Walking in the Word with Breast Cancer

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. - Matthew 18:21-22 As followers of Jesus Christ, forgiveness is not optional. It’s just something we are called to do - if God is to forgive our sins, we must forgive those who have offended us.  And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." - Mark 11:25.  We must consistently be checking our hearts for places we are harboring resentment and bitterness toward another person, and we must bring it before Him. Many of us live under the lie that forgiveness can only happen through an interaction with the person who offended us. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Oftentimes, the other person has no awareness of the hurt they caused you; an...

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. - Matthew 18:21-22 We all have a wound from our past that holds us back.  A hurtful word, and unexpected betrayal, an abusive relationship that haunts us and creates barriers in our current relationships. Everyone has obstacles or strongholds formed by hurts from our past that grow to define us and determine our responses. We are all the product of our experiences from living in this broken world full of sin.  We are all guarded in certain areas, protecting deep wounds from our past encounters with other people’s sin.  This guarding is dangerous because it often manifests itself in sinful actions toward others.  Example – we have been hurt deeply in a past abusive marriage so our expectations for the new marriage is that our new spouse will protect us...

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. - Matthew 18:21-22 What a great time of year for our pastor to take us to the topic of forgiveness in our reflections for this week. How can we possibly prepare our hearts for the coming of the King if the bitterness of unforgiveness lives in our hearts?  We can’t. But so many of us walk around with a broken piece of our heart shut off to someone or something from our past that hurt us so deeply we don’t have the capability to forgive, and so many of us are suffering the consequences of that unforgiveness in our lives. Who do you need to forgive?  Who is it that could walk into the room right now and you would avoid, or would have you moaning about to the person next to you, or perhaps would have you acting outwardly as if nothing was wrong, but inwardly ...

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. - John 15:7-8 Genuine saving faith is demonstrated by abiding in Jesus’ words, bearing fruit, and becoming one of His disciples.  When we abide in Him, and He in us, we live out our faith for others to witness, and He is glorified. To be an authentic disciple of Jesus, you must abide in His Word.  He wants you to know His truth as He dwells in you and you in Him.  The reality is that if you are NOT abiding in His Word regularly, on your own, in quiet devotion, it’s not possible to be an authentic disciple of Jesus.  There are Christians who go through the motions and act as if they are disciples, but we know the road is narrow.  And to get on that narrow road, you need to abide in His Word – regularly, on your own, in quiet devotion.  It is only then that we ...

Hi friends ~ I met with my radiology oncologist today to plan my next phase of treatment ~ quite a celebration since that means I'm nearly done with this phase 😊.  The Taxol treatments have definitely been taking a greater toll on me physically these last couple of weeks, so I'll be happy when they're over.  Since the effects are cumulative, they warned me it would be harder as I got closer to the end - they were right.  I've spent more time on the couch these past few weeks as the fatigue and fog increase, but the good news is the other symptoms continue to be fairly manageable. The most concerning side effect that's shown up lately is neuropathy - apparently they watch it closely because it can continue well past treatment ends.   Some patients end up with neuropathy symptoms for the rest of their lives.  I'm quite thankful that mine seems to be minimal at this point - some have significant pain or balance issues if it affects their feet.  It only se...

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. - John 15:7-8 In these verses, we read if we abide in Him, and His words abide in us, we can grab a hold of one of the greatest promises in scripture because our wills will be aligned with His ~ ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. As we read on, we see there is more for us in the promises of these verses. We will also glorify Him by bearing much fruit and proving to be His disciples.  Bearing fruit refers to the outward actions that come from the inward condition of the heart. In other words, it’s how we behave because of what we’re carrying around in our hearts. We can find a list of the fruits of the Spirits in Galatians 5:22-23 ~ love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Whew. Typing that list out makes me abundantly...

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. - John 15:7-8 The word abide means to live within or dwell. We are called in this passage abide in Him, and to allow His words abide in us. That’s an active and a passive directive. In other words, we need to dwell within Him and we need to allow Him to dwell within us. Both of these relationships - the active and the passive - are essential to glorifying God. We must be engaged in both if we are to prove to be His disciples.  When we talk about abiding in Him, we’re referring to our wills and our decisions. We must choose to do those things that keep us in Him - getting into His Word, attending weekly service, spending time in prayer, actively pursuing fellowship with other believers. We also actively abide in Him we we do those things He calls us to do - confess our sins, car...