I "just happened" to come across this article today. It really spoke to me. You can read the full article by John Piper here. Here are his 10 points from Don't Waste Your Cancer from his own experience with cancer 3 years ago.
1. You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.
2. You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
3. You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.
4. You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.
5. You will waste your cancer if you think that "beating" cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.
6. You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.
7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.
8. You will waste your cancer if you grieve as those who have no hope.
9. You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.
10. You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Good Checkup
We went to Birmingham today for my scheduled checkup. It was good because it's been 3 months since my last checkup. This is the second time this year I've gone 3 months before a checkup! I've never gone that long between checkups before. That is a great feeling. And good because my doctor said all looked well. My mouth has healed well. And good because I had a PET scan on Thursday that he had scheduled, and he said that was clear. PTL! I had a EGD (Endoscopy) with dilation of my esophagus on Friday. That will make it much easier for me to swallow. It's been 2 1/2 years since I last had it done. It's something that has to be done usually for patients who have had surgeries and radiation to the neck. I have a really nice gastro doctor that takes care of that for me. I am beyond blessed with the doctors God allows me to have!
On a side note, we had an interesting lesson on patience today...or maybe that's impatience! We had to take a detour getting to my doctor this morning as the two lanes were backed up at the exit we take due to an accident. After our lunch at Cheesecake Factory, we got in some more stalled traffic leaving Birmingham due to road work. Then when we got onto the interstate in Montgomery to get to the southern route to get home, it was slowed down for miles. We eventually passed a wrecker about to pick up a stalled ambulance, but that wasn't the total cause. It was still stalled/slowed for miles ahead yet. "Someone" decided to take the next exit to see about getting to our route faster. Alas, many other people had the same idea about their intended destination. Once again miles of slowed traffic. Whew, we finally get to the point we can turn onto the road taking us south and homeward. Lo and behold, just ahead of us, right in FRONT of us, was the very same wrecker, with ambulance now aboard, making a right turn onto another road. I restrained myself from laughing out loud.
On a side note, we had an interesting lesson on patience today...or maybe that's impatience! We had to take a detour getting to my doctor this morning as the two lanes were backed up at the exit we take due to an accident. After our lunch at Cheesecake Factory, we got in some more stalled traffic leaving Birmingham due to road work. Then when we got onto the interstate in Montgomery to get to the southern route to get home, it was slowed down for miles. We eventually passed a wrecker about to pick up a stalled ambulance, but that wasn't the total cause. It was still stalled/slowed for miles ahead yet. "Someone" decided to take the next exit to see about getting to our route faster. Alas, many other people had the same idea about their intended destination. Once again miles of slowed traffic. Whew, we finally get to the point we can turn onto the road taking us south and homeward. Lo and behold, just ahead of us, right in FRONT of us, was the very same wrecker, with ambulance now aboard, making a right turn onto another road. I restrained myself from laughing out loud.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
I'm betrothed
And I will betroth you to me. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. Hosea 2:19-20
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Fear Not
But now, this is what the LORD says -- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine." Isaiah 43:1 New International Version
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
My Struggles Are About Him
Here is my latest Max Lucado email devotional. It was so full of truth.
My Struggles are About Him
by Max Lucado
What about your struggles? Is there any chance, any possibility, that you have been selected to struggle for God’s glory? Have you “been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1:29)?
Here is a clue. Do your prayers seem to be unanswered? What you request and what you receive aren’t matching up? Don’t think God is not listening. Indeed he is. He may have higher plans.
Here is another. Are people strengthened by your struggles? A friend of mine can answer yes. His cancer was consuming more than his body; it was eating away at his faith. Unanswered petitions perplexed him. Well-meaning Christians confused him. “If you have faith,” they said, “you will be healed.”
No healing came. Just more chemo, nausea, and questions. He assumed the fault was a small faith. I suggested another answer. “It’s not about you,” I told him. “Your hospital room is a showcase for your Maker. Your faith in the face of suffering cranks up the volume of God’s song.”
Oh, that you could have seen the relief on his face. To know that he hadn’t failed God and God hadn’t failed him—this made all the difference. Seeing his sickness in the scope of God’s sovereign plan gave his condition a sense of dignity. He accepted his cancer as an assignment from heaven: a missionary to the cancer ward.
A week later I saw him again. “I reflected God,” he said, smiling through a thin face, “to the nurse, the doctors, my friends. Who knows who needed to see God, but I did my best to make him seen.”
Bingo. His cancer paraded the power of Jesus down the Main Street of his world.
God will use whatever he wants to display his glory. Heavens and stars. History and nations. People and problems.
Rather than begrudge your problem, explore it. Ponder it. And most of all, use it. Use it to the glory of God.
Through your problems and mine, may God be seen.
From It's Not About Me, copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2007), Max Lucado
My Struggles are About Him
by Max Lucado
What about your struggles? Is there any chance, any possibility, that you have been selected to struggle for God’s glory? Have you “been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1:29)?
Here is a clue. Do your prayers seem to be unanswered? What you request and what you receive aren’t matching up? Don’t think God is not listening. Indeed he is. He may have higher plans.
Here is another. Are people strengthened by your struggles? A friend of mine can answer yes. His cancer was consuming more than his body; it was eating away at his faith. Unanswered petitions perplexed him. Well-meaning Christians confused him. “If you have faith,” they said, “you will be healed.”
No healing came. Just more chemo, nausea, and questions. He assumed the fault was a small faith. I suggested another answer. “It’s not about you,” I told him. “Your hospital room is a showcase for your Maker. Your faith in the face of suffering cranks up the volume of God’s song.”
