Tag: <span>fear</span>

Published October 2, 2009

When God Interrupts

by Katherine Kehler
_______________________________________________________________

“Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall make your path straight� Proverbs 3:5

I made an appointment for my annual mammogram. I have done this for years – since I was forty. I never give it another thought after the “squeeze jobâ€? is over. Painful, but a precautionary necessity.

This time, a few days after my mammogram, the Women’s Health Clinic called and asked me to come in to review my x-rays. They had found something in both of my breasts. Somewhat stunned, I made an appointment for the following Monday morning – five days later.

I stopped what I was doing for a few minutes and talked to the Lord and emailed my husband, who was traveling. A group of women were coming over in the next 30 minutes, so I didn’t have time to dwell on it. At the end of our prayer meeting, I told them and they prayed for me.

Between Thursday morning and the Monday appointment, many “What if’s?� crossed my mind. A friend who has gone through breast cancer recommended a book to read before the appointment. It was very helpful. I now knew what to expect and what kind of questions to ask.

Some questions I asked myself were:  What if it is cancer? Will I be able to continue working? Will my breasts have to be removed?

If it is cancer, will I be satisfied that I have followed God’s direction as best I can? Have I done what I could to bring others to faith in Christ and disciple them? Have I loved my husband, children and grandchildren enough? Have I been a good steward of the resources God entrusted to me?

If it turns out to be cancer, is there anything more I would like to see or anywhere I would still like to go? Would my journey with Christ change? Would I take a different road?

When God interrupts, a person stops, looks and listens.

Monday morning my husband I drove to the Women’s Health Clinic – rather quietly and prayerfully. Upon arriving, I had two more mammograms on each breast. Painful. Then I was called in to see the radiologist and had an ultrasound. She told me that they were cysts and nothing to be concerned about. She drained the larger cyst and the smaller one was squished during a mammogram. No cancer.

My husband and I celebrated! I emailed the friends who had prayed for me and thanked them for praying. One woman replied, “Isn’t God awesome?�

I wrote back, “God is awesome and He would still be awesome even if the tests had shown that I had breast cancer.�

God is good all the time – even when He interrupts our plans.

Thank You, Lord, for being awesome. Thank You for peace that passes all understanding.  Thank You for friends who pray. Thank You for our bodies that are so wonderfully made.  We love You. Amen.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/10/02/kk_interrupts/

Thoughts by All thoughts by Katherine Kehler Thoughts by Women

Published September 11, 2009

Facing Your Grief

by Max Lucado
__________________________________________________________

“David sang this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan, and gave orders that everyone in Judah learn it by heart.”
2 Samuel 1:17-18, The Message

David called the nation to mourning. He rendered weeping a public policy. He refused to gloss over or soft-pedal death. He faced it, fought it, challenged it. But he didn’t deny it. As his son Solomon explained, “There is…a time to mourn” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,4).

Give yourself some. Face your grief with tears, time, and ‘one more’ face your grief with truth. Paul urged the Thessalonians to grieve, but he didn’t want the Christians to “carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word.” (1 Thesselonians 4:13 The Message).

God has the last word on death. And, if you listen, he will tell you the truth about your loved ones. They’ve been dismissed from the hospital called Earth. You and I still roam the halls, smell the medicines, and eat green beans and Jell-O off plastic trays. They, meanwhile, enjoy picnics, inhale springtime, and run through knee-high flowers. You miss them like crazy, but can you deny the truth? They have no pain, doubt, or struggle. They really are happier in heaven.

And won’t you see them soon? Life blisters by at mach speed. “You have made my days a mere hand breadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath” (Psalm 39:5).

When you drop your kids off at school, do you weep as though you’ll never see them again? When you drop your spouse at the store and park the car, do you bid a final forever farewell? No. When you say, “I’ll see you soon,” you mean it. When you stand in the cemetery and stare down at the soft, freshly turned earth and promise, “I’ll see you soon,” you speak the truth. Reunion is a splinter of an eternal moment away.

So go ahead, face your grief. Give yourself time. Permit yourself tears. God understands. He knows the sorrow of a grave. He buried his son. But he also knows the joy of resurrection. And, by his power, you will too.

Question: Why is it so often so difficult in our culture to face our grief, not as God’s confident sons and daughters, but “like the rest of men, who have no hope“? (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/09/11/ml_grief/

****************************************************************
Max Lucado
From: Facing Your Giants
© (W Publishing Group, 2006)

Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

Thoughts by All thoughts by Max Lucado Thoughts by Men