I have WHAT?

What a long strange trip this week has been.  Beginning on Monday with a trip to the Doctor's office ending on Friday at Moffitt Cancer Center scheduling surgery for this week.  It was a whirlwind of tests and blood draws. Not to mention all the new words and medical terms that are thrown around.
Still reeling from hearing "you have a tumor in your right kidney"  I then hear unfamiliar medical jargon like, nephrectomy, IVC thrombectomy, metastasized, what does it all mean?  Bottom line is I have cancer in my right kidney and in the large artery (Inferior Vena Cava)  to which the kidney is attached  and the cancer has traveled to my lungs.  Wow....yes it was one heck of a field trip this last week. 

If you have read my past blogs you know that the last two years have been turbulent to say the least. After moving to Missouri for 14months and back to Florida only to have cataract surgery, lose my job, lose our house, a sever case of depression lasting 13 months, a trip to Washington to visit family that didn't go well to say the least, strep throat on return and now I have cancer. And not just any cancer, major surgery cancer.  I admit feeling a little like Job when God allowed him to be tested by Satan. Job lost everything -wealth, housing land, friends, family.  Even his wife told him he should curse God, but still Job praised God. 

21 Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

naked I’ll return to the womb of the earth.

God gives, God takes.

God’s name be ever blessed.

22 Not once through all this did Job sin; not once did he blame God.
Job 1:21-22

But what happens in the end of the story?  Job 42:12 begins-

Then the Lord blessed Job’s latter days

 more than his former ones.....

 

 

That's what I'm talking about!  Look, no pity party for me.  God has got this, God has my back on all this; He told me so.....  He could heal me before they even start surgery, or not, either way I will praise him with all I have. I will count myself as blessed by the many treasured prayers that go up to Him on my behalf.  I do not believe God is finished with me yet.  So I will not ask "why God?" ,  but "What"?  What are you up to God?  What is it God that you have so great coming for me that Satan desperately wants to separate me from it? 


Stay posted with me to travel my latest field trip... it's going to be a crazy ride.

 

 

Where are you God?

Hey everyone!
Sorry it has been so long since I have written.  I am trying to make this blog work into my schedule, so I will be changing to a weekly format.  I am  also researching new topics and going over some old writings (pre-blog) to share with you.  So please hang in there with me for a little longer.

It's been a little tough writing lately. God's inspiration wasn't coming and I admit to being a little frustrated.  I caught myself praying, "Where are you God, remember you wanted me to do this, and promised to help?"  As my 5 year old granddaughter Addie says "And then I just said Seriously?"
My feeling of abandonment and I are in good company, great men in the Bible felt the same way. Isaiah says-

While I wait for God as long as he remains in hiding,    while I wait and hope for him.I stand my ground and hope,...  

Isaiah 8:17 MSG

And David in Psalms -

God, God . . . my God!    Why did you dump me    miles from nowhere?Doubled up with pain, I call to God    all the day long. No answer. Nothing.I keep at it all night, tossing and turningPsalms 22:1-2 MSG

But of course God had not abandoned them, he has not abandoned me- and He won't abandon you either.
We are seeking a relationship with God. Relationships take work, we have to do our part; and I think God is asking us "Will you remain faithful  and worship me even when you cannot feel my presence?"
Faith & worship, that's what He is asking for, our faith and love.

Faith or Fear?

 “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:24

 This verse is filled with a joyful promise from God; but it doesn’t mean God is your personal vending machine. God still has a plan for your life.  If what you are asking is for the right reasons, by that I mean not out of selfish desires or pride, God may answer your prayer.

Andy Andrews has a book called The Traveler’s Gift.  In one chapter the traveler David Ponder, meets Gabriel in heaven and he takes the David into a warehouse filled with racks and racks of stuff.  There are photos of children, wheelchairs and cures for disease, anything anyone could imagine.

The David asks, “What is this place?”  The Gabriel replies, “ This, my friend, is the place that never was.” Gabriel goes on to explain, “This is the place where we keep all the things that were about to be delivered just as a person stopped working and praying for them. The contents of this warehouse are filled with the dreams and goals of the less courageous.”
 

A Warehouse full of things perhaps no one had enough faith to ask for or didn’t ask for out of fear. Gabriel, in the story, also says that:

 “All men are driven by faith or fear-one or the other-for both are the same.” 

True they are both the same, yet fear takes our faith in the wrong direction. We “fear” the unknown because it hasn’t happened yet and we do not know what to expect. We cannot see it or touch it, only imagine it.  Faith is a belief in something you cannot see or touch- it too is an unknown. But we have faith that it is there just like the air we breathe. Is there a reward in faith? Yes, seeing what you have believed in come to fruition.

"Now faith is being sure we will get what we hope for. It is being sure of what we cannot see." Hebrews 11:1 NLT

Don’t let your dreams end up in God’s warehouse, have the courage to pray for your gift without ceasing, knowing by faith God will deliver your Joy.

Finding Happiness: Faith

Yesterday I wrote about happiness in Material things.  Solomon reasoned in Ecclesiastes that we could find true happiness only with God in our hearts.

Can we have truly know God with out faith? No. Sure, you can go through the motions; go to church, be moved by a sermon and maybe even shed a couple tears saying” I really felt God’s presence.”

But faith is much more than a feeling. 

Faith is compassionate and empathic. There are many verses in the bible that tell of Jesus being sadden by someone’s circumstances or that he showed compassion for “the people”.

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and   one of you says to them “Go in peace, be warmed and filled.”  without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? James 2:15-16 ESV

That’s not Faith. Faith is seeing a need and doing something about it; whether it is in your community or in your church.  Faith is knowing that God will give you the abilities or bring someone to you to help with a need you want to fill. So don’t just say  “Well I’ll pray about that.”  It is impossible to be compassionate and think of all your own troubles. Doing something for someone else is the best therapy you can get.

That being said, faith should make us happy.

You have filled my heart with more happiness than they have when there is much grain and wine. Psalms 4:7 MSG

Our family is waiting on a new little bundle of pink any day; in fact she is past due! I have faith she is coming and God will bring her happy & healthy.

Another way of showing my faith, and this one will make this JjaJja very happy!