February 9, 2022

 

Slow Down

 

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

– 1 John 4:7

 

“I don’t belong here.” Those were my first thoughts as I waited for the nurse. I was just getting a shot. That was all. But as I looked around, all I saw were people with chemo drugs running into their veins. My heart swelled up with compassion and, honestly, with thankfulness. I know how easily I could have been one of them.

 

Timing is everything. How often have we heard that? My cancer was caught early. Their cancers were more invasive, further along, maybe the type that is aggressive. What my cancer would have become had it not been for an early diagnosis. What it could become should it ever return.

 

We talk a lot about being kind. We know kindness is a Fruit of the Spirit but, honestly, we get so caught up in our lives, our own agendas, our own timetables, that we push past those who are struggling. We don’t know what others are going through and deep inside we really don’t want to know. Our lives are filled to overflowing and we don’t want the burden of carrying someone else’s sorrow.

 

Jesus carried our sorrow. He died for our sins, which includes our selfishness. We know life isn’t about us but we so desperately want it to be. We know we’re supposed to love others but that requires time and attention and compassion. How can we manage it all?

 

The Bible tells us to love others. It doesn’t tell us to focus on the cares of this world. It tells us to slow down and focus on what’s important. People are important. Sometimes all anyone really needs is a hug, a card, a heartfelt prayer or simply to be seen. When was the last time you really looked at someone and saw their heart? Slow down. Pay attention. Love others like Jesus loves you.

September 30, 2018

How Far Will You Go?

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. – John 6:66

How devoted are you to Jesus? How much do you love Him? How far will you go when He calls you to a path not of your liking? What will you do, how much will you sacrifice, to fulfill His calling on your life?

It’s easy to follow Jesus when the path is sure and the work light and easy. It’s a good life, we tell ourselves. God is good, we share boldly.

And then, one day, it’s not. Your best friend gets a cancer diagnosis and, after surgery and treatments and hours of prayer, dies. Your husband spends years building a career that provides a good life for your family until, one day, his company goes under and you’re left with a meager bank account and no prospects for a new job.

Should I go on? There’s the child you’ve asked God to protect and guide since before he was born. He’s addicted to drugs. Maybe you thought you’d found the perfect church only to hear another church member gossiping and spreading ugly untruths about you. Maybe you’re infertile, or alone, or your husband is having an affair.

Do you still follow Jesus throughout it all? Do you still love Him and trust Him? Do you still believe He wants what is best for you?

Life rarely turns out the way we’d imagined. Our plans, well, they rarely direct our lives. God has a way of showing up and turning our world upset down. Sometimes it hurts. Always it ends up growing us and molding us into the people He wants us to be.

Staying the course is hard. It’s not like God gives us a map. We don’t get to preview the twists and turns before they happen. We don’t get to choose only good things.

I get it. I do. But here’s a hard truth:  It’s in the hard times, the hurtful moments, that we grow the most. It’s when we have nowhere else to turn that we finally cry out to the only One who can fill us with His peace, healing us from the inside out.

That’s when some people turn away. They want an easy button. They don’t want to walk through the pain. They don’t want to suffer. They don’t want to believe God knows best when He says no. They don’t want to trust when Jesus says wait.

It’s easy to turn to other things, isn’t it? Alcohol and pills dull the pain. Stuff, whether it’s the latest electronic gadget or a new outfit, makes us feel better. We can relax in front of the television, binging on escapism programming as we stuff unhealthy foods into our already overweight bodies. We don’t need Jesus. We can take care of ourselves. That’s what we tell ourselves anyway.

What about you? Can you stay the course, trusting Him, when the way is rocky and the final outcome uncertain? Can you believe in Him, in His goodness, in His love, when life hurts?

We don’t always get the answers we want in life. We don’t always understand why He allows us to hurt so deeply when we’ve tried so hard to follow Him? Through it all He changes us, molds us, until one day we look up and realize we’re really thankful we stayed the course and trusted Him through the hard times.

