Week of July 26
Gone fishing! Back soon.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Yard Sale
Week of July 19
It wasn’t your typical yard sale. For me it was a desperation move.
I was down to my last six dollars. I needed gas to get to work, the electric bill was overdue and my water would be shut off if I didn’t pay it by Monday. It would be another week before I received another paycheck and I was already one month behind in my rent as well as my other bills.
My wife and I were separated and I had recently been diagnosed with Hepatitis C. I really was at the end of my rope. I needed this sale to survive one more day.
A friend arrived for moral support and I asked him if he would pray with me. We stood together in my empty living room. He prayed, “Lord bless my friend Patrick and help him though this situation. Without you we are nothing but with your blessing we know we can get through anything. You said Lord, ‘Come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.’ We are here Lord and we need your help, Amen.”
Everything I owned was out on my lawn except my mattress, clothes and the computer on which I couldn’t make the payments.
During the first hour I sold $80 worth of furniture including my couch, end table and some lamps.The flow of potential buyers slowed considerably during the second hour and I took in just $20 more.
During a lull the phone rang and I dashed into the house to answer it.
The lady on the phone said, “You gave me a quote to paint my house several months ago. Does your offer still stand.”
“It sure does.”
“How soon can you start?”
“Lady I’ll be there this afternoon for the one third
down payment so I can buy your paint.”
I rushed outside to retrieve my kitchen table and chairs from the lawn. Then I told my friend about the phone call.
“I made a bid to paint a lady’s house six months ago and she calls me today of all days. Go figure.”
My friend looked at me with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes and said, “That call was prompted by the Lord.”
Patrick Lavilla
Kountze Tx
It wasn’t your typical yard sale. For me it was a desperation move.
I was down to my last six dollars. I needed gas to get to work, the electric bill was overdue and my water would be shut off if I didn’t pay it by Monday. It would be another week before I received another paycheck and I was already one month behind in my rent as well as my other bills.
My wife and I were separated and I had recently been diagnosed with Hepatitis C. I really was at the end of my rope. I needed this sale to survive one more day.
A friend arrived for moral support and I asked him if he would pray with me. We stood together in my empty living room. He prayed, “Lord bless my friend Patrick and help him though this situation. Without you we are nothing but with your blessing we know we can get through anything. You said Lord, ‘Come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.’ We are here Lord and we need your help, Amen.”
Everything I owned was out on my lawn except my mattress, clothes and the computer on which I couldn’t make the payments.
During the first hour I sold $80 worth of furniture including my couch, end table and some lamps.The flow of potential buyers slowed considerably during the second hour and I took in just $20 more.
During a lull the phone rang and I dashed into the house to answer it.
The lady on the phone said, “You gave me a quote to paint my house several months ago. Does your offer still stand.”
“It sure does.”
“How soon can you start?”
“Lady I’ll be there this afternoon for the one third
down payment so I can buy your paint.”
I rushed outside to retrieve my kitchen table and chairs from the lawn. Then I told my friend about the phone call.
“I made a bid to paint a lady’s house six months ago and she calls me today of all days. Go figure.”
My friend looked at me with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes and said, “That call was prompted by the Lord.”
Patrick Lavilla
Kountze Tx
Saturday, July 11, 2009
"Live by the Water"
Week of Juy 12,2009
It was clear from the beginning that God’s hand was in our decision to relocate to Florida. The purpose was to take care of our aging parents who had permanently moved to the west coast of the state.
The problems were we had a business and a house to sell and I hated Florida. Furthermore I had a business that I loved in my home, taking care of children, which would have to be closed.
Eighteen years of accumulation of living in one place had to be sold as we were not taking all this to Florida with us. We had to pare down from a 6 bedroom, three story house to a smaller 2 or 3 bedroom bungalow.
God is good. The business sold quickly and several garage sales relieved us of a multitude of our "treasures". Now it was time to sell the house.
I was leaving the house I had dreamed of all my life. I had said, "just bury me in the back yard and I will be happy forever.” Until the day I actually left, my friends said, "she will never go through with it," because they knew how much I loved the home I lived in.
