It’s October again and time for 31 days of writing. This year I’m only linking up with my FMF sisters. Trying once again to get back to my first creative lote, writing. It’s been a long 3 and a half years. I only know that from looking back on it. Because it sure feels like a lifetime has passed. And actually, two lifetimes did. [insert sigh]
So … about the 5 minutes at a time. FMF =Five Minute Friday, hosted by Kate, where my sister writers and I take one day to free write, un-rushed, for 5 minutes each Friday. Throwing punctuation and grammar to the wind [quite the feat for a grammarista!]. No spell check. No corrections.
::I’m updating here to let you know that this post/page will serve as my landing page. A landing page or table of contents page is where you, my dear readers, can find a link to each of my 31 Day writes. So down at the bottom of this, my [day 1] post I will link each of my posts for you to find easily.::
The theme for my FMF 31 Day Write is … Living Life After Death. I know that sounds daunting, right? Well, not as daunting as getting here, today from there. Where’s there you ask … that’s a tough question to answer, and yet I’ve spent 3 years feeling as though I’ve had to explain the where to justify the here and now, to some. So I will try to fill you in on my Storyin five minutes!
Storyis the prompt…GO!
No rush, right. [insert smile].
Three years ago my husband died from cancer after a 19-month battle. When I say battle I mean the disease’s toll on us as a family. My husband lived ,to the fullest, all but one week of those 19 months. He never gave up until he was finally called home to the Lord.
Sixteen months later my youngest son passed away due to fentanyl poisoning. He was an addict for 17 years. Another battle that took a toll on all of us as a family. He tried. He fought it in the end and things were looking up but …. STOP.
Heroin addiction is a disease and while cancer’s existence within my husband’s body wore his body down, heroin has a voice and a hunger that wears down the person’s mind while the sickness of not giving in wears down the body just as much as giving in and using the drug.
So in 16 months, my little family was cut in half. My oldest son and I move forward in faith, learning to live this life after death.
So if you’d like, I’d enjoy your company on this 31-day journey to wherever God will take us.
I’m a little late to the party over at Kate Motaung’s blog ;but at the time of the link up I hadn’t completed my journey into grief.
The Hubs battling cancer and the boy battling heroin addiction takes up a lot of one’s time and mind space. Not to mention battling heart ache and depression. All at that same time. You see Grief has not managed to settle in here in Hutchland … but her cousin Sorrow has come to visit.
Dear Sorrow,
There are so many things you want from me here today. You entered quietly and sit pretty and dainty in the corner just waiting on Grief to arrive.
You arrived just before midnight on New Years eve; determined to begin 2015 with our family; and you did. Like a quiet breeze of numbness after the phone call. My boy, in custody, again. Ending the festive and peaceful Christmas season wrapping your cool, almost light, arms around my shoulders. Lowering yourself, snug at my side, whispering your sweet lies into my ear. But you are simply at my side. You can only whisper, hoping I will give in to your almost warm and comfortable dark.
I realize you are a part of life. You visit in times of loss and hardship and stay for awhile. Lingering too long over a cooling cup of tea and hardly nibbled sandwich in a lonely, quiet living room. Sitting a touch too close on the sofa of a darkened, quietly sleeping home in the wee hours of the morning.
It seems I must face you; but I refuse to believe that I must allow you to reside here, in my heart of hearts, in my spirit.
Sorrow, you are not meant to reside. You are not meant to remain.
Life adjusts and it changes as God, Himself is put in charge of this home. This heart of our family.
Somethings need to be so that Joy can move in and reside.
The battle with cancer continues; definitely on the path of healing.
The battle with heroin continues, now, hopefully, on a path of healing. Definitely on a path of repentance.
Life continues and I, Sorrow, continue forward with a goal of self-discipline in mind.
So, Sorrow, I don’t believe you have a place here in the heart of our home, yet. There may come a time for you to visit a while, but it is not today.
Today I seek a deepening of my relationship and dependence upon God, the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. Today I seek a deepening of my trust in Jesus for all areas of my life. I say: “I trust You, Jesus.”
