who also needs your prayers. She has a cancer that has now spread into her brain and the surgery is today to remove it to alleviate the pain and seizures the tumor is causing.

So many needs. However we do serve an awesome and mighty God who can heal as He chooses. I pray each of us strives to love God more than ourselves and desire to be that righteous man or woman that He has called us to be.

When I was first diagnosed with stage IV cancer, I spent a lot of time in scripture. It was something that I wish I still continued to do this day. I do read scripture everyday but I really spent time then studying it reminding myself of God’s promises. I wanted to be ready for whichever path the Lord chose for me to walk whether it was healing on this side or in His presence. Did you know that the words “do not fear” or an admonishment not to fear are written in scripture 365 times? Think about that. How many days are in a year? Yep 365. It was almost as if He knew that He had to give us a daily reminder. Our Father in heaven who created us knew our nature!

Many of us fear many things but the presiding fear if we are honest is death. Every fear we face is really based on the premise that whatever that is can ultimately lead to death. In reality we are all going to perish from this world. That is a given. The true question we should be posing to ourselves is whether we will be ready from a spiritual perspective. Do we believe God’s promises? Do we believe Jesus died for our sins? Did we ask Jesus to come into our lives and that we would forfeit our nature to be subjective to His? If we understand all this and are at peace with assurance in salvation through faith alone because of grace alone in Christ alone, then we shall have peace and “do not fear” will become our new identification.

Spend time in scripture. Remind yourself daily not to fear. God tells you to. Jesus tells you to. Be courageous and bold in what you believe.

It’s Friday! When I was teaching, I loved just the thought of that word as I have written before. There is so much to be grateful for. Have you reflected on the blessings you have received this week?

I do have a special prayer request. My sister in law, my husband’s sister, is having surgery next Tuesday the 13th. She had a knee replacement a couple of years ago and has had nothing but issues. Unfortunately it was revealed a couple of weeks ago that she has a major staph infection in that knee that will require removing the entire knee replacement and chiseling the bone and reattaching a different mechanism full of antibiotic to kill the infection along with IV antibiotics for a period of time. It appears to be one of the worse scenarios involving a knee replacement. She is a woman with faith in Christ. However as someone who was told I had 18 months to live, human fear is a challenge. Please if you can lift her up for peace that surpasses all understanding as well as wisdom for her doctors. Probably a lot of you can understand as you have faced challenging health circumstances for either yourself or someone you love in the past. Thank you!

In meantime let us sing unto the Lord and rejoice! With every challenge there is an opportunity to see how the Lord works! We are witnesses to His constant grace.

I have found that often some type of blessing for someone or many someones comes from a tragedy. In 2016 our church started a ministry for those dealing with cancer. We called it A Servant’s Heart. We mail boxes with blankets and hats and encouraging testimonies to those diagnosed with this dreaded disease. I cannot express the number of beautiful cards we receive each year expressing how much these packages helped in some capacity. I will admit I was a driving force behind the creation of this ministry based on my own experiences with cancer both with my son and myself. What a blessing it has been for me to be a part of it.

Perhaps there is a way you can serve God through whatever event you are experiencing that has made life challenging and scary. It is amazing how that selflessness helps so much in healing. In the meantime, go out and be courageous. Embrace each day with enthusiasim to express your confidence in God that He is going to make all things right in His timing.