Why then was God calling me to move on? How could I endure such a transplant from a place I loved with all my heart to a place I hated? It is called a leap of faith. I bargained with God. I prayed and said "I am honoring our parents as you have instructed in the Bible and you know the place I am leaving, somehow dear God please make it right for me so I can have a proper attitude to do what I have to do in Florida."
One night just before I was falling asleep God spoke to me in unmistakable voice. I shot upright in bed and He said to me "Live by the water and you will be all right.” From that day forward I never faltered for one minute.. We placed our house on the market. It sold within two weeks and we were on our way.
Many things have affirmed God’s hand on our lives as a result of our decision to be faithful to God’s call to honor our parents. I have never regretted it for one day and praise God for his mercy and kindness to see us through the tough times we have had.We have been blessed with with a wonderful church to worship and fellowship in.
Having lived by the water for 15 years God was totally right….I was all right.
Susie Tholken
Sarasota, Fl.
It was clear from the beginning that God’s hand was in our decision to relocate to Florida. The purpose was to take care of our aging parents who had permanently moved to the west coast of the state.
The problems were we had a business and a house to sell and I hated Florida. Furthermore I had a business that I loved in my home, taking care of children, which would have to be closed.
Eighteen years of accumulation of living in one place had to be sold as we were not taking all this to Florida with us. We had to pare down from a 6 bedroom, three story house to a smaller 2 or 3 bedroom bungalow.
God is good. The business sold quickly and several garage sales relieved us of a multitude of our "treasures". Now it was time to sell the house.
I was leaving the house I had dreamed of all my life. I had said, "just bury me in the back yard and I will be happy forever.” Until the day I actually left, my friends said, "she will never go through with it," because they knew how much I loved the home I lived in.
Why then was God calling me to move on? How could I endure such a transplant from a place I loved with all my heart to a place I hated? It is called a leap of faith. I bargained with God. I prayed and said "I am honoring our parents as you have instructed in the Bible and you know the place I am leaving, somehow dear God please make it right for me so I can have a proper attitude to do what I have to do in Florida."
One night just before I was falling asleep God spoke to me in unmistakable voice. I shot upright in bed and He said to me "Live by the water and you will be all right.” From that day forward I never faltered for one minute.. We placed our house on the market. It sold within two weeks and we were on our way.
Many things have affirmed God’s hand on our lives as a result of our decision to be faithful to God’s call to honor our parents. I have never regretted it for one day and praise God for his mercy and kindness to see us through the tough times we have had.We have been blessed with with a wonderful church to worship and fellowship in.
Having lived by the water for 15 years God was totally right….I was all right.
Susie Tholken
Sarasota, Fl.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Cranston
Week of July 5
It is a peaceful summer day at the lake and I am cherishing the stillness sitting on our deck when loud and clear in my head I hear the word, Cranston.
Why Cranston? There is a city adjacent to Providence, RI named Cranston but I haven’t been there in years. I know some people who came from Cranston and my sister once lived there when her children were small. The hero of an old radio program called “The Shadow” was named Lamont Cranston. These are my only Cranston connections. I have no idea why the word Cranston came to mind so clearly. I busy myself with other thoughts.
Later that day I am reading when I clearly hear again, Cranston! Now this is weird. What does this mean? I share what is happening with my wife Joy.
She is genuinely compassionate to my confused state but of course can offer no satisfactory explanation.
The next morning I am looking for the paperback dictionary. I remembered seeing one somewhere. I ask Joy and she says it is behind the hard covered books on the shelf in the breakfast nook. I reach over those books and pickup the first paperback I feel. It is not the dictionary. I stare in disbelief.
I’m holding in my hand a worn paperback entitled, The Miracle of Lourdes by Ruth Cranston.
I can feel the shivers going down my spine. “Hon. How did this book get here?”
She looks at me with amazement “I don’t know. I remember you bought a stack of books at the church fair one year or maybe someone else left it here.” I vaguely remember buying some books at the church fair but I know I need to read this book now.
Ruth Cranston wrote the book in 1955 “in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of when the Blessed Mother of God appeared to the daughter of a French Miller.”
Ruth Cranston’s book goes beyond documenting many of the miracles at the healing pool at Lourdes, France. The author recounts how many well people annually make the pilgrimage to Lourdes just to serve others who are there waiting and praying for miracle cures.
