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Showing posts from September, 2017

Journal Entry ~ 09/30/17

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1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.  - Psalm 107:1-3 If there’s one thing I’ve found to be true and constant in my life, it’s that when God says to do something, He says it for a reason. So because God calls us to be thankful in this passage, we need to work toward developing an attitude of gratitude. But that’s not all He says in those first two verses. He also tells us to “say so.”  We’re not just supposed to be thankful in our hearts, we’re supposed to speak our gratitude out loud to others. We don’t have any problem speaking our complaints out loud to others, so we shouldn’t hesitate to speak our gratitude out loud. Can you imagine what this world would look or sound like if people shared how thankful they were as much as they complained??  I want to live

Journal Entry ~ 09/29/17

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1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!  2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble  3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.  - Psalm 107:1-3 An attitude of gratitude can change our lives, but we have to choose it. The world today is filled with people who complain and grumble about everything - from people to the situation in our lives. All you need to do to see it is turn on the news or scroll through Facebook for a few minutes, and you will be in inundated with a nauseating volume of people complaining about everything from the President to the service in a restaurant. People love to complain - they’ll even complain about the complaining.  The sad truth is that it seems the level of complaining increases every year as people feel more and more free to say exactly what’s on their mind. I’m just as guilty as the next person of this - when I

Journal Entry ~ 09/28/17

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1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!  2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble  3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.  - Psalm 107:1-3 We have so much to be thankful for, but far too often our attention is grabbed by all that is going wrong in our lives. When our eyes are set on the things in front of us, we can quickly lose sight of all the blessings He has given us, but when we set our minds Him and all He has done for us, we should be falling down on our knees in humble gratitude. He gave His life so I could be free. Me. Despite the fact that I have done nothing to deserve it, He loved me enough to pursue me until He finally got my attention all those years ago. Then He showed me how He sacrificed His life so that I would know His love, and so that I could spend eternity with the Father.  And even though I continue to fail at reach

Medical Update ~ 09/27/17

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Today was a challenging day.  I met with the oncologist to discuss chemo as part of my treatment plan.  The oncologist explained there were 3 additional invasions discovered during surgery, so there were actually 4 isolated invasions in the breast tissue.  To review - my diagnosis is Ductal Carcinoma in situ (DCIS) with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.  All 4 of the invasions are HER2+ (aggressive) and hormone negative (recurrent).  My oncologist walked us through the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCM) guidelines for treatment of this type of aggressive, recurrent cancer - chemo and radiation. The good news is God had already moved the mountain in my heart opposing chemo, and rested me in a place of acceptance.  While my initial prayers focused on not having to have chemo as part of my treatment, after hearing I had multiple invasions, He moved me to a place of understanding that chemo is a necessary part of my treatment.  If there were 4 invasions in the sample they took, there co

Journal Entry ~ 09/27/17

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1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!  2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble  3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.  - Psalm 107:1-3 My heart is heavy as we begin this bible study on Psalm 107, a psalm about gratitude.  Yesterday, my son suffered the consequences of some poor choices he made, and today I go meet with the oncologist to discuss chemo as a treatment for my cancer. I’m not feeling like I have much to be thankful for right now. In fact, there’s a big part of my heart that wants to stomp my feet and raise my fists, and cry out, “Enough already!!”  But God, in His divine providence, has me beginning a study on gratitude and His steadfast love. He knows the season I’m in, and it’s by no mistake I’m here. So I’m trying to battle my flesh, and I’m leaning in to listen.  Why should I give thanks?  Because He is good. We ar

Journal Entry ~ 09/26/17

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1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. - 2 Timothy 2:1-7 This is our last day in this passage, and I’m not sure I’m ready to leave it. There is just so much more here to learn and meditate on.  Paul uses the analogy of a farmer as his 4th comparison to instruct Timothy about the hard work he must endure. We all know farmers are hard workers - they’re up before dawn and are engaged in physical labor until dusk. So, the s

Journal Entry ~ 09/25/17

1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. - 2 Timothy 2:1-7 There is so much instruction for us in these short 7 passages - a week just isn’t enough time to meditate on all that is in these verses. I could spend a week just reflecting on what it means to be strengthened by grace, or what it means to be a soldier for Christ. But Paul moves on quickly, so I continue to read. After the soldier analogy he mentions athletes.  When we think of a

Journal Entry ~ 09/24/17

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1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. - 2 Timothy 2:1-7 This passage reminds us to share in suffering as a good soldiers. Paul chose the analogy of a soldier for a reason - the comparison helps us to visualize what it means to prepare for and to stand in the battle. Soldiers prepare for battle through intensive training - we are to prepare the same way.  God gave us His Word as a way to prepare.  When we get in to the