June 11, 2018

Don’t Be Afraid in the Storm

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. – Matthew 8:26

Sometimes life throws us a curveball. Just when we think that everything is going along smoothly, something happens that sends everything into a tailspin. It changes you. Forever.

There is comfort in a predictable life. There is security in knowing how each day will unfold. There is an easiness to following a known path. But we don’t grow in the predictable and the easy.

We grow when the diagnosis is hard and we aren’t sure of the outcome. We grow when someone else’s choice takes away what we always thought we could count on. We grow when our world suddenly becomes different than what we’d planned.

We can gain our strength from Christ. Or we can wallow in a hole that can only lead to sin and more heartbreak.

It’s terrifying to face the struggle. Surely, we can just stand still and weather the storm? Except we weren’t made to always stay the same. Our testimony comes when we step out into the unknown, clasping tightly to our Savior’s hand.

Our lives were never meant to be comfortable. We somehow miss that lesson as we go about our days. We forget that Jesus’ early disciples suffered for their faith. It would have been far easier to go along with the world, to remain silent, to stand aside and let others tell them what to do. But they weren’t called to that and neither are we.

That doesn’t mean we all must cast aside our fear and head to a Third World Country and become missionaries. Some people are called to that. Others are not. Some of us are called to serve right where we are. But we are all called to serve. We miss that somehow as we go about our comfortable, self-involved lives.

Until the storm hits. And it always comes. Something happens to change our comfortable journey and we are left struggling. We cry out. He is there. He was always there. We were just too busy holding on to our what we knew to realize how desperately we needed Him.

Can the world see the difference in how we handle situations and how unbelievers handle the same situations? Do they see our faith? Do they see the anchor that calms the boat even in the midst of the storm?

Our lives are meant to direct people to Jesus. We are meant to bring honor and glory to God. The Holy Spirit is our guide but we have a choice as to whether we follow His promptings or go a different way.

Choices. Which treatment is the best? How can we remain silent when the lies surround us? Can we really rebuild a life someone else tore down? And where is Jesus in the midst of it all?

Right beside you. He’s right there. He will never leave you or forsake you. He promised and Jesus always keeps His promises. In the trying moments of this unpredictable world, Jesus is our constant help and strength. He rejoices with us during the good times and He carries us during the bad. Don’t be afraid. He’s got you.

April 24, 2018

A Little Girl and a Town

“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.” – Psalm 91:14-15

Yesterday our small town turned out in light blue. Students and teachers, store clerks and office workers. It was all about a seven-year-old girl and her fight to stay alive.

This sweet girl had a tumor removed, a “lesion”, from her brain. How can a child, a second-grade beauty queen, be okay one minute and then rushed to Children’s Hospital in another? What are parents to do when faced with the very real possibility of burying their child? How do they conquer their fear and remain strong for their little girl?

There are moments when you realize how fragile life is. There are times when you realize that you really aren’t in control. There are tears when you realize all those heartbreaking verses in the Bible were intended to bring you comfort. Hope, that fragile thing that rests on faith, comes on the bended knees of desperation.

A community rallied to lift up one of its own. The light blue symbolized those who prayed that God would heal, that God would gift comfort and strength, for this uncertain journey. Because tomorrow really isn’t promised no matter how determined we might be.

Many people hugged their babies a little closer these last few days. Grandparents counted their blessings and savored moments with their grandchildren. This little girl was a stark reminder that we never know what the day will bring. Devastation is just a moment away.

We see the faith in God, the trust that He will turn it all to good even as He heals. One photo stuck out in my mind: that of two little girls deep in prayer. Best friends since they met at six-weeks-old. One determined child praying for another, teaching us that in our most desperate moments we cry out to the God who provides miracles and healing and comfort and strength.

The surgery was a success. The doctors think they’ve removed it all. It could take six days to get the test results back. But for now all is well. She is alive and fighting back. A community breathed a sigh of relief. God is good.

God is always good. Even if the surgery outcome had been bad, God is still good. Even if God one day chooses to heal this little girl by taking her home, He is still good. We miss that sometimes as we shout out our halleluiahs. We forget about the times God said no.

