Hope in Aging, in Spite of Illness--the Great Physician!

Well, this week has been full of surprises!
On Monday, Don and I had dentist appointments, and neither of us had any cavities....no more appointments for six months!  What a blessing after a year of  two crowns and root canal!

 The "thing" we have been waiting to happen with our son Nathan seems to be on the horizon, so we are singing some praises over here! If you don't already know what the "thing" is...believe me it is huge, and we are thankful....including Nathan!

 Lisa got some wonderful news, which still has me smiling and thanking God!!  Her PET scan on Tuesday was a "hair away from absolutely normal", and she is only halfway through her chemo!!  Praise God!  She had a challenging chemo on Thursday, but by yesterday she was feeling great!  That has to be God's healing Hands!!

Thursday I had my appointment with my diabetes specialist.  She gave me not great news in the best way possible, and by the end of my appointment, I was feeling like it was no big deal to be on insulin all day long!  It turned out to be a bit more challenging than I thought...yesterday was my first day.  I had a day of highs and normals, but by evening the thought of food made me almost run for the bathroom!  I went to bed completely exhausted.  But today is a new day, and my morning blood sugar was much better.

Entering the Sunset Years!

Last but maybe not least....I will be wearing glasses for the first time in my life.  I was thankful to have only a tiny diabetic change in the back of my right eye....a tiny speck of a hemorrhage , which we have to "keep an eye on".... pun intended!  But the reason I was seeing blurry which caused my diabetes specialist to request an immediate eye examination, was not diabetic retinopathy...but the worsening of my vision, requiring me to start wearing glasses.  At least I'm not in bifocals yet.  I asked Don to make sure he isn't the kind of guy who "won't make passes" if this old girl wears glasses!  He asked if I had "looked" at him lately?  lol!  (He has a collection of all strengths of glasses and a contact!)  I love my husband.  I might even stop coloring my hair and we can start really growing old together!

Well, we have to live up to our titles, EeeEee and DooDah!  We are 57....old age?  Bring it on!  We have a Great Physician, and the end is better than the beginning!  Hope!

Hope in Not Being Left Alone

Today I woke up early and had some God and Jerri time. Lately I have been trying to feed a lot of sheep and not allowing myself to be led beside the still waters myself. Last Thursday evening just past midnight, I woke up sick with a stomach flu that zapped every ounce of mental and physical energy from my body. I wanted to read...couldn't...tried watching TV, but I slept for 32 hours with hardly a break, waking up to force a grape or two down here and there, since I am diabetic, and inability to keep down food and water can turn into a trip to the ER. At some point in the night I thought that I needed to check my blood sugar, since I take insulin, but I could not stir up the energy. Finally, Saturday I woke up around ten AM, and I felt as though someone had beaten me within an inch of my life. Every muscle, joint and sinew hurt! I sat in my art room and finished up a Beth Moore study, sipped liquids and ate an orange. Don had left these for me along with some flowers. By evening, I felt good enough to make dinner for us, and I ate a little.

This morning I was thankful for my weird weekend. Why? Because the next time my friend, Lisa....who is closer than a sister...tells me she is having one of her "dog days" as the result of her chemo treatments for lymphoma, I will have a tiny, miniscule taste of her frustration...and the sense of losing time, when time is so precious to her. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Compassion and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." 2Corinthians 1:3-4

God, in His love and compassion for mankind, made it so we do not have to suffer alone!

Hope.....Even When We are Misjudged

Usually it is Christians who have the reputation of being judgmental. Jesus knew we would be tempted. That is why He warned us: "Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:1-2)

Often other people who don't share our beliefs about God and Jesus misjudge Christians either by what others who claim Christianity do, or by preconceived ideas of what Christians believe. It's hard to take when someone is angrily denouncing all Christians over the actions of a few, or the rumors of the actions of a few or many.
For one thing, any Christian who claims to have no sin....fails to walk in truth. I John 1:8 says: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

I haven't met too many Christians who "claim to be without sin". If a person truly believed herself to be "without sin" the blood of Christ would be without meaning in her life, not unlike in the lives of atheists. I have met people who seem to think that Christians are fair game for their ridicule and hateful judgments. There is nothing more annoying than someone spouting off hatred for all Christians in a torrent of bitter complaints about the injustice done to mankind without knowing the first thing about the life or practices of the person standing before him. What if every atheist was blamed for the abhorrent actions of a few? Not every atheist is a Communist, although Communists are generally atheists. How many murders were done in the name of Communism, and just how fair would it be to blame all atheists for the atrocities of the KGB?

So where is the hope in all of this self-righteousness and judgment by mankind? There is hope for the sinner who knows he is a sinner: I John 1:9 says,"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." It really doesn't matter whether or not we believe the Bible or whether we believe we are sinners, there is a truth out there, and that is: "ALL sin and fall short of the glory of God.".

If you are an atheist...a person who rejects all religious belief...who has been wounded by the sins of Christians, I am sorry. Know that we have also hurt one another by our judgments. If you are a Christian hurt by other Christians' judgments, it might help to think about times you have misjudged and hurt others yourself. If you are a Christian...a follower of Jesus Christ...who truly has a love for people like He did, and if you have been accused, tried and convicted by those who choose not to understand, then cheer up, because: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Jesus died for all.

Hope in Beholding His glory!