So I bid you farewell today, Sorrow, you have no place here.
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their distress and troubles. The Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent. Psalm 34:17-18
Today’s Prayer
Thank you, dear Reader Friends, for stopping by. Be blessed.
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. Psalm 27: 6
It’s me again. Andrea. Here to present my petitions and desires. I know I don’t have to present or ask. I know you are already on these things, but I needed to talk. And I know you already knew that too.
So why do I pray? Speak these epistles of my life to you. Spoken letters of request. Verbal thank you notes for all the blessings in this mess of a life of mine.
I pray because Dear, Sweet Jesus, it’s how I get to talk to you. I pray because it brings me closer to you. Brings me knowledge of you. Prayer is the intimacy of our relationship.
I guess I need to remind myself why I pray sometimes. In this storm it gets confusing and sometimes feels like I keep repeating myself in a desperate beg for some relief.
I pray, because I need answers and only You, Dear Lord, hold these precious treasures of knowing.
I need comfort in this storm that’s been blowing through our lives for the last 15 months. Yet, even as the storm rages and the emotions win their hostile takeover, if I remember and begin to pray my heart is calmed and my mind is cleared. I know this calm is mine in prayer, I just need to remember in the chaos to begin …
I try to sit still in your presence, but when I cannot, and attempt in my own power to enact some fleshly understanding, you wait patiently for me to surrender to the quiet of Your Spirit. And then you envelope me in Your Mighty Shadow, where I finally rest from my futile efforts, pressing my heart as close to yours as I can.
I sense You in my darkest moments. I hear Your whisper in the swirling chaotic thoughts of those moments; though Your Word says You are not in the storm. And You’re not, but yet, there You are and …
You whisper in my ear … I have not left You child. I AM right here, by your side, My Dearest One. Where I have been since I created you.
And then I can rest, when I’ve heard your voice, and know that in my alone-ness, I am never truly alone.
Love,
Amen.
STOP!
This has been a Five Minute Friday Post … Check out how it works here …
Just this week I participated in a word prompt exercise on Fear, you can read it {here}, if you haven’t already. That was Tuesday. It’s Thursday and what I began knowing was going to be an over full week has become more full! Isn’t it just the way of the enemy to attack just as you think you’ve come to a place of rest. Well as versed as I am in fear, and how I handle, it a whole new version of an old foe has reared it’s ugly head.
Anxiety.
Anxiety about the holiday. Anxiety about the clinical trial. And anxiety about this illness getting in the way of our family’s happiness and joy, especially at this time of year. It’s The Hubs’ favorite season, Christmas!
The research doctor at RCI called about needing The Hubs to have another CAT scan; the original biopsy was not big enough to get what they needed, so they need to start with a CT scan. Well that said, he had a CT scan a week after we saw her, so they used that. This morning the research nurse called about scheduling the biopsy. Next week is out due to his work schedule, so that leaves the week before Christmas.
THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS! I HAVE ABSOLUTELY “0” DONE!
Now anyone who knows me knows that the hoopla around the Christmas Holiday doesn’t usually appeal to me. I’ve never liked the music or the decorations. I do, however, LOVE the meaning, the family and the togetherness with people we love. But all the hoopla … I always preferred to avoid, as in “I” didn’t touch the tree and things like that, the decorating, lighting and background music of the holiday. Let’s just say that the holidays were always a source of chaos and anxiety, or worse, when I was a child.
The last couple of years (and I mean like 2) I’ve been feeling more “into” the celebration and decorations part of the holiday.
This year I’ve actually been feeling quite festive. Albeit a very new feeling for me.
I know it’s because I am so grateful for my time with The Hubs and our little family here in Hutchland. =)
And who deserves the honor and glory for that “new” feeling? Jesus. Yes, he does.
Then the calls … We were in a holding pattern of perpetual waiting with this clinical trial possibility, and it’s still only a possibility! The holding pattern was frustrating, I was going to call them Monday about where we were; then they called.