“The greatest thing at Lourdes is putting God into actual everyday living,” she writes. “It’s a life based on love instead of power-a life of helping one another, serving the weak, sharing strengths. It is another example that the path to happiness is to give not grab.”
Wow, good advice for a man seeking but struggling to include God in his daily life.
I also resonate with these words. “The one way to peace and bliss, every great prophet has told us, is to give yourself away.”
Give myself away-I needed to read that Ms Cranston.
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. (Matthew 16:25)
R. Malcolm Salter
Sturbridge, Massachusetts
It is a peaceful summer day at the lake and I am cherishing the stillness sitting on our deck when loud and clear in my head I hear the word, Cranston.
Why Cranston? There is a city adjacent to Providence, RI named Cranston but I haven’t been there in years. I know some people who came from Cranston and my sister once lived there when her children were small. The hero of an old radio program called “The Shadow” was named Lamont Cranston. These are my only Cranston connections. I have no idea why the word Cranston came to mind so clearly. I busy myself with other thoughts.
Later that day I am reading when I clearly hear again, Cranston! Now this is weird. What does this mean? I share what is happening with my wife Joy.
She is genuinely compassionate to my confused state but of course can offer no satisfactory explanation.
The next morning I am looking for the paperback dictionary. I remembered seeing one somewhere. I ask Joy and she says it is behind the hard covered books on the shelf in the breakfast nook. I reach over those books and pickup the first paperback I feel. It is not the dictionary. I stare in disbelief.
I’m holding in my hand a worn paperback entitled, The Miracle of Lourdes by Ruth Cranston.
I can feel the shivers going down my spine. “Hon. How did this book get here?”
She looks at me with amazement “I don’t know. I remember you bought a stack of books at the church fair one year or maybe someone else left it here.” I vaguely remember buying some books at the church fair but I know I need to read this book now.
Ruth Cranston wrote the book in 1955 “in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of when the Blessed Mother of God appeared to the daughter of a French Miller.”
Ruth Cranston’s book goes beyond documenting many of the miracles at the healing pool at Lourdes, France. The author recounts how many well people annually make the pilgrimage to Lourdes just to serve others who are there waiting and praying for miracle cures.
“The greatest thing at Lourdes is putting God into actual everyday living,” she writes. “It’s a life based on love instead of power-a life of helping one another, serving the weak, sharing strengths. It is another example that the path to happiness is to give not grab.”
Wow, good advice for a man seeking but struggling to include God in his daily life.
I also resonate with these words. “The one way to peace and bliss, every great prophet has told us, is to give yourself away.”
Give myself away-I needed to read that Ms Cranston.
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. (Matthew 16:25)
R. Malcolm Salter
Sturbridge, Massachusetts
Saturday, June 27, 2009
He almost beat Tiger Woods
Week of June 28
Brad’s celebrity status is that he was the first golfer to lose a national title to Tiger Woods.
The year was 1991 and Brad Zwetschke was ranked number two behind Tiger in the U.S. Junior Amateur golf. In the championship match Brad was three up after five holes, and two up at the turn at Bay Hill in Orlando. It would be the first of many well publicized comebacks for Tiger who tied the match and defeated Brad on the first playoff hole.
“Coming out of school all I wanted to do was play golf and party. I lived the wild life,” Brad says. Along the way he met Christina Mauldin, a preacher’s daughter from the South side of Chicago. Brad is also from Chicago. Within a year and a half they were married. “She thought she was marrying a golf professional and I thought I was marrying an entertainer from Black Television.” (Christina had done a stint on the program Heart & Soul.)
“My wife is a strong Christian and my loyal supporter. She accompanied me on tour, which was arduous, lots of travel and expensive. Sometimes we slept in our van because we couldn’t afford the hotel prices.
“In November 2001 we were touring in Australia and we went into a little church in Brisbane. The preacher’s message was based on John 21. The message spoke to me especially when Jesus asks Peter, ‘Do you love me as much as these’ (referring to the fish Peter and his friends had just caught).“Yes Lord, You know that I love You.”
