Finding Courage For a New Year

The Winter Olympics are just around the corner as the Olympic torch begins its tour through providence's of Canada before winding it's way across the border into the United States. There are so many Olympic hopefuls just waiting for a chance to win the gold for their sport for this country of ours.

Yet do you ever stop and wonder just what it takes for these young hopefuls to get this far? Here are the six reasons for their success and why they stand waiting for that opportunity to attempt to win Olympic gold.

1. They all have a dream.

2. They are all fired up about it or are passionate about it.

3. They bounce back when faced with difficulties or challenges.

4. They aim high.

5. The plan for trouble.

6. They never quit.

If you take all of these under considerations, you will understand just how each of those individuals got where they stand today. They have come so far through so much and never looked back and just through their arms in the air and said, "No thanks, it's too much for me!"

There are men and women in this world that will stand up for what is right instead of compromising or giving in. These are God's Olympic hopefuls.

Yet in the world today, there is growing concern to prohibit the spread of Christianity to the world while asking each and every one of us to grow more tolerant to things that we should not regarding other religions or moral conduct. If we truly represent our heavenly home, should we not practice those same Olympic principles in our lives and stand up for our beliefs and not compromise?

Looking back into Daniel, Chapter 3, we find one such story of three young men that stood up for God in the midst of certain death and did not waiver. It is a favorite among everyone who has read the Bible to some degree. It is the story of the King of Babylon at the time, King Nebuchadnezzar.

The three young men at the time: Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego.

Their dilemma? To worship the golden statue of King Nebuchadnezzar or be put to death.

Want to know their answer? First of all, it was respectful to the King at that time, and you should notice that in the context of the text.

"O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." ~ Daniel 3: 16-18

Notice the respect of addressing the king by his title? Did these three know if God would really save them from the blazing furnance? No! Notice the last line, "But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

That is amazing because they understood what is acceptable in the eyes of God whether he can pull you out of your storm or not. He waits to see where our faith will take us?

It's better to die for a conviction, than to live for a compromise!

Notice what happened later. The king was so mad at their response he had the furnace heated seven times hotter before throwing these three in, bound only by ropes? Why the need for ropes? Did he think they could escape if they were not bound?

Then the Bible states, that the king looked into the furnace to see what happened and noticed not three but four men present. Who was the fourth? God of course!

When the king removed the men from the fire, only three emerged and only the ropes burned! No clothing or hair was harmed. They didn't even smell like smoke or fire.

So what is the significance? The fourth man, God remained in the fire, why? Because God is always waiting for us in the midst of our fires or troubles. He will always be there before you even arrive so that you will not weather this storm alone.

The ropes represent the things that bind us from learning to trust whole heartily in God. These are teaching moments in our lives to allow us to see how great our God is and how He will never leave us alone. Just like a refiner is never far away from the mouth of the furnace when they are working on something, God is the same way. He stays with us through it all until we learn to trust and rely on Him.

Psalm 66:10 "For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver."

Remember to look for God in the midst of whatever you are going through and when you find Him, talk to Him and share your burdens with Him. He understands everything you are going through and will show you the way out. Have faith!

More Set Backs? Bring Them On!

Thank you to everyone who stops by here on a daily basis in hopes of finding some shining nugget that my health is on the rise. I am attempting most days to remain optimistic and hopeful that God is in the works of making this glorify Him. It's hard when you wake up again and find only pain and then realize why is this happening and to what can God use this for.

Some days are darker than others even when the sun is shining outside among the brilliant blue sky. It beckons you outside to come enjoy the warmth and all that life has to offer that day. Yet some days it's hard to count the number of hours between pain pills for when you can take the next one and hope that it will help this time. However once pain relief does kick in, it's hard to remember your not OK. The pain will come back, but it's also during those times, I try and move through life as normal as I can, doing as many things as I can that I would. Whether it's taking the kids to the mall, picking up the house, unloading the dishwasher or simply sitting downstairs so my hubby doesn't come home to find me still in bed, it's a start.

So over the weekend, I watched Joyce Meyer's ministry since I've been reading her book The Power of Simple Prayer and wanted to see the author. I love her! She is amazing. I know if I lived next door to her, she would be at my front door each and every morning telling me to get up and get to living my life, no matter what I felt like. It could always be worse than it is. So what if I have to take pain pills to get moving? Take them and get moving. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Rejoice in what life you have been given, thank God you are still breathing and do something to work for His glory. Thanks Joyce. I needed to hear that!

So despite the long wait for specialists to finally see me, I know that once that process begins I will find out what is going on. So I wait. With God. Holding on to simple prayers that begin at times to sound like the very same prayer but God is still grateful we talk everyday. He never gets tired of hearing me tell Him what is going on. In fact, He loves it!

The best part of the message I gained from Joyce's segment on TV this week was her definition of a set back. Ready for this?

A set back is a set up for a come back.

WOW! Could you seriously take that all in? Did you savor each and every word. Once God touched my heart on hearing those words, I felt differently. A set back, (my health), is a set up (preparation in the works) for a comeback (for me, better than what I was before). I love this!