Now I’m feeling like that chaos and anxiety are invading again. All of a sudden I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to get this Christmas up, festive and complete with all this going on in the only two weeks we have to do it all in!
Anxiety makes being Still very hard. I have to force myself to pray and trust God. For some odd reason my heart and head are spinning again and I’m having issues getting it under control.
So what to do?
I’m praying in tongues, in my head and out loud. I am thanking God for His hand on and plan for our lives and resisting the urge to beg Him to fix all this.
He will. He is. I know this, but right this very moment I just need something concrete to know that my world isn’t rushing off on some chaotic run away roller coaster!
So I’ll read the bible. I’ll study for the Bible Lesson I’m giving tonight at bible study. I’ll continue to pray and hopefully I’ll be able to get something constructive done today.
I wish, I pray for answers, to know why I’m feeling like this. Why the anxiety after all this time (15 months).
I have a sound mind … I have power and love; everything to conquer this unfounded fear. Now I just need to remember how to use them.
So first, here, I’ll work on my memory verse and meditate on what it means when God is my fortress and stronghold!
Psalm 27:1-3 (with the Productivity501 tool in front of me.) While praying in tongues. The red is where I had to check the psalm for the right word and the cross outs are self explanatory. (Got that word, or run, incorrect.) The purple is my “commentary”. 😉
1. The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
2. When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. (Thank you Lord! feeling better now.)
3. Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this (God, God’s Word) I will be confident.
{Psalm 27 is such an amazing Scripture to be memorizing at this time in my life. I thank God that I stumbled upon it in my blog hopping!}
In this circumstance of our lives cancer and addiction are certainly our enemies and foes; but I need not be afraid, If God is with me of whom or what shall I be afraid?
Romans 8:28-32
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
God’s Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
After writing this diary-esque post, I feel better. I think I am just overwhelmed with all of the hubbub around the holiday and this clinical trial. I am purposefully going to keep my mind on the REASON FOR THE SEASON and try to not be overwhelmed by getting it all perfect. Because frankly, this girl has NEVER been perfect, especially around the holidays, nor have I ever striven for such a thing.
I’m going to remind myself that God perfects what concerns me … and I am going to be confident in Him and what His Word says about all of this hoopla!
Psalm 138:7-9
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me. 8 The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
Christmas is about celebrating our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All the rest of it is just frills that we created to make us happy. I’m going to sit in the hay with my pups and rejoice that Jesus came to save me and that He is working with Father God, right now, to bring about the perfect results for our lives here in Hutchland.
I know my words weren’t exactly few (but I did add full scripture)!
Thanks for reading my diary of woe. It’s wonderful to know you’re here listening (reading, ha.)
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ. In accordance with his pleasure and will – Ephesians 1:4-5
Grace is a huge subject and one I am very careful with. Why, you ask?
Because right now Grace is the “BIG, NEW” thing in Christian “revelation”; and I am concerned about how the message of Grace is being taught in some circles.
Quite frankly there is NOTHING new about God’s grace and God’s grace is BIG! Grace holds the same tremendous message as it did when Jesus came here as man, and so much more!
Jesus was God’s grace. Jesus is Grace. Jesus extends Grace.
We were extended God’s grace in the man of Jesus. We are to extend God’s grace to others. We are to show God’s grace in the fruit of our lives.
See … there is so much more than we can fathom in one small and beautiful word.
Grace is about Relationship.
{for this post I was lead to the relationship with God that we receive through grace}
Like I said Grace is so many things. Such a broad canvas, but it began with God and His desire for relationship … with us.
Grace was sent and Grace chose us before the creation of the world! Do you realize what that means? God created this world for us. So we would have a place to live and be with Him! By His Grace, and for His pleasure and will He created us to be Sons of God! And to secure that in it’s most pure and holy form God sent His only Son for us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
That’s it. That’s the Grace we are all talking about. We didn’t deserve it. We don’t deserve it. It’s simply that God loves us.