“Then feed My lambs.” John21:l5
"I identified with Peter who was being asked to give up fishing. I felt I was being asked to put down my clubs.
Three months later I was driving to the Canadian Tour Qualifying Tournament when I heard a message on the radio quoting John 21. Again I felt the message speaking to me. I played in the tournament but I did not qualify. My heart wasn’t in the game anymore. I quit golf.
“With the encouragement of my father-in law I enrolled in New Orleans Theological Seminary.He too had been called to the ministry by John 21.”
In August 2005, four months before Brad was to finish, Katrina devastated New Orleans. With two children and Christina eight months pregnant, Brad borrowed a friend's van and fled to Beatrice Alabama where they knew a pastor who took them in.
“We lost everything to Katrina. Our apartment was completely flooded. But God had spared our family. Then another kind of flood hit. I could not stop the flow of gifts of clothing, food and furniture that poured in on us. It still hasn’t subsided.
“When it was time for Christina to have our fourth child we moved to Bradenton , Florida to be close to the doctor who had delivered our other children. I took a job as student intern in evangelism and finished my final semester at the seminary on line. In December 2006 my classmates and I received our degrees. Later I became the voluntary chaplain to the Cincinnati Reds farm team then in Sarasota.
“God has used everything in my life for His purposes. Golf had been my idol…now I’m pictured in golf magazines holding a Bible. It took a while for me to accept God’s forgiveness and to accept his grace. That has been huge for me.
“Tiger has become the king of golf. My notoriety as being the first to lose a national title to Tiger still brings invitations to speak at golf dinners and men’s retreats where I get to tell people about the King of Kings.”
Brad Zwetschke
(Brad Zwetschke is now a U.S. Army Chaplain on active duty-Ed)
Brad’s celebrity status is that he was the first golfer to lose a national title to Tiger Woods.
The year was 1991 and Brad Zwetschke was ranked number two behind Tiger in the U.S. Junior Amateur golf. In the championship match Brad was three up after five holes, and two up at the turn at Bay Hill in Orlando. It would be the first of many well publicized comebacks for Tiger who tied the match and defeated Brad on the first playoff hole.
“Coming out of school all I wanted to do was play golf and party. I lived the wild life,” Brad says. Along the way he met Christina Mauldin, a preacher’s daughter from the South side of Chicago. Brad is also from Chicago. Within a year and a half they were married. “She thought she was marrying a golf professional and I thought I was marrying an entertainer from Black Television.” (Christina had done a stint on the program Heart & Soul.)
“My wife is a strong Christian and my loyal supporter. She accompanied me on tour, which was arduous, lots of travel and expensive. Sometimes we slept in our van because we couldn’t afford the hotel prices.
“In November 2001 we were touring in Australia and we went into a little church in Brisbane. The preacher’s message was based on John 21. The message spoke to me especially when Jesus asks Peter, ‘Do you love me as much as these’ (referring to the fish Peter and his friends had just caught).“Yes Lord, You know that I love You.”
“Then feed My lambs.” John21:l5
"I identified with Peter who was being asked to give up fishing. I felt I was being asked to put down my clubs.
Three months later I was driving to the Canadian Tour Qualifying Tournament when I heard a message on the radio quoting John 21. Again I felt the message speaking to me. I played in the tournament but I did not qualify. My heart wasn’t in the game anymore. I quit golf.
“With the encouragement of my father-in law I enrolled in New Orleans Theological Seminary.He too had been called to the ministry by John 21.”
In August 2005, four months before Brad was to finish, Katrina devastated New Orleans. With two children and Christina eight months pregnant, Brad borrowed a friend's van and fled to Beatrice Alabama where they knew a pastor who took them in.
“We lost everything to Katrina. Our apartment was completely flooded. But God had spared our family. Then another kind of flood hit. I could not stop the flow of gifts of clothing, food and furniture that poured in on us. It still hasn’t subsided.
“When it was time for Christina to have our fourth child we moved to Bradenton , Florida to be close to the doctor who had delivered our other children. I took a job as student intern in evangelism and finished my final semester at the seminary on line. In December 2006 my classmates and I received our degrees. Later I became the voluntary chaplain to the Cincinnati Reds farm team then in Sarasota.
