Body & Spirit

On December 12th I had my follow up appointment with my radiation Doctor. He said everything looked great, asked when my next mammogram was scheduled and said He’d see me in six months. God is so great!

As many of you know the Holiday’s, especially Christmas, is always a bit rough for me because Melanie, John, and my grand kids are so far away. Although I miss my kiddo’s terribly and my heart literally aches wanting to hug and kiss them, I have a new perspective on things this year. I am actively participating in the true Spirit of Christmas for the first time in a long time.

Indeed, I have faced a challenging physical journey this past year and I want to thank all who have supported me with their love and prayers. I could not have done it without you! (Faye you have been an angel sent from heaven just for me.) However, even more importantly is the spiritual resurrection I have experienced during this journey. 2013 is a year I will forever and always be thankful for, as it has brought me back from the darkness and once again into God’s shining light of grace, mercy, and love.

I have learned that in the grand scheme of things my own troubles, trials, and sufferings are small when compared to those around me. I have been so inwardly focused the past few years I had lost perspective on how truly blessed I really am. I haven’t had to look far to see others whose sufferings and trials are much greater than my own. There are people in my own community who lack even the barest of necessities, things I so often take for granted, like a warm home, a comfortable bed, sufficient clothing, and the love of family and friends. We all have our own trials to bear, but I have learned that our own burdens become so much lighter if we place our focus outwardly on others instead of inwardly on ourselves.

I will not engage you in a long scenario of my life story now, only to say knowing about God is one thing, but knowing God and having a relationship with Him through the daily study of His word, prayer, and fellowshipping with other believers, who truly practice God’s love, must be experienced to be fully understood. 

Over the past several months I have felt much like I imagine the prodigal son felt when he returned home. I’m in awe of my Father’s unconditional love and acceptance of one of His children who had wandered astray into Satan’s pit of darkness, self-centeredness, and bitterness.

Just to be clear, I have not found religion, I have returned to my rightful relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior and I am thankful my physical journey has lead me back home to my Father’s house where I can worship Him, be in the presence of the Holy Spirit ,and serve the one true God who created the heaven’s and the earth.

MERRY CHRISTMAS – May this be your best Christmas ever!

My Christmas wish for all who read this is that you will experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ this year.

Matthew 6:33  - But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:19-21  - “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:25-34  - “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.