God is preparing me through this particular series of setbacks to set me up for a comeback! If not something just as good as I had before, something much more fulfilling and wonderful, especially if it comes from God. We all know that God has the best laid plans in store for each and every one of us.

So my friends, the message is the same to any of you in the midst of your own personal storm. A set back is a set up for a comeback. Are you ready for it? Can you weather the storm no matter how long it takes?

We just need to remember who is the captain of the ship we are sailing on, it's God. He will get us through it and towards the other side where He has something special waiting. We may just be on a row boat, an inflatable raft or even a cruise ship, but God is in control.

"A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out." Isaiah 42:3

Can You Comment on That?

Comments.

Remember when you first became a blogger and you didn't quite understand what comments were or even how to leave them on other people's blogs?

Do you remember how you felt when someone first left you a comment?

I can! I can remember all of these with a huge grin and a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. It's what happened when I awoke one morning following a dream I had that I believed was inspired by God. He told me to start a blog and even what the name should be.

Now how to go about beginning a blog shouldn't require a college degree to get it going, and in fact thanks to Blogger, with simple and easy to use templates, I was all set to go and launch publication once I figured it all out in a matter of hours.

I think the biggest challenge was figuring out just what should I say for my first post. Should I talk about the purpose of my blog? Or about who I am?

I think I went for a combination of both.

What started out as a online journal of sorts, turned into so much more. I wanted something to look back on in a years time and see just what kind of life I have lived in the last year. I wanted a written legacy of the good times and bad times. I wanted to see how I weathered storms and how I got through them still in one piece for the most part.

What I didn't expect was that there would be people out there, all over the world, who would browse the internet and stop at my blog. Not only stop there, but read what I had written. Why did what I write even make a difference to someone?

But it did.

They let me know.

In a comment.

In that one small box that appears at the bottom of each post we read, lies a window to share with the author anything you wish to say, good, bad or hopefully not ugly.

I was in heaven. Never before could one person imagine just what a comment could do to you personally.

People cared.

People related to you.

People shared something in common with you, both through your good times and bad ones.

People are good, no great when they inspire you with their thoughts, their time and their loving words that fit in a box that make your day.

As an author each day of what comes to mind to write about, I love to hear what it means to you, personally.

Did it impact you? Did it encourage you?

Did it make you laugh or cry?

Did it make a great memory of the past come fading back into the light as though it happened yesterday?

Not sure if this makes sense to any of you but I wanted to take this opportunity after blogging for almost a year now to let you know just how much comments mean to me personally. They are worth so much more than any amount of money you could ever give me.

They inspire me. They tell me you care, you've read what I have written and it's not even important whether you agree or disagree, it matters because you've taken the time to share with me your thoughts and feelings. For that alone, I love you one and all and would whole heartily share with you to take the time to let people know you've been by, you've read what they have written and how it's impacted you.

You just never know how your one comment can make a huge difference in how that person's day is going and how you just made them smile more than anything that could have happened that day.

Comments do that for bloggers. They are payment and rewards from you, the readers. Please take the time to comment today!

Welcome Back!

Ah it still feels like a long winter's slumber. The kind where it remains dark in the mornings, a kind of chill hangs in the air and the warmth beneath your bed covers keeps you snuggled in and not wanting to venture out. This is the part about the winter I love and adore. The chill and the cold.

It draws you near to warmth whether it's a fire, an oversized blanket, a warm cup of tea or coffee or just in the arms of those you love. Winter does that. It reminds you that while the world outside can remain cold and seemingly unfriendly, warmth comes from all kinds of places and love abounds at all times.

I stare out from my bed at a beautiful gray sky and I can still see snow upon the peaks of our local mountains. I love the view from where I wake up. Beyond the rooftops of the houses, I see the landscape God so beautifully created. A view for me. A view of hope.

There is always hope despite whatever circumstances we find ourselves knee deep or even neck deep in. We merely need to look for it, search for it, and continue to seek it daily, or even hourly.

Despair can settle in where hope use to reside. Our goal is to keep hope alive. Even though this has not been the Christmas I had hoped, it changed a lot of things for me.

Baking cookies is not a necessity, you can still buy what you love in the bakery and still enjoy them.

A clean, organized house, isn't something your family ever notices, it's your absence that they do.

Life will always go on, even though you, yourself may not be present in it. That's OK. It's the way God designed it.

Friends and family do care. They will let you know by calling you, emailing or even leaving you heartfelt comments on your blog.

You are never alone. God is always with you and He will never leave your side.

I've had a couple of rough days with Christmas being the worst for my health. I was able to be up long enough to enjoy the kids opening presents and calling family. Then the pain became too much and called me back to bed where I am the most comfortable. I slept a large portion of that day away.

The doctors appointments are scheduled and now I still must wait to be seen to find out what my other options are. Until then, I wait with hope, I remain faithful in my walk and I continue to seek the Lords will everyday until then.

From My Heart To Yours

I just wanted to let all of you know that I am taking some time off from blogging this week to spend some time resting and enjoying the final days before our celebration of Jesus' birth. I will resume after Christmas and hope to have some great news for you by then.