“God has used everything in my life for His purposes. Golf had been my idol…now I’m pictured in golf magazines holding a Bible. It took a while for me to accept God’s forgiveness and to accept his grace. That has been huge for me.
“Tiger has become the king of golf. My notoriety as being the first to lose a national title to Tiger still brings invitations to speak at golf dinners and men’s retreats where I get to tell people about the King of Kings.”
Brad Zwetschke
(Brad Zwetschke is now a U.S. Army Chaplain on active duty-Ed)
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Mr. Clarke
Week of June 21
There are some things that just defy logical explanations. This is one of those things for me. I am a mother with a small boy at home. About once a month a Mr. Clarke would stop by, usually late morning, with a suitcase full of small household items for sale. Mr. Clarke, I never knew his first name and he always addressed me as Mrs.Marr. He was an older gentleman of retirement age who was trying to augment his income by going door-to-door selling whatever he could. I felt sorry for him and would always buy something, even if only a pair of shoe strings, so he wouldn’t leave without having sold something.
Mainly we would just chat about the weather or something in the news that week while my little boy played with blocks or some other toy on the living room floor. After several minutes of friendly conversation he would open his suitcase and point out some new item. I would listen to whatever he was promoting and politely say I didn’t think I needed that right now but what we really needed was a box of bandages. I would purchase the item and he was always most gracious as he packed his wares and left.
This went on for about a year and then one month passed and he hadn’t stopped by. Several months passed and no Mr. Clarke. There was a knock at the door one morning and I opened it to find a thin pleasant looking woman.
“Are you Mrs. Marr,” she asked? I nodded.
“I’m Mrs. Clarke, You were a customer of my husband. He passed on you know.”
“I’m sorry, I wondered what happened to him.”
“I’ve been talking with him and last night he gave me a message for you,” she said.
Before I could collect myself to say anything sensible she must have read the expression of bewilderment and shock on my face and went on talking.
“Oh yes. I talk with him frequently and last night he was very clear that I bring a message to you. He said, ‘tell Mrs. Marr there is going to be an explosion.’ That’s it, that’s all he said. I can’t tell you what it means, just what he said.”
She wouldn’t come in, apologized for upsetting me in any way and thanked me for being kind to her husband and she walked away. I was dumbfounded.
I thought of a hundred questions I wanted to ask her but she had gone. I didn’t know how to get in touch with her, or where she lived and I still didn’t know Mr. Clarke’s first name.
An explosion! What to do? My husband worked at an oil refinery and I impulsively called his office. As the call was going through I thought what on earth will I say to him, that a woman I’ve never met before told me her dead husband gave her a message last night to warn me that there was going to be an explosion…
“Hello.”
“Hi Dear, how are you?”
“I’m fine, what’s up?”
I couldn’t tell him at least not now over the phone while he was at work. I would tell him when he got home tonight, besides he would be asking me a ton of questions to which I had no answers. The rest of our conversation was strained and awkward especially on my end. I tried to determine what the rest of his day was like without tipping my hand. I was trying to ascertain that he was going to be right at his desk and not out by the fuel storage tanks or down on the docks where the tankers unloaded. I sensed he was getting curious about my new-found interest in his day. Then he asked the question I was dreading.
“ Tell me is there something on your mind that prompted this call?”
“Oh,” I laughed nervously, “Could you pick up a dozen eggs on your way home?”
When he came home with the eggs I came clean. I was relieved that he was home and we both had a laugh over our cat and mouse phone conversation. He didn’t know what to make of Mrs. Clarke’s message anymore than I did. So we returned to our routine and switched on the evening news.
The lead story was “A Northwest Airliner Exploded Over Lake Michigan Today Killing All On Board.”
I fainted. Our daughter was a flight attendant for Northwest. Bob, after assisting me, called the airline. They wouldn’t give out any information at this time. Our next call was to the Providence Journal. After talking to a few people an editor said he would make inquiries. He did and called us back with the information that our daughter was not on that flight.
We found out later that she was scheduled for that flight but took sick and her roommate had taken her place. It was a sad day for our family and many others.
What about Mrs. Clarke’s message and its source? Was it just coincidence? I wonder? As I said, I have no logical explanation for this.