My thoughts go to a young man who only lived to be 20. He was diagnosed with cancer shortly after high school graduation. The fight was long and hard. He almost made it. Almost. His absence created a hole in the hearts of those who knew and loved him. Faith is a promise of seeing him again but it doesn’t take away the heartbreak of burying a child who never really had a chance to be a man.

We wrap our hearts around this little girl and her family. We pray without ceasing. We are grateful for every small step toward recovery. We rest in His grace and mercy. We are held by His strength, on the prayers of all those who have united as one.

Prayer is a powerful thing. It’s really too bad that it takes something so awful to bring us to our knees before the throne of God, a place we should have been all along.

March 28, 2018

How Deep Is Your Faith?

But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. – Jeremiah 17:7-8

For every nonbeliever who gets cancer, God allows a believer to get cancer too so that the world can see the difference. I read that recently and it really made me pause and think for a moment. Does our faith truly make us different or does calamity sink us in its stormy seas?

There’s one thing certain about this life: There are peaks and valleys, good times and bad. That’s the ebb and flow of it. We aren’t created to live always on the mountain top. Indeed, it is in the valley where we learn the most about God and about ourselves.

A dear friend is battling cancer right now. She’s completed chemo and surgery and has just started radiation. She did everything right. She always got checkups when she was supposed to. She was vigilant. Cancer didn’t care.

Her faith is strong, probably stronger now than ever before. She’s been a believer for longer than she can remember. But she’d lost that fire inside. Do you know what I mean? She wasn’t hungry anymore for God’s word. It was just too easy to sleep late, to fill her moments with life and laughter. Until one day it all came crashing down in a diagnosis no one was expecting.

God holds us up in times like that. He’s the first One we cry out to when we realize the storm could be the end. And He’s always there. He never has something better to do, never leaves us to face the crisis alone, never demands that we right our lives before He’ll help us. There’s a lesson there for all of us.

This sweet woman has mostly been a pillar of strength. In those moments when life has seemed so fragile and the fight so long, God has sent friends to strengthen her for the journey. Fear is a horrendous companion. Scars remind us of the battle that has changed us forever. The pain seems never-ending. His love remains.

God never said we wouldn’t have trials. In fact, Jesus told us to expect them. So why are we so surprised when the storm hits?

I have reached the age when Bible verse memorization is labored and hard. Yet, I know it is necessary. Because when the pain threatens to overwhelm a shattered heart, it’s the words of God that sooth. The time to grow our roots, to water our souls with prayer and study, is while we are on the mountain top. It’s when our souls are flourishing and our days are filled with light that our roots grow deep into the soil.

Darkness has a way of coming when we least expect it. It’s imperative to have deep roots before it hits. How we weather the season of dismay is directly tied to how we have prepared for the storm. Don’t wait until the storm hits to plant roots deep enough to stand firm.

March 19, 2018

It Takes A Community

And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

– Ecclesiastes 4:12

The small white calf stood on the wrong side of the barbed wire fence. I quickly pressed the brakes and turned around, heading back toward the disaster-waiting-to-happen. No one needed a wreck caused by a wayward calf in the road.

Another woman had already pulled over. She was a city-girl who’d somehow found herself living in a nearby country town. She liked cows. She just didn’t know anything about them. That was obvious when she explained that she’d tried to pet the calf but he ran from her. Newsflash: This calf was not an escapee from the petting zoo.

I decided I might need to hang around. My cousin had already called the owner (Who is married to another cousin. It’s a small-town thing.) I realized it would take him at least 30 minutes to arrive. I settled in to talk to my new “friend.”

The little calf decided the grass might be greener on the other side of the road. The woman and I quickly sprang into action, stopping traffic in both directions and herding the calf around a bend and away from the road. Another couple pulled off the highway and hurried to help.

We managed to corner the calf just as Mama Cow arrived. My new friend wanted no part of Mama Cow and backed off. With the couple’s help, we “encouraged” the calf to go back under the fence and to safety. Disaster averted.

