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If You Haven’t Already Read “Undone,” Go Get Your Copy Today!

IMG_20150430_083811955I’ve often toyed with the idea of writing my cancer journey in a book. My thought has always been, “That’s not fun enough! No one wants to hear about my struggles.” However, after reading Michele Cushatt’s book, Undone, I realize that being real about our struggles is a great encouragement to those in the battle. None of us like to hear of one’s sufferings, but boy is it wonderful when someone clings to God and can witness His goodness through it all no matter how ugly it might get. I love Michele’s unwavering faith in her statement, “The day cancer showed up in my life, God showed up bigger.”

We all have our struggles and shortcomings in life, don’t we? What if, when we were faced with a not-so-pleasant situation, we remembered Michele’s quote, “Just because something is hard, doesn’t mean we’re not called to it…And just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it’s not good.”

So many times as we go through the refining fires, we get angry with God and life and want everyone to feel sorry for our problems. However, if we can hold onto the promises of God and keep our eyes on Him, things change. God allows us these times in our lives where we feel undone so that we can once again be reminded of the beauty of our lives even when nothing is going right.

Michele’s words immediately took me to a place of my own struggles and revelations during my cancer battle. She was describing attending a Christmas Eve service when she said, “I’d been given a second chance at life. The opportunity to live better, love more. I wanted to slow the service, hold each moment like a jewel in my hand, turn over the sights and sounds and marvel at the sparkle and shine. Facing the reality of death does this to a person. It transforms the routine into something of the miraculous. It turns handholding into a moment of magic. An organist’s music into the songs of angels. The faces of your children into the makings of history.”

Thank you, Michele, for the reminder to live better, love more, and not take routine for granted. Thanks for your authenticity. Thank you for sharing your journey with us as an encouragement that even when everything about life seems to be “undone,” God is there.

If you haven’t read this book yet, do it today. This is not a typical blog for me, but once you read the book, you will understand and be glad I said something. In the meantime, please continue to lift Michelle in your prayers. She is in the heat of battle of yet another round of cancer.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 37-39 NIV)

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Will You Be There for Jesus?

Have you ever had that person in your life where you have done all that you can do for them in their lives and when you need them most, they’re not there? Maybe it’s a child that you drop everything for when they call but they can’t return a text. Perhaps it is a friend you sat with when they were ill but when you needed someone to give you a ride to the doctor, they were busy.

This week I feel like that person. Not the one who is being ignored or not helped. Rather, I feel as though I have let Jesus down when He needed me most. This is the biggest week to celebrate Him all year and I have simply been too busy. I have given my time to other people and things when I should’ve been giving Him my time first.

As we celebrate Easter tomorrow, I encourage you to be there for our friend, Jesus. He paid the ultimate price for our sins by dying a brutal death on the cross. He has done all He can do for us and now it is up to us to carry on His message. He deserves our praise and our time to tell others about Him! We need to take time to celebrate and thank The One who laid down His life so that we might live!

I can’t wait to get to church tomorrow and worship Jesus Who died for me and for you. I hope you will be there, too. Everything else can wait. For tomorrow is His day…He will be waiting for you.

John 3:36 (NIV) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Posted on in 2015 Posts

If God Needed an Ark Built, Would He Choose You?

IMG_20150114_085930428I love it when God wakes me up with a thought. This week, though, waking up to this question, “If God needed an ark built, would He choose you?,” really made me think. I could justify why He wouldn’t have chosen me to carry His son, Jesus. As a young girl, I didn’t know Him yet. But this question about Noah threw me for a bit of a loop.

Last week as I traveled in the early morning hours, I saw a pond full of geese. Some were actually in the icy cold waters while others stood around on the icy parts of the water that had frozen over. I thought to myself…those poor birds! It must be miserable to be out there in that cold water.

Shortly after having that thought and pausing to take a photo knowing God was going to use this circumstance somehow, I had another idea pop into my mind. I thought, “God created those geese to withstand the cold weather and waters. That’s how they were made. I shouldn’t feel sorry for them. They’re doing what they were created to do.”

When I think about it, God creates each one of us uniquely so that we can do what we were created to do. I don’t have to be some super faith guy like Noah for God to use me. I just need to be me. That is a freeing thought when you think about it. God knew exactly what was coming our way so He equipped us with exactly what we need. When God asks us to do something, He empowers us to get the job done. It’s not in our strength; rather, it’s His power working through us. We just simply have to do what we’ve been created to do.

One thing the enemy would love to make us believe is that we are not good enough. When I watch others and allow my mind to think they are better than me or God uses them more effectively than me, I need to stop right there. I need to remind myself that God created them for a purpose just as He did me.  I can’t look at them and think, those poor things…they have to be missionaries in a foreign land. Nor can I say, poor me, look at how I have to suffer every week coming up with the right words for my blog. The fact is, we are all doing that which we have been created and called to do. God has equipped us and continues to fill us with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to help us be what He wants us to be.

I am special.

You are special.

We have each been created for a special purpose.

Your purpose might not be the same as my purpose.

We each have the opportunity to choose whether or not we allow God to fulfill His purpose in our lives.

It’s as simple as that.

If God asked me to build an ark, would I? It’s doubtful that He would ask such a question of me, but if I knew that it was Him asking, I would hope that I would at least give it my best shot.  Realistically, God will never ask any of us to build an ark again. However, He might be asking us to do something, even today, that we are resisting. We might be saying, “The weather just doesn’t look good…too cold. If I do that, others will laugh at me and call me a Jesus freak. Are you sure you’ve asked the right person, Lord? I couldn’t possibly be able to pull that one off.”

Whatever your excuse, if it is what God has created you to do, you will be just fine. Actually, when we choose to obey and follow the will of God, we are more than fine. We are awesomely blessed, just like Noah. Take time to listen today to that which God is calling you to do and with everything you have, I challenge you to say, “YES!”

What would this world be like if every Christian would be obedient and take action according to how God calls us? This week, I’m going to be asking me the same questions I’m asking you. I want a faith and obedient life like Noah, that if God needed an important job like building an ark done, He would trust me to carry out His plan.

We can’t all be ark-builders, but we can certainly all be faithful servants to The One Who calls us to action. What’s God calling you to do today? What will your answer to Him be?

Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.