Caroline Marr
East Providence,R.I.
There are some things that just defy logical explanations. This is one of those things for me. I am a mother with a small boy at home. About once a month a Mr. Clarke would stop by, usually late morning, with a suitcase full of small household items for sale. Mr. Clarke, I never knew his first name and he always addressed me as Mrs.Marr. He was an older gentleman of retirement age who was trying to augment his income by going door-to-door selling whatever he could. I felt sorry for him and would always buy something, even if only a pair of shoe strings, so he wouldn’t leave without having sold something.
Mainly we would just chat about the weather or something in the news that week while my little boy played with blocks or some other toy on the living room floor. After several minutes of friendly conversation he would open his suitcase and point out some new item. I would listen to whatever he was promoting and politely say I didn’t think I needed that right now but what we really needed was a box of bandages. I would purchase the item and he was always most gracious as he packed his wares and left.
This went on for about a year and then one month passed and he hadn’t stopped by. Several months passed and no Mr. Clarke. There was a knock at the door one morning and I opened it to find a thin pleasant looking woman.
“Are you Mrs. Marr,” she asked? I nodded.
“I’m Mrs. Clarke, You were a customer of my husband. He passed on you know.”
“I’m sorry, I wondered what happened to him.”
“I’ve been talking with him and last night he gave me a message for you,” she said.
Before I could collect myself to say anything sensible she must have read the expression of bewilderment and shock on my face and went on talking.
“Oh yes. I talk with him frequently and last night he was very clear that I bring a message to you. He said, ‘tell Mrs. Marr there is going to be an explosion.’ That’s it, that’s all he said. I can’t tell you what it means, just what he said.”
She wouldn’t come in, apologized for upsetting me in any way and thanked me for being kind to her husband and she walked away. I was dumbfounded.
I thought of a hundred questions I wanted to ask her but she had gone. I didn’t know how to get in touch with her, or where she lived and I still didn’t know Mr. Clarke’s first name.
An explosion! What to do? My husband worked at an oil refinery and I impulsively called his office. As the call was going through I thought what on earth will I say to him, that a woman I’ve never met before told me her dead husband gave her a message last night to warn me that there was going to be an explosion…
“Hello.”
“Hi Dear, how are you?”
“I’m fine, what’s up?”
I couldn’t tell him at least not now over the phone while he was at work. I would tell him when he got home tonight, besides he would be asking me a ton of questions to which I had no answers. The rest of our conversation was strained and awkward especially on my end. I tried to determine what the rest of his day was like without tipping my hand. I was trying to ascertain that he was going to be right at his desk and not out by the fuel storage tanks or down on the docks where the tankers unloaded. I sensed he was getting curious about my new-found interest in his day. Then he asked the question I was dreading.
“ Tell me is there something on your mind that prompted this call?”
“Oh,” I laughed nervously, “Could you pick up a dozen eggs on your way home?”
When he came home with the eggs I came clean. I was relieved that he was home and we both had a laugh over our cat and mouse phone conversation. He didn’t know what to make of Mrs. Clarke’s message anymore than I did. So we returned to our routine and switched on the evening news.
The lead story was “A Northwest Airliner Exploded Over Lake Michigan Today Killing All On Board.”
I fainted. Our daughter was a flight attendant for Northwest. Bob, after assisting me, called the airline. They wouldn’t give out any information at this time. Our next call was to the Providence Journal. After talking to a few people an editor said he would make inquiries. He did and called us back with the information that our daughter was not on that flight.
We found out later that she was scheduled for that flight but took sick and her roommate had taken her place. It was a sad day for our family and many others.
What about Mrs. Clarke’s message and its source? Was it just coincidence? I wonder? As I said, I have no logical explanation for this.
Caroline Marr
East Providence,R.I.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Facing Your Mortality at age 45
(Week of June 14)
The disbelief- is this whole God thing a hoax? Is there really a heaven? When this cancer kills me, will I really be with God or is this just something we human make up to feel better?
Answer-forget the feelings, go with the FAITH, what you know about God, what His Word says, what He has done. He has been faithful in the little things and WILL be faithful in the big things.