It took all of us to make it happen. Have you ever attempted to force a wayward calf to go where you want him to? I have. It’s something only America’s Funniest Home Videos would enjoy. But with the help of others, we were able to herd the calf to safety.

That’s how life is. Some things are just hard or impossible when we’re struggling to get through them on our own. We need help. We need someone who understands. We need to know that we aren’t alone.

A dear friend talks about getting devastating news about her son. He’d done something awful and was sitting in a jail cell. Her heart was shattered. A friend came to her house and refused to leave. The friend sat with her, silently, as time passed slowly by. No words could alleviate her pain but the support of someone just being there helped her get through that time of shock and heartbreak.

Another friend talks about the stack of cards that she treasures. They are a visual reminder of the love and prayers that have surrounded her as she fights cancer. In these days when she can’t always safely be around others because of her weakened immune system, those cards tell her that she isn’t alone. She is loved. She is strengthened by the presence of others.

Friends take away our loneliness. They encourage us and advise us, laugh and cry with us. We were never meant to do life alone. It takes a community of believers to navigate this world and withstand the temptations and trials all around us. We are strengthened by the presence of others. We are blessed by community.

April 14, 2016

Prioritize God

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

-- Psalm 46:10

Our world has gotten so crazy. We’re always busy, running to catch up to a place that can never be our destination. Why? Because by the time we get there, it will have moved.

Yesterday I had a long conversation with a dear friend. We did it by texting. The conversation lasted over an hour, though we did have breaks. We could have talked and said the same things in 10 minutes. Or, at least, we could have once upon a time.

She has ALS. You’ve probably heard of it. The disease is sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the baseball player. It is a cruel disease that manifests itself different ways with different people. In her case, she has lost the ability to speak and swallow food.

There is good in slowing down, in savoring a conversation with a dear friend. In cherishing the moments that one day won’t come. So why do we wait until life forces us to slow down to savor it?

I’ve been told by more than one cancer survivor that it ended up being the best thing that ever happened to them. Why? It reordered their priorities. It shined a bright light on what was really important and what was just stuff.

Why do we allow ourselves to get so caught up in all the activity of life that we miss what’s important? Maybe because it’s safer. It’s easier. Less messy. We don’t have to allow ourselves to be as vulnerable, even with the people we love. We don’t have to risk ourselves because we’re filled with excuses that occupy our time.

One dear lady -- a two-time lung cancer survivor -- told me her illness has made her less patient with the drama that surrounds so many people. She fills her life with people that matter, people who laugh, are trustworthy, and who have their priorities in order. She treasures those people and keeps a distance from those who drain her time and energy.

It all comes down to priorities. I wonder how many Christians really take time to quiet their minds and their lives to allow God access to their hearts. Be still, God tells us. Feel His power and His love. Just be still in His Presence. Make God your priority. It has a way of reordering your focus onto what really is important.

April 2, 2016

Heartache and Illness Abound

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

-- John 16:33

What a day! Rain. Rain. Rain. Flooding. Street closures. Thunder and lightning. And people who drive like crazy folks out on a sunny day.

None of it matters. Really. It doesn’t. Yesterday a sweet friend said goodbye to her son as brain cancer sent him home earlier than they had planned. Her heart is beyond broken and she is standing only because Jesus is holding her up. She’ll see him again one day but oh how she hurts in this moment.

Another friend learned a couple of weeks ago that her cancer is back. She almost made it to five years in remission. She’s at peace this time, confident that God has this and that He’ll give her whatever strength she needs to face the days ahead. She’s even thankful. That last journey, as tough as it was, strengthened her faith beyond anything she could have imagined.

Her sister, also a friend, learned days ago that she may have cancer too. She’ll have a biopsy soon. We’re praying it’s not that dreaded disease. We’re trusting Jesus no matter what the results.

My neighbor is facing a medical crisis as well. She is in her 40s but just a child in manner and personality. Her Dad buried her mom a few years ago and this is just so hard. She doesn’t understand how serious this really could be. That is a blessing. When she realized her sister was worried, she told her just to pray. It’s what they taught her to do before her mom died. It seems so unfair but, then, life is unfair.