ALL.OF.US.EVERYONE.
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:9-10
THAT.NONE.SHOULD.PERISH.
You see, I’m a Christian. A follower of Christ on a mission to do what Jesus did and more. I’m here to show you grace. To give you grace. And to point you to the person Grace, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am no longer lost. I have attained grace and the eternal life Jesus extended to me. It is now my job to let you know this …
By God’s grace He loves you. Right where you are. And too much to leave you there!
It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, where you’ve been. He chooses YOU. Right Now. Right Here.
Have you accepted the gift of Grace? Have you accepted the Grace that is Jesus Christ? Do you believe that He died on the cross for your sins and sickness? Do you believe that He rose again to reconcile God’s relationship with you and for you?
If your answer, today, is YES, then you’ve entered into the Grace.
The Grace that is the Love of God. Jesus.
Welcome to the journey, there is much to do and learn, and you are not alone. There are many of us here with you … come let us walk with Jesus.
If you have any questions, please, I would be happy to share this truth with you personally. You can contact me through the comments or personally at: romans826-28@comcast.net
Thanks for reading my friends. And blessings to you all.
Happy Tuesday … Where we, a growing group of creatives get a prompt word meant to spark creativity in the heart of the writer, or the photographer, or artist, in them. Just about a week is given for the creator to create from this word and all that is asked is that you share and check out what your neighbor in the link up list did with the prompt. You’ll be surprised at how often we are all led on the same path!
Tuesday @ Ten
Today’s Tuesday Prompt is …. Truth.
“I tell you the truth …”
Jesus is quoted as saying that phrase 78 times in the New Testament! 78 … that’s a lot of truth, but that is part of why he came to earth as a man. To testify to the Truth of God. More interesting: 30 of those truths were recorded just in the book of Matthew.
To tell you the truth, we need healing in our house. A lot of healing. And today I am having a very hard time with the information we got from the doctors at The Hubs’ last two visits. In my head, and usually in my heart, I know and cannot be moved away from the knowledge that we WERE healed by Jesus’ sacrifice, for US, on the cross. This is knowledge in our home.
It is Truth in our home.
Lord, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! Mark 9:24 (my prayer, taken from the same story but in the book of Mark.)
14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” 17“O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.23They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.
*****
This causes me concern about my faith. And if I’m having a crisis of faith right now, it’s not my faith in God’s promise of healing! It’s about my level of faith being hammered at almost daily for over a year. I thank God that it is His faith that works in and through me and not a faith that I must maintain on my own!
I said to my husband last night, in heartbroken, absolute truth, that it is so hard to hear these things and look at him vibrantly himself. It rocks me that he can be virtually well yet this thing can be inside of him trying to kill him! I told him that I wouldn’t be having such a hard time with his decision to NOT do anything about what they were telling us (he’s decided to refuse anymore chemo; but is willing to consider clinical trials for experimental drugs.) if he were ill and suffering. Somehow it would be easier to just quietly sit back in my sorrow about his refusal.
But, like he says, the chemo doesn’t seem to be doing anything (reminder to self: chemo is poison, not medicine!) can doing nothing really be worse?
And my wife/mother screams in my head … WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING! Yet, the truthful questions is: Do we? or Does God?
The amazing truth is he looks great! He feels and functions almost at his norm, except for some fatigue.
It’s amazing, as much as the schedule and the chemo stressed him and fatigued him, I’ll say it again, he did not experience what we all hear about and see on TV, or what others seem to have experienced with their loved ones.
No days of pain and suffering. No horrible, wasting illness. No vomiting and not being able to eat. None of that.
And it is for those very “NOs” that we remain faithful to God’s assurances of The Hubs’ healing.
And then the doctors tell us “their” truth. So when we were told what we were told yesterday their truth rocked my truth. So to decided to do nothing is beyond my scope right now.
The truth is, though, that it is ultimately my husband’s, and God’s, decision. Though I did honestly tell him that while I support his decision he needs to keep in mind that he [they] is making life altering decisions for both our lives.