God's work in my cancer
I remember singing in a small weak, trembling, teary voice, “my hope is based on nothing less then Jesus’ love and righteousness.” Then a chorus of angels sang with me; “On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
God knows about this cancer. He knew about it before I was born. He will use this for His glory and I will be ok, even when I die.
People’s reactions to my cancer varied. “Can I call a prayer meeting at your house and we will all pray for you?” (that was an awesome night)
"Though you slay me, yet I serve you," quoted a friend.
“Wow are you lucky! God must have something really important in mind for you in this trial. He is preparing you for a mighty work.”
“I wish I could take your place. If I could I would, "my mom said this.
I kept track of God’s provision, protection, mercy and lessons in my cancer. God sent me a friend that had chemo,and one who was in healthcare so was not afraid on my cancer and was nonchalant. There were prayer warriors, card senders and one who called every day to check up me and one who came on the darkest day I had and held me as a cried and when I was inconsolable, read scripture to me.
Friends brought me food, took me to chemo, even changed my kitty’s litter. One person asked me if she could see me without my hair and her love and concern was a source of comfort to me. (note: loosing my hair was devastating)
God kept providing and protecting me.
One night I was desperate, alone and scared. I called out to God the way He directs us to call Him in Psalm 50:15.( “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you…”) My fears and confusion were so overwhelming that all I could do was cry out to him like a child waking from a nightmare calls his parents. I cried out GO000D!
Shortly after this the phone rang. It was a dear sister in the Lord who was out of town but had been thinking of me all day. In the middle of a dinner party with friends, she could no longer resist God’s prompting in her heart, excused herself to call and check on me.
One night I was too sick to make something to eat or even know what I wanted to eat. I just told God ‘if you want me to eat you better bring it to my door or else I will just lie on this couch and not eat.’ Minutes later the phone rang. It was a friend and when she found out how I was feeling she said; “Its time for smoothies.” That night she introduced me to smoothies, which are a must for anyone on chemo.
A week after my first chemo I started teaching a small (church) group. They did not know me before my cancer. They only knew me on chemo and without hair. They ministered to me, prayed over me, laid hands on me, gave me self worth and loved me. We even had a night when we tried on hats together. They were the first to see me when my hair started to grow back.
I knew the cancer was in the lymph nodes even when the doctors did not think so at first.In the recovery room from my second surgery, the hospital chaplain asked me to pray for him. I spent the night in the hospital and the doctor brought all his students in several times. They referred to me as the ‘smiling patient.’
I felt the prayers of others that lifted me up especially when I was too sick and too tired to pray.
On the morning when I was going back to Moffit (Cancer Center) for my first follow-up,I asked God to send me a Christian woman who lived in Sarasota and who had suffered with breast cancer to guide and comfort me. On the way home, my friend who had taken me to Moffit told me she ran into an old friend of hers while she was waiting for me and that this friend had just finished her treatment and was coming back for a check up. (Prayer answered)
Scriptures God sent me to (rhema)
Matthew 26:39 -Three times in the Garden Jesus asked for the cup be taken from Him.
John 17- the last prayer Jesus prayed was for us that we reflect His love, that God protect us from Satan and that we know His love for us. He did not pray for good times and fun here on earth. He actually knew we would suffer because we follow him.
Isaiah 29:15- the pot can not ask the potter why he made the pot a certain way. I can’t ask God why I got cancer-He know everything and I must respect His knowledge despite circumstances or my opinion of them.
2 Corinthians 1:2-5 God will comfort us in our pain and we in turn will comfort those in pain with the comfort God has shown us. Ie use what I learned in my cancer to comfort those in need.
(What she learned:)
freedom from worry, well almost ha ha;
a better focus on what is important-less time working, more time serving, loving and living;
it is ok to be weak, to let others know you are hurting, well almost ha ha;
surrender, surrender, SURRENDER! We really don’t have any power anyway, except through Christ.”
Sheree Motola
Sarasota
(We received this e-mail in 2001. Sheree left this world in June 2006-ed)
The disbelief- is this whole God thing a hoax? Is there really a heaven? When this cancer kills me, will I really be with God or is this just something we human make up to feel better?