As I write this, a storm rages outside. More rain we do not need on a saturated ground. Sometimes it seems that same way with cancer and heartache. We’ve had enough.

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

-- Revelation 21:4

Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Choose Joy Even In Pain

O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for you, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love. -- Psalm 59:17

Some days are just hard. And so is the next day and the next. Because life isn’t all about the mountain tops. It’s got a lot of valleys in between.

Our neighbor is in a Birmingham hospital. She desperately needs a liver transplant but right now she is just too weak to survive the surgery -- even if a liver was available. How a woman who never drank got cirrhosis of the liver is anybody’s guess. It’s just one of those unexplained things. That doesn’t ease the pain for those who love her.

A dear friend is also in Birmingham. She is seeing a cancer specialist, hoping and praying for a miracle. The doctors here believe she has stage 3 colon cancer. She doesn’t feel sick. She doesn’t look sick. She clings to God’s peace as she waits for answers.

Another friend nurses her sick child, as she cares for an older child with a major illness. Another sweet friend agonizes as she and her husband wait to be matched with children they pray they’ll one day adopt.

Yesterday some folks were just driving down the road when someone else made a bad decision. Two were life-flighted to an area hospital. A little boy was taken 200 miles in the opposite direction to a different hospital. Definitely not how they’d planned their day.

I could go on and on. I’m really not trying to bring you down but rather to point out that there is joy amidst the pain and struggled. Sometimes it isn’t easy to find. Some days it seems nonexistent.

A wonderful woman is fighting a losing battle against cancer. Anyone would understand if she chose to spend her days with family and close friends. It would seem right if she decided to live fulfilling her own wishes and desires. Instead, she feels God has called her to prison ministry. She spends her time -- when she’s able -- ministering to those most of society shun.

Another woman recently found out she’s in remission from an incurable cancer. That’s the good news. The bad news is that she’ll have to take the chemo drugs that make her so tired and sick for the rest of her life. She loudly praises God for healing and strength to make it this far. Blessings in a long, difficult battle.

We all make choices each day. We can choose to see the good, to feel His strength, to think of others while still in the midst of our pain. Or we can wallow in self-pity and remain where we are. Which choice will you make today?

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Cry Out With Your Heart

For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. -- Romans 10:10

Are you just going through the motions? Are you a believer in your mind and, sometimes, in your heart? At least when things are going well and you’ve got time to think about it.

But what about those other days? What happens when life seemingly turns against us? Where is your faith when your health fails, your job ends, your child dies? That’s the true test of faith -- is your faith only in your mind or do you carry it in your heart?

Yesterday a dear friend got a devastating diagnosis. She faces surgery and then a wait to see how far the cancer has spread. That will determine her treatment and her chances for seeing her grandchildren grow up. Her family and friends are devastated. She is at peace, as strong and sure as her faith.

I want to have faith like that. Some days I think I do. Then I grow tired and worn and I wonder how I’ll have the strength to carry on. I don’t have to. Because when I’m too weak to do anything but collapse, that’s when God carries me.

My friend knows that. She’s faced down death before. She surprised her doctors and survived when they thought she would die. She’s buried her husband and one child. She’s known deep grief and great joy. She lives her faith every day. She’ll be okay no matter what happens.

An elderly man recently received a horrible diagnosis as well. He was faithful to attend church and Sunday school. He socialized with his church friends. He struggles now. He’s upset with God. He goes back and forth between pretending he’s fine and pushing God away with all the energy he can muster.

Two people. Two different reactions. Both Christians. The difference may be in the heart. It’s the difference between living your faith and holding it close in your heart and living your faith with your mind. Because faith isn’t about logic or fairness. It’s about God and trust and belief.

It’s easy to tell others how we would react under similar circumstances. We don’t really know. We pray we never know. But life is uncertain and we can only ever be certain about God.

