Journal Entry ~ 11/18/17

1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! 
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, 
3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!  - Psalm 119:1-3

Blessed are those who keep His testimony ~ we not only keep His testimony when we read His Word, but when we live it out with our lives. The Holy Spirit is alive in each one of us, and He is working out His testimony for others to witness. He shows up with His comfort when we are alone, He shows up with His strength when we are weak, He shows up with His peace when there is chaos. He moves mountains for us in our hearts, He will right our injustices, He will provide for our every need. He will heal marriages, bring home prodigal children, and heal sickness. Our lives should be living testimonies of how God has been faithful to fulfill His promises to us.

We are blessed when we keep these testimonies. Scripture not only calls us to remember God’s faithfulness, but we are instructed to tell those stories to others. I know I am blessed when I hear someone's testimony of how God has or is moving in their life - so blessed it often moves me to tears.  Hearing how God is on the move renews and refreshes my faith, and truly makes my heart delight. Not only do I love listening to those stories, I love telling my stories. God has been so good to me, He has shown up in such difficult, desperate times in my life that I could fill a book of God at work stories. 

Our walk doesn’t start out like that, though - my life hasn't always been filled with God at work stories. It started as just one. Then slowly, as I began to hand pieces of my life over, working hard to be obedient, He began to fill my life with beautiful stories of His faithfulness and steadfast love. At first, I didn't even realize I had so many God stories until I started keeping track of them, writing them down, sharing them with others...that's when they really started to explode in my life. 

Somewhere along the way, I learned what God is teaching us in this verse - blessed are those who keep his testimonies. We need to keep track of God at work stories, and we need to share them with others. He gives us these stories to remember and to share.  Listening and telling God at work stories blesses us so much because it's part of His plan to renew and refresh our faith. If we don't write them down or remember them out loud with others, we will forget them.  When we forget them, we forget His faithfulness to show up when we needed Him most. When we forget His faithfulness, we despair and we lose our happiness. That's the enemies plan. But when we remember them and we tell them to others, we are so blessed - we are strengthened and encouraged in our faith and we feel like we can take on another day in our trials. 

He is faithful, my friends. He shows up every single day in our lives.  If you haven't written down the stories of God at work in your life, start journaling and sharing them today - it will bless you and those around you. I started to blog for this very reason. I’ve been through enough God at work stories to know how faithfully He shows up in my trials. I had no doubt He was going to show up in this diagnosis, and I wanted a written record of how He is working on my heart, how He is growing me and refining me, how He is showing up as faithful to answer prayers, how He is strengthening me and comforting me. But it has blessed me in more ways that I could have ever imagined.  The encouragement that I receive from people who read my blog, both those who know me well and those who don’t know me at all ~ has absolutely blown me away.  He has used the very act of keeping His testimony to bless me in this trial. He’s a pretty awesome God.  Blessed are those who keep his testimonies!  

Press on ~ you are loved💗

 Many of you know I have been trying to raise money to replace the uncomfortable caregiver's chairs in the infusion center at Illinois Cancer Specialists.  It is important to me that our caregivers are able to sit comfortably for hours while we receive our chemo treatments ~ we need our caregivers to be at their best so they can care for us at our worst.  Please consider donating ~ every little bit helps!  Here is the link:




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Medical Update ~ 09/27/17

Image
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
Read more

My Journey Begins...

I am a believer in Christ, and I have breast cancer.     On August 17, 2017, I was diagnosed with an aggressive (HER2+), recurrent (hormone negative) type of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.  At this point, they have not yet staged my cancer because they are waiting for the biopsy results from a suspicious spot in the second breast. The biopsy is scheduled for September 5th, with a lumpectomy to follow on September 7th.  They will formally stage my cancer after they biopsy my lymph nodes, which will be taken during the surgery.  It doesn't make any sense to me that I have a cancer diagnosis - I am a fairly healthy woman who runs 2 miles almost every day and eats a gluten-free, primarily paleo diet, with no family history at all.  But it makes sense to God, and so here I am. Update ~ They found 4 isolated invasions during the lumpectomy.  Due to the nature of my cancer (HER2+ and ER-), the recommended protocol is chemotherapy and radiation.  Beginning in October, my chemotherapy regime
Read more

Grace in Marriage

When we launched our new blog we had no idea if anyone would see it or be helped by it, but we knew that the LORD was prompting us to step out in faith and just do it. The response has been amazing and we are looking forward to how God will use this space for His glory. We have learned over many years of service in a variety of ministries, that God does not require human assistance to realize His plans for individuals, churches, nations, or the human race. But the story of the bible is the story of God’s will playing out through the words and actions of the His children. So…we pray, meditate on his Word, and write from the heart about the truths that mold our faith, guide our actions, and inspire our hearts and minds. Please visit the site and subscribe to continue receiving posts.  https://graceinmarriage.com/ It is our sincere hope that you are blessed by our work here and welcome your input on how we can make Grace in Marriage even better. Thank you for your support.
Read more