Truthfully. I believe God. The Hubs looks and feels great, though right now, today, he is angry and frustrated that all this year’s work and treatments seem to have been for naught. We believe, we know, that God has healed him. That God is bigger than the doctors reports and tests and protocols.
Yet today’s Truth is that I am spent. I posted for all our loved ones and friends in the faith and prayer that we were home and were moving forward for the possibility of the clinical trial, and most took that as the good news that it is. But like the chemo (which isn’t curative or even really a medicine) the trial medications are unproved and may be non-curative either. It’s a clinical trial. The doctors and manufacturers have high hopes and so do we.
The truth is …. I am ready for the manifestation of healing in Hutchland. I am ready to stop feeling like I have to be waiting for the next report.
I am ready for the doctors and the world to understand the Truth, that …
Only God heals. Jesus is the only cure.
Like The Hubs says and stands by: The doctors are not curing him, God is. The doctors cannot heal him, only God can.
So today I will continue to recite that … Only God. Only Jesus. He is our cure. He is our doctor. He is our healer.
I’m going to add here today’s attempt at my memorization of Psalm 27: 1 & 2 … here goes!
1. The Lord is my light and my strength; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
2.When the wicked came against me The to eat up my flesh, My enemies all fell and foes, they stumbled and fell.
Not too bad for the second day of adding verse two!
I thought that Psalm 27 fit this post, truthfully. These two verses are a big part of what I am and will be focusing on in regard to our current circumstances here in Hutchland.
I refuse to allow the enemy to kill my two men (the second being my youngest. I wrote a post on Sunday about my son’s struggle here.)
Quite frankly it’s been a very trying couple of weeks for this wife and mother.
Welcome to my FMF post. Where I join Kate and the others in blogging from my heart for 5 minutes; unhindered by the need to edit or corrections. Just my heart to yours on this fine Friday. You can either follow the FMF link in the sentence above or hop on over to how it works from the button on my side bar! Join us!
His Laughter – My Favorite Sound.
Today’s Prompt is: Still. So lets ….
Today I honor this man, The Hubs.
If you’ve frequented my blog you know who he is because I mention him often! ❤ Today is his birthday!
So today I honor the most honest man I’ve ever known. He changed my life almost 26 years ago! Wow … 26 years. I actually met him when I was 19 (and thought he was old.) but our worlds would become one when I was 24.
This man’s honesty, integrity and character are evident in him everyday, without fail. It thank God that He made me discerning enough to choose the man He sent for me, and me for him.
I am awed by this man’s strength and dignity in all things, and I could not love him more. That is until tomorrow comes and I realize a new and wonderful thing in him.
O’ Lord this man. We declare and decree the Word of God. “Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.” “By His stripes you are healed.” “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” “You shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.” “Don’t forget the benefits of God. He heals all our diseases.” “The Lord will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds.” “Affliction will not rise up a second time.” “The power of the Lord is present to heal you.”
I count our years together as blessings, having realized that our successful marriage and relationship was God’s plan . How much more wonderful can a life be, than to live the life that God unites between the two people he built for one another?
With all my heart and soul, I love this man STILL and always.
It’s Tuesday at Ten time! And Karen’s prompt is right on time and right on the money, again!
Really, what am I grateful for … so very much!
Life is difficult here in Hutchland, and probably in your life too! Yet I remain grateful, even if I have to be reminded to count my blessings in the moment of challenge, for this life we have.
So how do I find my Grateful in times of difficulty? Here’s the story of how I keep my gratitude in order.
Like yesterday ….
I didn’t think I’d be doing much of anything today. I am tired and not feeling great after yesterday’s medical appointment adventure day! It really was a long day, with some hiccups in what we expected to be the plan, and the outcomes of the day.
Feeling great, and optimistic, when we started out on what we knew was going to be an extended day, turned into information we weren’t expecting, tests and retests and then a long drive home in quiet reflection!