Thanks to all of you that continue to write and email me with fabulous scriptures and words of encouragement. It means so much to me right now, and you'll never know that very special place you all have in my heart right now.

For those of you that participated in the Christmas card exchange, I wanted to let you know that it's been so fun getting Christmas cards in the mail from all of you. I love each and every one of them. Mine were mailed this weekend, so expect them this week.

This week, spend time with the ones you love, family and friends, and really let each and every one of them know just how much they truly mean to you. I love you all and have a very Merry Christmas from my heart to yours! May God bless each and every one of you for getting to know you all through the wonderful world of blogging. May He continue to pour out His grace and love to all of you through 2010 and looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Merry Christmas!!

Back to Square 1!

Just when you think your life is slowly changing for the better, you realize that you were headed down the wrong path anyway.

After today's failure of a doctors appointment, my primary care doctor wants me to be referred to both an OB/GYN and GI specialist. She basically acted as though today was our first appointment. I had to remind her of just what has been going on for 2 weeks now. She said she just received my CT scan which was faxed over to her on 12/4 and she is just going over the results of it today with me.

She said well I think you pain is coming from a multi-cystic mass on your left ovary that is 6.5 cm and needs to be removed. So you will need to schedule a doctors appointment with your OB. I explained I just did this last month when I was having this pain and the cyst was 1.8 cm but my OB said it was nothing to be concerned about and I have a history of having them come and go. She really insists this is the answer to my problem.

Then she also explained that I do have an inflamed colon and that should be addressed by a GI even though that probably isn't the cause of the pain.

Nice news huh? So we are back on square one, still taking the antibiotics for good measure, have to turn in a stool sample tomorrow to make sure the C-diff is gone cause they lost my first one I dropped off a week ago, went to the GI specialist today to get schedule for a colonoscopy on January 6th and I have an appointment with the same OB on December 22nd to go over those findings from the CT, since my primary thinks this is it!

So now I get to lie in bed, eating pain medicines to control my pain levels until my doctors can all decide on just what is wrong. My GI suggested it may be just all three combined and suggested I take Tylenol for the pain. Did they fail to understand I am living in my bed as much as I can, can't walk and eat pain medications? Suggestions anyone?

So you can see where I will be at for Christmas but think I need to blog at this time just in case anyone else finds themselves in this same medical boat. Please continue to pray for me and keep me in your prayers. I am confident that God will answer my prayers and heal me soon according as always to His will.

Living in a Fog

Ah lately it seems like my life has been on a foggy road lately. Can't see what is up ahead only what lies right in front of me.

So much going on and what should be the best time of the whole year for me, has been sitting back, resting in bed, praying that this stubborn infection will go away and that life can resume a bit of normalcy for me.

My days consist of daily pain medicines as the infection seems to be digging in and trying to find a permanent home despite all the recent foreclosures in the past few months. I ran through my first dose of antibiotics, Cipro, which for me didn't really do much. The pain still persisted and in fact on my last three days of taking them got so bad, I was taking the pain meds as often as I could.

On Saturday, I ended my Cipro and began the next round of antibiotics called Flagyl which is supposed to be a stronger one. Those appeared to be working well and for almost 3 days had virtually no pain. I attempted to go to church on Sunday and felt the rush of pain begin 30 minutes before service ended. Quietly I prayed to God that I needed to be at church and could He do anything about the pain. It didn't work and I was popping pain meds in church so I could get a handle on the pain before it got too bad.

So my life in a nutshell is taking the girls to school in the morning, hopping back in bed and using a heating pad to keep the pain at bay, sleeping as much as I can, and that is where I stay until the next day. I don't have the energy to get out of bed and the pain can be so overwhelming, for me, it's better to stay where I can rest and sleep. Steve has been getting home early enough to grab the kids from school, so I can stay in bed. I mean how much fun does that sound like?

So where do I stand now? I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow at 10:45am to go over my blood work from this past Monday and discuss what is going on. The saddest thing for me is just how depressing all this can be. I sit in bed most of my day while life goes on around me. I feel like I exist in my home but in a different state than everyone else. I envy those people that can get up and just walk around their own homes, sit in church in no pain, and just go about their day to day lives and I just sit and live for pain free moments in my day.

I've been crying more than I usually do because I feel like Christmas is slipping by, and the things I used to enjoy like visiting the light displays on peoples homes, baking cookies, shopping for the family for Christmas, and just attending church is all being robbed from me. I've been reading on line just how difficult it is to get rid of C-diff and how fatal it can be as well. Doesn't that just do wonders for my Christmas spirit.

So my dearest friends, please send encouragement and prayers my way if you have the time. I would also encourage you to savor these moments when you can get around, and enjoy time with family and friends this Christmas. You just never know when those times will be taken from you for a season.

Please continue to pray for my dearest niece Mea and if you haven't grabbed her prayer button on the right, please do so and encourage everyone else to pray for this sweet angel. We will know something on January 13th whether she is improving or getting worse. I however believe God will grant us a miracle.