Journal Entry ~ 09/23/17

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1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. - 2 Timothy 2:1-7 While I have been finding great comfort in being strengthened by grace through His Word, through prayer, worship, teaching, and a community of believers, the beautiful gift of strength He gives us has a purpose. We are not simply meant to take the strength and pocket it for personal use. There is a second half of this verse - we are to use the strength given to us

Journal Entry ~ 09/22/17

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1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. - 2 Timothy 2:1-7 Strengthened by grace...I am finding He strengthens me in so many different ways as I walk through this trial. He strengthens me here, every morning as I sit in the Word and listen to Him. He gives me wisdom, comfort, peace, and strength to fight the day as He reveals truths to me from His Word. Life is a battle - sometimes we experience the victories and life is

Journal Entry ~ 09/21/17

1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. - 2 Timothy 2:1-7 I just love that God brought me to this passage last night at our ministry year kickoff - His timing is perfect. It was a challenging day for me yesterday as I received more news in my diagnosis, and this verse ministered so powerfully to me. He knows exactly what we need, and He is faithful to give that to us.   That first verse in particular speaks to me in this trial. How tende

Medical Update ~ 09/20/17

I met with the surgeon today to discuss the pathology report from my surgery, and realized I haven't posted an update here on my medical status.   The biopsy from the second breast on 09/05/17 was a benign cyst - praise God! My surgeon shared with us on 09/07/17 there was a debate on my team about whether chemo should be part of my treatment. Apparently, chemo is standard protocol for HER2+, hormone resistant cancer, but some on my team feel it's excessive given how early they detected my cancer.  O n 09/07/17, they performed a lumpectomy and removed the nymph nodes on my right side. For the most part, I'm healing fairly well - slower than my impatient self would like, but I'm getting stronger every day. Unfortunately, I developed Lymphadema after the surgery, causing pain and uncomfortable swelling in my right arm, so that's a struggle, but I'm managing.  The pathology report revealed they discovered 3 different spots of invasive cancer.   The good news is they

Journal Entry ~ 09/20/17

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, - Acts 3:19-20 I know so many people in my life who are struggling to get out from under their burdens, their schedules, their responsibilities long enough to experience the times of refreshing. Life can overwhelm you with all it can throw at you at one time - it can be hard to catch your breath some days. You have to know the enemy seeks to destroy us. He knows our weakness, and as ruler of this world, he is quite capable of throwing anything at us that will keep us from our time with Him. That's his goal. The enemy will take over our priority list in such a subtle way that we don't even notice we're handing it over. I shudder to think about all the times I've done this in my life. As a busy person who often takes on way more than I should at any given time, I have been caugh

Journal Entry - 09/19/17

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, - Acts 3:19-20 When we repent, not only are we promised that our sins will be blotted out, we are also promised times of refreshing. Grab ahold of that truth and hold on to it for yourself. It's for all of us. That refreshing is for our present and for our future. The refreshing we receive now comes in the form of peace of mind - the kind of peace that surpasses all understanding when we face a trial that should be knocking us down. When things around us seem to be swirling up in chaos, we have the calm assurance that God is sovereign and that He is at work for our good. I know this peace well - it sweeps over you in an inexplicable way and it doesn't make any sense in your circumstances.   My life has been somewhat chaotic over the past few weeks, but for the most part, I

Journal Entry ~ 09/18/17

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, - Acts 3:19-20 This verse doesn't just command us to repent, it also tells us why we should repent - so that our sins may be blotted out. We must remember we cannot stand in our sin before a holy God. Our God is so pure and so holy, that He cannot be in the presence of sin. When we repent, it's as if our sin never occurred, and we can stand pure and righteous in the eyes of our Father. Many of us struggle to get to a place of humble repentance in our prayer life, but others of us carry shame and guilt for the sins of our past beyond repentance - there is freedom in this verse for all of us. When we repent, our sins are gone - He does not see them, and we should not remember or dwell them either. We are a new creation when we repent, and He sees only our beauty. Sometimes the sins of o

Journal Entry ~ 09/17/17

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, - Acts 3:19-20 If you know the story of the serpents and the Israelites, you know they did finally repent.  The trial of the serpents did finally bring the Israelites to the humble place of repentance and submission to God. In their plea of repentance, they asked God to remove the serpents, but He didn't. Again, this is an important part of the story for us to learn from. If they repented, why didn't God remove the trial? He certainly had the power to remove the serpents since He brought them, so why didn't He take them away once they submitted?  It was the difficult trial that brought the Israelites to the place of repentance, it brought them to the place of recognizing who God was, and that they had been prideful in their disobedience. The humble submission of their hearts was w