LOL! Quiet reflection! Oh! I am so grateful for the humor we enjoy in this relationship of our, The Hubs and I. Somewhere along the line in our travels back and forth to appointments and chemo and radiation we saw or heard a commercial, or in a movie, that basically ended in one of the characters saying, “from now on the car will be a place of silent reflection.” So the thought of that just cracks us up!
Anyway! Back to grateful!
I’ve had several kinds of “counseling” since about the age of 19. Due to family issues, abuses and neglects in my life. From childhood and far into my adulthood. But the one form of counseling that has had the most effect on my true healing is a simple AA Beginners Learning to Live group and Step Meetings with women who think like I do and incorporates a LOT of God into it.
Over the years I have been grateful to find that AA is actually based on Christian counseling methods! It’s developed, over time, to incorporate all beliefs, but it has never denied it’s Christians roots.
The Higher Power is defined as God in all the literature. =)
All that said, I have learned, from constant consistency from my sponsor, that when I get in a REALLY bad way I need to make a GRATITUDE List.
Not too different from the guidance of the bible and probably originating there:
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:16 ( I have found in my studies of scripture that many of the most profound messages in the bible are in [fill in your bible book here], chapter 3 and verse 16. Seriously, has anyone else noticed this? God surely makes these things so easy for us to find!)
Gratitude … on Facebook I’ve seen, lately, the encouragement of picking and challenging friends to 5 or 7 days of posting what they are grateful/thankful for. I’ve also noticed, among my list of friends, that if one is having a hard time or has slipped into a negative rut they are especially encouraged to write this new form of the Gratitude List. What I like about that is that it makes me feel accountable to others around me.
After all I’m supposed to be shining my light and showing those around me Jesus. Well it’s hard to do that when I am overwhelmed with the world or my current circumstances. It’s hard for anyone. I have a friend on Facebook, who over the years, I have become very close to. She could be my daughter. Usually a very happy and positive lady, she’s been having a hard time with the world around her. She even made this evident this morning. Her words broke my heart for her. ” Stick a fork in me, I’m done and it really doesn’t take much these days especially in a world where you constantly being shown how worthless you are. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for SO much… it’s the rest of it I’m absolutely choking on. HAPPY MONDAY POSITIVE PEEPS!”. I began to pray for her relief from her pain. This lady will soon be back to her wonderful positive self; but it’s so evident how all of a sudden when a tragedy crops up we truly see the world as the fallen place that it is!
This life is not easy, but as humans I think we begin a slow amnesiac type of tolerance to what’s around us; and until something makes those things that we think to be important the small things that they truly are we are unable to remember what is important and to count those amazing everyday blessings that fill our lives!
But! I’ve been taught by my God and my relentless friends of like mind that that is EXACTLY the time to write that list.
A very dear friend, mentor and powerhouse in the Ministry of Prayer, reminds me and encourages me too, in this. I must say, my mentors and friends really do cause me to be so thankful to God for putting them in my life!
I have also come to see my gratitude list as a prayer of sorts, for the day or for the crisis at hand. =)
Further Instructions: Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
They say:
Just get to it! Write that list of what you are thankful for! Count those blessings! Pray! It changes one’s attitude immediately! It works!
Well it must work, it works for me. It’s guidance from the bible and from any good counselor!
So, what am I grateful for today? After yesterday and the Monday before? Here goes … 10 things I’m grateful for this week, today:
My Gratitude List
1. Those who take the time to remind me to count my blessings. Today I must thank Karen for this, and Margie, who has been doing this for over a week with me, reminding and praying for and with me.