Oh, that you could have seen the relief on his face. To know that he hadn’t failed God and God hadn’t failed him—this made all the difference. Seeing his sickness in the scope of God’s sovereign plan gave his condition a sense of dignity. He accepted his cancer as an assignment from heaven: a missionary to the cancer ward.
A week later I saw him again. “I reflected God,” he said, smiling through a thin face, “to the nurse, the doctors, my friends. Who knows who needed to see God, but I did my best to make him seen.”
Bingo. His cancer paraded the power of Jesus down the Main Street of his world.
God will use whatever he wants to display his glory. Heavens and stars. History and nations. People and problems.
Rather than begrudge your problem, explore it. Ponder it. And most of all, use it. Use it to the glory of God.
Through your problems and mine, may God be seen.
From It's Not About Me, copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2007), Max Lucado
Friday, July 3, 2009
Encouraged
I follow Josh Harris (I Kissed Dating Goodbye), and he posted this link to his Sunday, June 28th, message on Facebook. I listened to the message and made notes while listening. It was so uplifting for some who have circumstances to overcome.
Josh Harris – June 28, 2009 Covenant Life Church
Change is God’s agenda, and it’s for His glory.
Change is God’s agenda, and it’s for His glory.
Change is not something we have the idea of and then we do it and get the credit for it.
No, God is the One who has come on a rescue mission in Jesus Christ to bring about lasting, real heart level change--and when that change occurs, we don’t get the praise.
God gets the praise because Jesus is the One who accomplished it.
Change is God’s agenda. When you know this living God, it pushes out human pride, and it also pushes out despair--because when you know Him, you realize there’s no place for despair and hopelessness when you serve that kind of God. He might not answer your prayer in the way you want. He might not come to you on your timetable, but He can be trusted.
So, here’s the important thing to remember about change: It’s not our idea.
If (you’re a non-Christian and) you realize your life has been destroyed by your sin, you know you don’t have a right relationship with God…do you realize the change that you desire in your life--if there’s even the smallest glimmer of desire to know God and be forgiven by God--that didn’t start with you. That’s God’s agenda in your life. He’s working in your life. He’s giving you that desire. Respond to it. Respond to Him.
Josh Harris – June 28, 2009 Covenant Life Church
Change is God’s agenda, and it’s for His glory.
Change is God’s agenda, and it’s for His glory.
Change is not something we have the idea of and then we do it and get the credit for it.
No, God is the One who has come on a rescue mission in Jesus Christ to bring about lasting, real heart level change--and when that change occurs, we don’t get the praise.
God gets the praise because Jesus is the One who accomplished it.
Change is God’s agenda. When you know this living God, it pushes out human pride, and it also pushes out despair--because when you know Him, you realize there’s no place for despair and hopelessness when you serve that kind of God. He might not answer your prayer in the way you want. He might not come to you on your timetable, but He can be trusted.
So, here’s the important thing to remember about change: It’s not our idea.
If (you’re a non-Christian and) you realize your life has been destroyed by your sin, you know you don’t have a right relationship with God…do you realize the change that you desire in your life--if there’s even the smallest glimmer of desire to know God and be forgiven by God--that didn’t start with you. That’s God’s agenda in your life. He’s working in your life. He’s giving you that desire. Respond to it. Respond to Him.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Good news from check-up on Monday
We went back to Birmingham on Monday for my 3 month follow-up from surgery in February. My doctor was very pleased with the progress of the tissue flap in my mouth. When I saw him 8 weeks ago he had talked about possibly trimming the flap tissue at the corner of my lip to make it less noticeable. I've noticed since that visit that the swelling, or whatever it is, has been going down much better than I thought it would. I still thought maybe some trimming could help it, though. However, he was so pleased with how much more it had gone down since he last saw me that he didn't want to touch it. I asked him if the part closest to my lip would go down more, and he said, "I know it will". He said it usually continues to improve for the year after surgery, so that was good to hear. He wants me to go back for a check-up in August, and, if need be, he would trim it then. He said he would schedule a PET scan about a week before I come back to see him to make sure nothing else is going on. Though the recovery is time intensive, I am encouraged to see things get better. Thank you for all of your prayers. It is quite wonderful to not have to go back for 3 months and not anticipate seeing him sooner! Can I just say - I LOVE my doctor! (Curriculum Vitae)
Saturday, May 2, 2009
God does not lie
From my Streams in the Desert yesterday:
"God, who does not lie, promised." Titus 1:2
Faith is not conjuring up, through an act of your will, a sense of certainty that something is going to happen. No, it is recognizing God's promise as an actual fact, believing it is true, rejoicing in the knowledge of that truth, and then simply resting because God said it. Faith turns a promise into a prophecy. A promise is contingent upon our cooperation, but when we exercise genuine faith in it, it becomes a prophecy. Then we can move ahead with certainty that it will come to pass, because "God...does not lie." from Days of Heaven upon Earth
(Titus scripture in context: "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior;" Titus 1:1-3 NIV)
"God, who does not lie, promised." Titus 1:2
Faith is not conjuring up, through an act of your will, a sense of certainty that something is going to happen. No, it is recognizing God's promise as an actual fact, believing it is true, rejoicing in the knowledge of that truth, and then simply resting because God said it. Faith turns a promise into a prophecy. A promise is contingent upon our cooperation, but when we exercise genuine faith in it, it becomes a prophecy. Then we can move ahead with certainty that it will come to pass, because "God...does not lie." from Days of Heaven upon Earth
(Titus scripture in context: "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior;" Titus 1:1-3 NIV)
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