Lord Make us Courageous

I have often marvelled at my own attitude. For many years prior to grandchildren, I asked the Lord in endless petitions to bless me with many. Years previous I had also prayed for children. In His grace and mercy, He blessed me with 4 children and I currently have 7 grandchildren. As you are aware, my youngest son died at the age of 17 and my youngest child, my daughter, currently is not married so no family for her yet. I have been blessed with so many grandchildren through two sons and their lovely wives. At times when I am watching many of them at one time, I become weary. I have to check myself and remember that beauty that each one brings.

Such I think is also what our attitude should be with all the Lord has blessed us with. We often take things in our lives for granted and assume it will always be like that such as AC or running water, etc. As survivors of storms will say, that is not always the case. Decide this day to honor God in all things. Thank Him for His provisions and His mercies. None of us are worthy but we have all been blessed beyong measure.

One of the greatest blessings our Lord granted each of us was the ability to have grandchildren! They are so innocent and see things from such different eyes as compared to those of us with aged eyes. My middle son’s oldest daughter saw such beauty in everything we took her to in Michigan, including the things she has seen before. Her energy inspired and at times overwhelmed. Her eagerness to see more was beyong inspiring.

That I think is how each of us should view God. Even with aged eyes our hearts become wiser and we are able to separate what is truly important from that that is superficial. There really is a lot of truth between age and wisdom as there is to the heart of the young who see beauty in so many things and are eager to grow and learn. As always after such trips, I am amazed at the years the Lord has graciously granted to me since my diagnosis. I am amazed that I am still in this world and have seen so much in the 9 years since my diagnosis and being told I had 18 months to live. Praise God indeed for His mercies are new every morning.

Yesterday our nation had the privilege of honoring and celebrating what is considered to be the beginning of our nation’s birth – the 4th of July. We have been a nation blessed beyond measure. It has not been a worry free history by any stretch of the imagination. Our sin nature has resulted in many poor decisions and wars that could and should have been avoided had all of humankind not rejected our creator in the first place. Despite all of this, look at how pampered we are as a people. To take note of the majority of the world and look at us living in nice homes, air conditioning, heating, plumbing, etc no one should deny that we have been blessed.

What causes a nation to reject and move in the opposite direction of the One who blessed it so? My guess is its own arrogance. We are smarter. We can do more. We see what direction our nation is headed and most of us are dragging our feet and praying for a repentant country. Do not give up. Keep praying. Keep seeking God. Keep trusting in His mercy while understanding He is also holy. He is our only hope.

Next week I will not be posting as I will be traveling with part of my family. Blessings to all of you!

This morning I briefly pondered why it is so challenging thinking about God’s character and I believe it is because we in our fallen state cannot relate to One who is holy and just. One who never lies. One who is only capable of justice, true justice. We read the Old Testament and in our own judgment, we question the fairness of many stories that we read. We truly miss the understanding of who God is and what He is not capable of which is what we do on a regular basis.

Some may see God’s justice as unjustice. Whoa to any of us who choose to judge God’s character. In reality God is not capable of injustice. Whether we choose to understand it or not. That part of His character should encourage us. We know that He is also merciful and that is something we all welcome with open arms. Choose this day to trust God. Trust Him in all of His character in who He says He is.

It’s a funny thing how growing up one never realizes the treasure they have in a sibling. We fight, get angry and often wish we did not know the person we were birthed to close in age but then age happens and the treasure unfolds.

During the time of my battle of cancer, no one supported me more than my sister. Oh don’t get me wrong. My husband stood by my side through it all and my children were such a tremendous blessing to me. My mom and dad comforted me and my mother in law tried her best to encourage me though she lives on the other side of the country. My sister however was a constant source of encouragement day and night. Any time I needed her, she answered the phone to encourage me and pray with me. She attended many chemo treatments with me and that was a huge blessing to my husband who needed to continue working. Treatments and followup blood work is a lot of driving to MDA! It is amazing to me how God truly took care of all my needs during that time. MDA will tell you that the patients they have who are the most successful against cancer are those with a fantastic support system of family. This was definitely true with me. Tomorrow is my sister’s birthday. I am grateful for her presence in my life and grateful to God for blessing me with her as my sister.

An older friend from my youth once told me that there was a benefit to those diagnosed with cancer. It gave them an opportunity to come and submit to Christ once they realized that their days in this world might very well be limited. She said those who die suddenly from an accident or something else would not get that same opportunity.

I have always thought about that and do understand what she was getting at. Many people dealing with a terminal illness do decide that it is time to make up ones mind. My uncle followed that course and we honestly believe his desire to follow Christ was real. The Lord graciously extended his days to 5 years from the time we were told he was terminal and each of those days he continued to read his bible and seek God. In reality none of us know how many days we have. We may not receive the benefit as my friend said of having time through a terminal illness. Now is the time to decide, trust, submit, repent and follow. Think on these things.