2. That God is our healer, not the doctors.
3. That The Hubs let me know what he thought on that. He said, “It’s ok. God heals me, not the doctors or the chemo!” So grateful for his sharing how he thinks about these things! That said …
4. For good doctors and specialists.
5. That 6 weeks out, The Hubs remains in good health!
6. I am eternally grateful that God made me smart enough to realize His choice for a husband for me almost 26 years ago!
7. I am grateful for God’s faith working in me. It is my stay and fortress.
8. My crazy and odd family!
9. For my Dachshunds and the Cats that remain. Always there and always faithful!
and lastly but never leastly …
10. For this blessed life that God has provided for us here in Hutchland!
Finding the grateful in the roughness of this life is not always an easy task, but I promise you, my sweet readers, that when practiced it has a profoundly positive affect on you, your attitude and ultimately the world around you! I encourage you to join us all at Tuesday at Ten and begin that Gratitude List of yours! We are all here on the same journey. We might be at different legs of the journey but I, for one, am grateful that you are here with me and I am not alone on the path.
OOOOoooo! Quick update-add on! This is my 500th blog post here at HopeAnnFaith! Whooop Whooop!
Five Minute Friday Time! Joining Kate and the FMF Writers for today’s prompt:
Turn.
Follow the link in the graphic here to get the skinny on the FMF link-up and join us! We’d love to share this with you!
Now without any further delay … setting the timer …
Turn your eyes upon Jesus and the things of this world will grow strangely dim.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ~ Hebrews 12:1-2
Turn away from those things that hinder and so easily entangle. Those things and people of the world who do not agree with the written will of God for our lives. What do we do when the doctor in our lives say things like: “We can never tell you you will heal” or “The chemo didn’t work, so ….”?
Or even better, professionals dealing with patients saying things like: “Oh! You’ve been doing this a year! Aren’t you one for the history books?!” What kind of backhanded encouragement (?) is that? My first thought was lady, get yourself some bedside manners before you speak to a possibly frightened patient again! Appalling in and of itself. But saddening when you think that these people don’t know God and His promises of healing for all of us.
So, yeah. I schooled them in the facts of The Hubs progress and in how BIG our God is compared to their knowledge and protocol. I was polite but firm and basically told them how they could speak about this malady in reference to our lives. The doctor just shook her head like I was a poor unfortunate imbecile; but the nurse, she knew about God, she’d obviously had some church in her life, praise God! She apologized and thanked me for giving her a different view about how her patients might be dealing with cancer in their lives. My response was thank you and not everyone owns their illnesses, some of us refuse to allow an illness or disease to take hold within us. WE here in Hutchand DO NOT take ownership of anything that did not come from God!
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ~ James 1:17
That’s just how we roll here in Hutchland, according to what God says about this life of ours. I’m not saying we got it down pat, we don’t. But when we get it wrong, the minute we realize it, usually at Holy Spirit’s correction, we pick up, dust ourselves off , repent and get back on that path called LIFE, God has set before us.
So where do you turn when things don’t seem correct in your day to day? Where do you look when the world tells you something upside down and inside out? Do you turn to Jesus? Do you look up? Join us and let us know where you turn.
Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
It’s the last day of the week, and the last day of the month, on the last day of the 31day Write! And as we leave this challenge behind us I’d like to say,
CONGRATULATIONS!
To ALL of us who managed to write for 31 days in a row! It’s quite the accomplishment. I, for one, found it very difficult around the middle of the second week. Life got in the way and I was forced to seek inspiration … though my theme is an everyday thing in Hutchland. For me, I’m not sure it made me a better writer or story teller or inspiration.
It did though do what I set out to do, I got deeper into what God says about OUR healing. I found that when one digs and dusts off and consumes God’s word revelation, understanding and knowledge is absorbed. I believe the challenge did it’s job.
So on this day I will leave the subject of Journeying through Healing Scriptures with a FMF post.
If you’re new to Five Minute Friday, all the details you’ll need can be found right over here.
As we leave the 31 day write Kate gave us this prompt: LEAVE. Very apropos, I think.
So with out further ado … Go!
As I’ve said before there are certain words that simply take my thoughts and spirit right to scripture. Leave is one of these words.
The word leave has a sad feeling to me. We do much leaving in a life. We leave for our first day of school, there’s the first time we leave our parents to stay over night with a friend, we leave for college and we leave our mother and father to marry and begin a new extension or branch of our family tree.