Answer-forget the feelings, go with the FAITH, what you know about God, what His Word says, what He has done. He has been faithful in the little things and WILL be faithful in the big things.
God's work in my cancer
I remember singing in a small weak, trembling, teary voice, “my hope is based on nothing less then Jesus’ love and righteousness.” Then a chorus of angels sang with me; “On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
God knows about this cancer. He knew about it before I was born. He will use this for His glory and I will be ok, even when I die.
People’s reactions to my cancer varied. “Can I call a prayer meeting at your house and we will all pray for you?” (that was an awesome night)
"Though you slay me, yet I serve you," quoted a friend.
“Wow are you lucky! God must have something really important in mind for you in this trial. He is preparing you for a mighty work.”
“I wish I could take your place. If I could I would, "my mom said this.
I kept track of God’s provision, protection, mercy and lessons in my cancer. God sent me a friend that had chemo,and one who was in healthcare so was not afraid on my cancer and was nonchalant. There were prayer warriors, card senders and one who called every day to check up me and one who came on the darkest day I had and held me as a cried and when I was inconsolable, read scripture to me.
Friends brought me food, took me to chemo, even changed my kitty’s litter. One person asked me if she could see me without my hair and her love and concern was a source of comfort to me. (note: loosing my hair was devastating)
God kept providing and protecting me.
One night I was desperate, alone and scared. I called out to God the way He directs us to call Him in Psalm 50:15.( “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you…”) My fears and confusion were so overwhelming that all I could do was cry out to him like a child waking from a nightmare calls his parents. I cried out GO000D!
Shortly after this the phone rang. It was a dear sister in the Lord who was out of town but had been thinking of me all day. In the middle of a dinner party with friends, she could no longer resist God’s prompting in her heart, excused herself to call and check on me.
One night I was too sick to make something to eat or even know what I wanted to eat. I just told God ‘if you want me to eat you better bring it to my door or else I will just lie on this couch and not eat.’ Minutes later the phone rang. It was a friend and when she found out how I was feeling she said; “Its time for smoothies.” That night she introduced me to smoothies, which are a must for anyone on chemo.
A week after my first chemo I started teaching a small (church) group. They did not know me before my cancer. They only knew me on chemo and without hair. They ministered to me, prayed over me, laid hands on me, gave me self worth and loved me. We even had a night when we tried on hats together. They were the first to see me when my hair started to grow back.
I knew the cancer was in the lymph nodes even when the doctors did not think so at first.In the recovery room from my second surgery, the hospital chaplain asked me to pray for him. I spent the night in the hospital and the doctor brought all his students in several times. They referred to me as the ‘smiling patient.’
I felt the prayers of others that lifted me up especially when I was too sick and too tired to pray.
On the morning when I was going back to Moffit (Cancer Center) for my first follow-up,I asked God to send me a Christian woman who lived in Sarasota and who had suffered with breast cancer to guide and comfort me. On the way home, my friend who had taken me to Moffit told me she ran into an old friend of hers while she was waiting for me and that this friend had just finished her treatment and was coming back for a check up. (Prayer answered)
Scriptures God sent me to (rhema)
Matthew 26:39 -Three times in the Garden Jesus asked for the cup be taken from Him.
John 17- the last prayer Jesus prayed was for us that we reflect His love, that God protect us from Satan and that we know His love for us. He did not pray for good times and fun here on earth. He actually knew we would suffer because we follow him.
Isaiah 29:15- the pot can not ask the potter why he made the pot a certain way. I can’t ask God why I got cancer-He know everything and I must respect His knowledge despite circumstances or my opinion of them.
2 Corinthians 1:2-5 God will comfort us in our pain and we in turn will comfort those in pain with the comfort God has shown us. Ie use what I learned in my cancer to comfort those in need.
(What she learned:)
freedom from worry, well almost ha ha;
a better focus on what is important-less time working, more time serving, loving and living;
it is ok to be weak, to let others know you are hurting, well almost ha ha;
surrender, surrender, SURRENDER! We really don’t have any power anyway, except through Christ.”
Sheree Motola
Sarasota
(We received this e-mail in 2001. Sheree left this world in June 2006-ed)
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