I have written about my experience with stage 4 cancer verses my son’s experience with stage 4 multiple times. As any of you reading this are aware, I am still here 9 years later and my son Zach went into God’s presence one year after his battle started. I know of two other people who mimic close to the same experience. One with an advanced cancer diagnosis is still battling the disease but still going 6 years later and the other given 2 months to live after diagnosis. All cases with cancer are so hard on families as many of you are aware. I doubt there is a person out there who hasn’t known someone or loved someone who has not been affected by this dreadful disease.

In my mind, cancer should not be the “main” story. It is our walk or our relationship with our savior that is what matters. In this world death is coming. How it comes is what we don’t know. We fear pain of the experience and for many the dreaded unknown. If you decide to believe the Holy Scriptures to be true, then the unknown will no longer be a place of fear. Revelation gives us some idea and we can trust in the character of God once we really get to know Him through scripture. Do not let the uncertainities of this world control your thoughts. Focus on Christ. Surrender to Him. Get to know Him through His Holy Word. It will be the most best decision you ever make.

I will not lie. The hardest thing I ever endured was the death of my son. I have tried to be honest about that from the very beginning. It really shook the foundation of my faith. The day that Zach left this world, I had a conversation with my son Michael. I asked him if he thought God was real. We had prayed. Zach had trusted and prayed and yet Zach left this world at the age of 17. Michael thought for a minute. That is what of his great characteristics. He is a thinker. He does not speak impulsively like his mother. He said to me – “mom that is your head talking. You need to listen to your heart because your heart knows the truth.” In an instant I knew he was right and I also knew I was right. God did exist. He does love me. He does love Zach and He is still on the throne. This world is covered in sin and bad things do happen. This is not our home.

Fastforward to now. Tomorrow one of my grandsons will celebrate his 5th birthday. It will be a joyous occassion for my family celebrate. The Lord has blessed me with 3 grandsons and 4 granddaughters. They cannot take the place of Zach but they are most definitely a blessing in my life and I am most grateful for each of them. Leo is the name of my little grandson celebrating his birthday tomorrow. He was named after his grandpa. So sweet of my son and my daughter in law to honor my husband. There is much to celebrate in this life but there is something still greater to come. Being in God’s presence will be nothing like the joy here. It will surpass it in magnitudes that I could never fully write. If you are facing difficulty, keep going. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and keep going.

I was recently reading a book about idols that we create in our lives and the importance of removing those idols. One of the things I learned is the definition for vanity. Most of us who have spent any time in church or read anything written by Solomon knows that he often used the phrase vanity, vanity all is vanity. The word vanity means nothingness. You may have known this but I will confess that I did not. However when I read this, it made total sense to me. So much of what we strive for and desire on a daily basis is often nothingness. It has no meaning. It will not endure.

The only true thing we have in this world is our relationship with Christ and our Heavenly Father. We were created to please Him. He desires a relationship with us but not one half heartedly given. He desires all of our affection thus the importance of removing idols or things that are temporary that we believe will bring us joy. We make so many mistakes seeking these things only to discover that we still are not happy. Set your heart on the One who can give you that joy. The One who created you for you to walk with Him and glorify Him in all things. Revel in His love and a relationship with Him. Despite whatever you face in this life, that relationship will sustain you and carry you and give you courage to get out of bed the next morning and do it all over again.

Birthdays are something we tend to take for granted as a society. Some of us complain about getting older. Some of us pretend that we don’t want anyone to recognize our birthday but then become hurt when no one actually does! Human nature. Most of you are aware that I had a nephew who died at the age of 18. He was serving in Iraq not long after the conflict started. He had not been there very long. The last time I spoke to him on the phone was Memorial Day of that year. He died on June 20 in Iraq but on our American clock, it was June 19. By the time his body made it back to stateside, his funeral took place on what would have been his 19th birthday, June 28. It is hard to believe that next week Friday, he would have been 38 years old.

Funny how the years pass by so quickly. I thought at the time of his funeral that he would be the youngest of my parent’s grandchildren to leave this earth. Seven years later I would be proven wrong with the death of my youngest son at the age of 17. The important thing to remember in relation to both boys is the eternal question. We are all going to pass from this earth at some point. Some of us go younger, some way too young and some quite old but the bottom line is that all will leave this world. The question we should definitely have the answer to is where our final destination will be. To my knowledge based on what both boys professed, they are in heaven with the creator of the universe! Such a beautiful picture. Where is your destination? Do you know? Do you trust? Read God’s Holy Word and make your mind up today.