Yes, these are all rights of passage as we leave one stage of life for another on our journey to maturity and independence as people.
But the word leave also conjures, for me, feelings of fear and anger and desolation; from a past where most everyone left me at one time or another. For various reasons only understood by the departed, from a young age leaving was something everyone did, whether it was physically, mentally or emotionally. On every level my siblings and I were left … alone … to learn to survive on our own. And we did, however that washes out today in each of us, we survived, and for that I am eternally grateful to God.
So today this word, LEAVE, doesn’t leave such a metallic taste in my mouth. My heart no longer drops at the goodbye or the realization that I am alone. Because I am never alone, anymore.
Let’s be honest ….
[STOP! {for the FMF post}! And, now, to finish out The 31day Write … please continue …]
We may leave God, much like that teenager we once were, embarking out on our own [power, understanding], to conquer the world, but He will never leave us. No matter how bleak the situation, no matter how empty the feelings, God will never leave you! His promises are true. His word is above all and the final say! God goes before us so that we can move forward, in the confidence that He has prepared the way, precisely because … He has gone before us. And if God be for us, who can be against us?
We are never truly alone. God is always with us, we were taught this in Sunday school as children, God lives in our hearts. As adults we realize, when we come to that point in our lives, that God permeates us … He is our heart, our spirit and our thinking.
At least that’s who He is in my life. And if that is the case for me, so can it be for YOU, also!
So it stands to reason that when I hear the word Leave, a particular scripture comes to mind … and this “scripture” should be called “scriptures”, because the same comforting reminder is repeated several times throughout God’s Word.
The Bible. Where God left His promise and plan and instructions for us.
God goes out of His way to repeat this particular promise over and over so that it will become ingrained,viscerally, within each and every one of us. Because for us humans to believe that we are not alone we often need something tangible. God knows this, He built us. So because He, Father God, loves us, He knew that we would need to hear and to feel Who He is to us. And He knew we would need to feel secure in it … So because …
God is LIMITLESS Love
He repeated this very important promise to us, so that it and He could become a permanent part of us.
Here I will LEAVE you with 10 instances of His promise to always be with us.
Meditate on them and know that YOU are not alone today. Because … He is right there with you, this very moment. In whatever your circumstance is today. He never leaves nor forsakes you. NEVER.
There is none like Him, and He will not allow His word to return to Him void! Col 3:16
Deuteronomy 31:6, Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; “He will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Deuteronomy 31:8, The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Joshua 1:5, No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
1Kings 8:57, “May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may He never leave us nor forsake us.”
1Chronicles 28:20, David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you.He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished.”
Psalms 37:28, For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.“They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off;”
Psalms 94:14 “For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.”
Isaiah 41:17 “The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.”
Isaiah 42:16 “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
In EACH.AND.EVERY.ONE. of these scripture God promises, 10 times!, never to leave or forsake us! NEVER.
I pray that you let the Word of God dwell in you, in all wisdom; allowing you to teach you the things that it has taught me this last 30 days. That You come to the grace of the knowledge that YOU are forgiven, saved, blessed, healed and secure in the Love of God. I pray that you come to the understanding in your hearts, in your very spirits, that all of this and so much more was secured within your salvation!
What did Jesus say before He bid the Spirit to leave Him on that cross some 2000 years ago? He said, “It is FINISHED” In those last 3 words illness, sickness, sin and death were FINISHED. For all intents and purposes they were made to LEAVE all of humanity, never to afflict them again!
We simply need to get into the Word of God, in the presence of those who believe and understand and can instruct us in His Word, so that we can get this into our understanding, so that it becomes engrained within our Spirits and understanding until it is KNOWN, without doubt.
So with this I leave you, today.
Good job! You’ve accomplished the goal of writing for 31days! I pray you’ve learned as much as I did. I pray you’ve moved closer, each of those 31 days, to God the Father in understanding and love.
I’m going to spend 30 days in November reading some of your 31day Write Challenge posts! I cannot wait to see your offerings.
One Page at a Time. 