"....I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and I will bring you back from captivity."
I have been freed from captivity. I was first freed from the captivity of sin when I gave my life to Christ at the age of fourteen. That was forty-three years ago, and God continues to demolish strongholds in my life. "O Lord you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.". I have to say they have often been small, my thoughts, consumed by the here and now. But He has lifted me up to walk among the saints...to answer His calling, and he has met me heart to heart, if not face to face at the Christian Writers Guild, Writing for the Soul Conference in Denver. I have followed Moses up to the mountain and have watched from afar as God revealed His glory. I have heard the prayers of men who have the battle scars of David but the radiance of Moses as he came from the tent of meeting with God. With unveiled faces they spoke of His power and His love and I believe, Lord, I believe in the future of the servants of Christ.
Now, finally, on my knees before Him...I am ready. Here I am, Lord, send me!!

Finding Hope in the One Who Fights For Us

I hate goodbyes of all kinds.  In a few days, my son Steve will move to Richmond to live.  He has lived in the same area as the rest of our family since he came back from college ten years ago.  Now he is following love and a new life to Richmond, only an hour away.  I won't say goodbye to Steve and Bronte, his girlfriend.  I'll say, "I'll see you when I see you!"  And I'm sure we will make that happen.

My friend Lisa begins chemo this week.  We have been assured that she won't die from the lymphoma that grows and has been increasing in her body.  The chemo will cost her hair but not her life right now, as long as all goes well.  But, no matter what, I won't say goodbye to Lisa either.  I'll say, "I'll see you when I see you!", because both of our final destinations is in Heaven where we will live forever with our Heavenly Father.  We are truly sisters, and one day we will live with our Father.  As will our other family members who share the same Father and Savior.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit makes me feel the lightness of the assurance of eternal life.  I almost feel my own spirit rising to meet His when I am deep in prayer.  But the worldly worries weigh me down sometimes.  Will my son and Bronte be safe in Richmond?  Will they have what they need?  What is their eternal destiny?  What about the eternal destiny of all of my family?  Will we live together with our Heavenly family?

And what about Lisa?  Will she be okay?  My hope is not in my own ability to make all of my loved ones healthy, happy and Heaven bound.  My hope is totally in Him.  "The Lord will fight your battles.  You need only be still!"  Exodus 17:17.  There are battles ahead and dangers.  He will fight for us all!

Hope in Remembering....Jesus Lives!

What an extraordinary beginning to the school year we have experienced here in the Washington area!  It's as if God was getting us ready for the 10th anniversary of 9-11 by reminding us exactly Who has the real power in this world!!  (Hint:  it isn't a bunch of guys from countries far away who don't mind sacrificing their lives to bring death and destruction into ours!)  The first week of the DC school year was shortened because of an earthquake!  So rare are earthquakes in our part of the world that, even though my car was shaking back and forth violently at a stoplight, my husband and I assumed we were about to be in the market for new wheels, not that the earth was moving beneath the old ones!  Then, Hurricane Irene interrupted not only PG county schools, but the power for most of Maryland!  Frustrated Facebook friends posted, I'm assuming on their mobile phones before they lost all power, irate words for the power companies.  And then, who would have thought that Virginia schools would have been interrupted by flood waters rushing in, all over the area, from Tropical storm Lee?  Tragedy befell each one of those natural disasters in the form of falling trees, car accidents and, this past Friday a twelve year old boy was swept from his own backyard and drowned in the flood.

Our family has had such an eventful year that I'm not sure we even have a status quo at the moment, but, if we did, it was certainly disturbed this month by the events I described; however,  none of those match last Friday's diagnosis of  lymphoma received by my best friend, Lisa.  I don't believe in accidents, and I'm a writer, so I analyze to death ironic plot twists in fiction both in movies and in books.  I could not have imagined that an earthquake, a hurricane, a flood and even the terror threats and memories of 9-11 would be eclipsed in my life by the threat of cancer, the diagnoses, and the impending treatment of someone so dear to me.  I'm sure that the parents of the 12 year old boy lost in the flood would not have predicted such a horrible loss a week ago either, just as, 10 years ago, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, parents, children, and grandparents could not have predicted that they would never again see the faces of those lost in 9-11, as they left for work or boarded planes that beautiful fall morning.

How can we find hope in the midst of such uncertainty?  Well, our hope cannot be in this life.  Tonight, as Lisa and I  stood talking in the rain....I know, she's sick, and we were outside talking in the rain....anyway, we were, and Lisa said to me, "I'm so ready to take this journey!"  I looked her in the eyes.  She meant it.  Every word.  I could almost hear an echo, "Let's roll!"  Lisa is not a glutton for punishment, and she probably would never consider herself a hero.  But she does have the courage of faith....because she knows Who it is who has the real power in this life. She has told me many times, in many situations, both hers and mine....."I don't know how it's going to happen, but I serve a God who is able...."   There is great hope in remembering that truth!

Lisa (R) and our friend, Hazel, at my house

God  spoke, and the universe came into existence.  He formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into his lungs.  He formed a nation from the union of a century old couple.  He allowed His only Son to die for  our sins, and He raised Him from the dead.  A few weeks ago, there was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake.  There was a hurricane, but God was not in the hurricane.  There was a flood, but God was not in the flood.

Ten years ago, man did unspeakable evil to man, but God was not in the evil.  My friend has cancer, but God is not in the cancer.  God is in the still small voice that speaks to my friend...and us all....that says, "Jesus lives."

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