Tuesday, August 15, 2006

The Lady Blazers dominated tonight! They played Christian Life. It is so nice to see them win since we have been the losers so many times in the past. We saw Pat and Laurie tonight – good to see them and some of their kids were at the game.
We ate spaghetti and meat sauce for lunch. I’m sure you can relate to this story: I drove in my car to the game, so I left before them and said I would stop by the store and pick up some ground meat. On the way home I stop at the Wal Mart on College Dr. I ran in and got what I needed – and then I saw the lines. I had six things in the basket, was in the 20 or less items isle and it still took 15 minutes to get checked out. The place was packed. The moral to this story is, no matter which line you get in, it will be the slowest. Needless to say we ate supper around 9 pm. Praise God for plenty of food.
I am reading several books (simultaneously). One of the books is titled “Your Life follows Your Words” by Darlene Bishop. On page 86, she says the following, “In reality, most of us have two confessions – one of life and one of death. Ask a Christian in pain how they feel, and the answer may surprise you. With one breath, the person will say, ‘by His stripes I am healed,’ but with the very next breath, they will say. ‘I can’t lie. I have been diagnosed with this illness, you know, and I can’t deny that I have it.’ This second confession nullifies, or uproots, the first one, and the result is a contradiction.” She continues, “On the one hand, the person is saying that they are healed, redeemed, and made whole, but at the same time, they are saying that the healing, redemption, and/or wholeness is not yet a fact in there body.”
I have been having this internal struggle since I was diagnosed. We had been believing so strongly in the beginning that the tumor would disappear and that this would be proven on the following CT scan. The tumor was still there. Bummer, so I had surgery – which by the way was a text book surgery with no complications, even all the way through the recovery. That alone is a miracle to me. Then, after recovery, another CT is scheduled with no problems except for two enlarged lymph nodes. Then I start chemotherapy treatments. The third CT showed no problems with the lymph nodes, however, there is a spot on my liver. Now, we have been believing for a miracle of major proportions all this time. Am I supposed to ignore the fact that there is an active tumor? Is this just semantics. We trust God, but don't you think he trusts us to use some common sense? I do still feel that this is a contradiction at times, but I want God to be glorified no matter what the outcome. Anyway, I put this out for your consideration and invite any insight you may have to offer. Thanks.
***Congrats to the Wallace family on the birth of their new grandbaby!
Tomorrow, Hosanna is calling for a Congregational fast for the day and prayer. There will be a service at 6 pm. Hope to see you there.
Good day. George.

4 comments:

Ron said...

George,
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being honest about your condition. Otherwise, your just being dishonest with yourself and God.

Struggling with faith is a fact of life. We all struggle with it.
Look at the life of Job. He was honest about his condition and mad as hell at God for it. And he was God's pride and joy!

If I were you I would be doing the exact same things your doing. It's called being prudent. The rest is up to Him.

"When you have done all you can, just stand".

Robin said...

Thanks for the comment Ron, much appreciate. George

Anonymous said...

great comment Ron! I agree with you on this! The Lord See's and hears our hearts desires even when we stuggle and are weak, but that's when we are made strong in many ways....good advice!
SH

Anonymous said...

Concerning this quote:

'This second confession nullifies, or uproots, the first one, and the result is a contradiction.” “On the one hand, the person is saying that they are healed, redeemed, and made whole, but at the same time, they are saying that the healing, redemption, and/or wholeness is not yet a fact in their body.” '

I have something to say about this quote. This quote throws people off of the real issue. The issue is not "oh no, my words are not agreeing with each other". The real issue is the heart! Jesus said out of the heart the mouth speaks.

IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT COMES OUT OF YOUR MOUTH IF YOU HEART IS DARK WITH LACK OF TRUST IN JESUS.

On the other hand, if you fill your heart with JESUS (TRUTH), then your confession will line up with your faith in JESUS.

Acknowledging illness is not the same as surrendering your faith!

Daniel did not say - There are no lions in here - He said "GOD IS BIGGER THAN THE LIONS!!!!!"

God is not scared of illness. He uses it as He pleases. And God works ALL things according....you know the scripture!

Here are some Heart and Mouth scriptures:

Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Isaiah 29:13
The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Matthew 12:34b
For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

Matthew 15:18
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.'

Romans 10:10
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

There are more cool "heart and mouth" scriptures if you go to biblegateway.com and type the words heart mouth in the search box!

I had to chime in here because books like that often throw people off of the real issue. I have seem some many people waste their attention on superstitions ideas. Jesus is the LORD of LIFE.

-David Rainey