So cry out to God when life starts shifting in scary ways. Hold on to the Rock when everything around you is uncertain. Draw closer to Him. Cling to Him. Hold on to the only One who can carry you through whatever it is you’re facing.

Thursday, February 16. 2012

God Watches Over Us

The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. -- Psalm 121:5

Word came a few hours ago that a church member was headed back to surgery. The next 24 hours are critical. She had surgery recently so a trip back to the operating room at night is a bad thing.

I don’t know her. I don’t know her family. But I prayed for her just the same. I prayed for them too. Because it’s what we do in the family of Christ. We care. We pray. We trust God to be in every situation.

During some seasons of life it seems that despair is just everywhere. An elderly gentleman went to the doctor with a backache. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He has a choice now. Two months to live if he says no treatment and maybe a year to live if he has treatment. We pray for this man and his family.

Two other wonderful people are entering a season of life most of us dread. He has Alzheimer’s. She fell a few weeks ago and broke bones that make it impossible for her to drive or care for him. He’s in a facility that specializes in Alzheimer’s patients. She’s depending on friends and family for transportation and care. We don’t know if he’ll ever come home. We don’t know when she’ll be able to care for herself again. We pray for them both.

That’s how it is when we’re part of God’s family. We turn first to Him for strength, for healing, for guidance when it seems that the world is crashing down around us. We cry out and immediately His hand steadies us amidst the turmoil and pain. I can’t imagine how anyone makes it through the valley without Him.

Several years ago I underwent unexpected surgery. I still remember the voice of the man who wheeled me toward the operating room as he sang hymns. The words comforted me. I have no idea what songs he sang. I don’t even know his name. I just remember being thankful for the reminder that God was there, present, with me as I lay there.

He never leaves us alone. We know that in our minds. Do we know it in our hearts? He is with our church member in the operating room even as I write these words. He is with that dear man faced with impossible choices and a likely quicker-than-planned trip home. He is with that dear couple as their lives are turned upside-down from illness and injury. He is with you and me no matter what we face, no matter what time of day or night, and no matter how long the journey.

Peace In Trying Circumstances

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phillippians 4:6-7

The theme of worry and anxiety runs rampant in my world right now. I am reminded again and again of how little we control about our lives. I am so thankful that God is in control of everything. That He has a plan. That all will be okay.

My uncle is having his third cancer surgery Friday. My friend will have his second cancer surgery in the next week or so. Another friend is nearing the end of his earthly life. It is frightening to realize that we have no control over death. Then I remember that Jesus defeated death. I am so grateful for his sacrifice. But I am scared nonetheless.

I cry out for strength and it comes. He promised to be with me no matter what. We are His children and He cares for us. So I reach blindly through my tears and grasp at His solid rock. He pulls me up and I am surrounded by His peace.

I do not know what the coming days and weeks will bring. But I will continue to pray to the one who hears me, the one who controls the outcome of all our days and nights. I will ask Him to surround those I care about with His love and His strength and His peace. God never said we wouldn't have difficult journeys. I do know that. I also know that His plan is perfect and it is in His will that I and those I love will find peace to handle whatever happens.

The Sick

The Church is where the sick gather to be healed from the sickness of sin.

Our pastor made that statement recently. I know she meant it in the context that we are all sinners seeking God's perfection and glory. We'll never be perfect but as Christians we try to walk in the path Jesus laid out for us. So we gather together to worship and to learn.

This statement really hit me in a different way because my uncle just found he has cancer again. This is his third trip down that dark road. He is preparing to leave even though hope still surrounds him. His concerns are for his wife and, then, his children.

Hope. Such a small word for such a big thing. Jesus gave us hope. He taught us that miracles are everywhere and hope is always present even in the most dire circumstances. And he taught us that for Christians the worst only means that we're leaving this life earlier than we'd planned. Our home -- our real home -- is with Him in Heaven. The goodbyes from this life are temporary.

So Church becomes a place where the sick go to find comfort. It is a place where hope and strength live. Where peace abounds. And where loving arms surround us here and in the life to come.