Trusting God in the Storm

I have a small child that is terrified of storms.  I mean terrified.  She get anxious whenever she hears there is rain in the forecast.  If there is a watch or warning for thunderstorms or tornados she starts crying almost instantly.  Now you must know this is my most spunky and strong willed child of the bunch.  She is not timid or afraid of anything else.  But storms, that brings her to tears.  

Yesterday we were driving to the airport to fly home after a weekend with Grammy and the radio broadcaster gave the forecast and it included scattered storms.  I changed the channel as quick as I could knowing this could cause anxiety for her.  I thought I avoided it expertly.  Thirty minutes later she announces," I don't see any clouds and the sun is out so it must be behind us, right mom?"  I reminded her that no matter what the sky looks like, God is always in control and we can trust Him.  She stared out the window quietly.  A few miles down the road the clouds began to appear, the rain drops started to fall.... She noticed the first drop.  She said, "I see a drop!  I hope they don't cancel our flight!"  

Haven't we all done this? We are happy and care free one moment then at the thought, just the thought of an upcoming storm we start with worry and anxiety.  We watch out the window for impending doom and then at the first drop of rain we cry the sky is falling?  I waited until we were under a very large grey cloud and told her this:

"Sweetie, true faith is knowing that as I'm driving through this storm cloud God has me in His hand.  He loves me, wants what's best for me and I can trust Him.  Real faith in God means I trust Him no matter what the sky looks like.  I don't need the sun to be shining to think it is going to be okay.  It's going to be okay, because I'm a child of God and He is in control."

It's a good reminder for us we turn on our TV or watch our Facebook feeds blow up with "storms"out there.  Have faith! Trust God no matter what the sky looks like!

Don't Fight Your Life Preserver

I took my almost 3 yr old twins in the hot tub recently and an interesting thing unfolded.  It started with me not being able to find my daughter's favorite life vest.  She isn't as good of a swimmer as he is so I put him in floaties and her in brother's life vest.  He hated those floaties.  She happily floated and gloated on her back.  He jumped, flailed, twisted, pulled and spit!  He was so upset at the new floaties on his arms.  He kept tugging and tugging at them.  I calmly explained to him that those floaties allowed him to enjoy the water.  They would keep his head up and nose out of the water so he could breathe.  

He didn't want logic, he wanted them off.

 I let him rip them off for a second and he sank to the bottom of the tub.  I scooped him up, settled him down, and set him back on my lap.  I explained again that the floaties were there to protect him and help him enjoy his swim safely.  This time he listened and started floating on his back and jumping around.  As I watched him struggle off and on with his 'life preservers' I heard it, God's still voice saying,

 "See what I deal with?  I sent them a Savior and yet they still fight me!" 

When my son would quit fighting the floaties he enjoyed the water.  He even forgot they were on his arms at times.  When he focused on them, he wanted to be free of the constrant and he was miserable.  When he was free of them he sank to the bottom unprotected.  

So my question is this, are you fighting your Savior or walking in freedom?  Do the 'rules' of our faith have you focusing on the other side of the fence thinking the grass just might be greener?

Let's stop fighting God and start trusting Him more.  

Psalm 119:93, "I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life."

Luke 17:33, "Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it."

Pure Sweetness

The other day my 2, almost three year old was fighting nap time.  She was crying and crying and after a while I went in thinking she wasn't taking a nap that day.  I entered a room and she pointed at the floor and said, "Bu-ble!"  I looked and saw a small New Testament Bible on the floor.  "You mean Bible?" I said.  I handed it to her, she tucked it under her arm and went to sleep!

She loves that little Bible.  She takes it every where and won't let it go.  I watch her sit and pretend to read it.  After 7 children I'm quite amazed at her obvious attachment to this little book with no pictures.  There are many verses in the Bible that talk about children and their unique relationship with God.  Here is my current favorite:

Psalm 8:2, "You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, (Greek version reads to give you praise.) silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. " NLT

Silence your enemies....now that means power against evil....given to infants!  What I take from this verse is that teaching our children the Word is very important.  Teaching them to Praise is too!  

It blesses my heart to see her embracing a relationship with God and His Word at such a young age.  It makes me excited to be a part of her spiritual upbringing as she grows up in the Lord.  

There is a familiar spot in Scripture when Jesus blesses the children brought to him:

"People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:15-18

This has always brought me joy to know the value God places on children.  He shows us through the littlest child that we are born to have a relationship with Him.  Jesus teaches us that heaven is full of these precious souls who haven't been deceived by the world and know exactly who He is.  Verses like this bring much peace to me and others who have lost a child.  That they are citizens in heaven and we will see our babies again someday.

Remember the verse above, Psalm 8:2, "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger." NKJ

This is also a Scripture of prophesy.  It was fulfilled during Jesus' Passion week.  He had triumphantly entered Jerusalem, cleared the temple on the Feast of Unleavened Bread and was healing the sick.  

"The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.  The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the Temple shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David.”

But the leaders were indignant. They asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

“Yes,” Jesus replied. “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.’ Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight."  matthew 21:14-17 

We need faith like a child, they don't fight the Truth.  They don't doubt who Jesus is, they receive it and proclaim it!  

Update on Phase #2

I went to church a few weeks ago and in the middle if worship my Pastor came over and asked me if I would give a quick testimony and update to the church when the song ended.   I usually love it when I get the opportunity to speak, but I always have time to pray, sort out my feelings and God's words.  I take it very seriously and don't like it when I'm unprepared.  My biggest fear is always that what will come across is more Shelli than God.  So, I started praying and quick about what I would share in just a few minutes.  There were so many things I could share like surgery details, personal battles God helped me overcome, statistics, thankfulness for all the meals and prayer support, etc.  as I prayed I asked God to remove everything from my mind and just leave what He wanted me to say.  

A calendar with JULY 2012 was all that I had left in my mind as I took the microphone.  I still wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to share, which is exactly what I said at first!  As I opened my mouth in obedience the rest came.  

I shared with my church family how exactly one year ago I was at my pre-op appointment with my surgeon at Loyola.  I was frustrated, scared, and moving forward with what I thought was my last ditch effort at relief from my deteriorating spine.  All the time we were praying for God to guide us and direct us to the right answer.  Even asking for a supernatural healing so I could avoid the surgery all together.  We asked Him to open and close doors, so it should makes sense that last July the top neurosurgeon from Loyola would come in and say, "I've taken you off our surgical calendar.  I've changed my mind and think your case is too risky, I will not touch your back."  

Slam went that door.

I cried the whole way home.  I was so confused and upset.  I remember being slightly hysterical on the phone with my husband and mom as I updated them and they tried to help me process the change in plan.  Not really a change in the plan, more like throwing our last plan out the window!

I explained to my church that when God opens and closes doors to guide us and direct us it can hurt.  It can confuse us.  It can flat out feel like a harsh NO!  I spent the next few months back at square one.  I prayed, researched my options and waited.  I had moments of flat out depression from the lack of movement and direction.  It's hard in any situation and sometimes even more when you're in chronic daily pain.  But, the shut door wasn't a NO, it was a not yet, not this way.  

5 months later after a lot of prayer and processing, God's next 'door' was revealed and I had the best back surgeon in the world to treat my condition!  It is easy to see now what God was doing.  Hindsight is 20/20, right?  I encouraged everyone listening to trust God as He guides them and don't lose hope when you get a shut door.

I share this again now, because my next door is being opened, and I still need to remind myself daily that God is in control.  I went to my surgeon's office yesterday to discuss the next step for me. I was hoping to hear that all is well and we we are done, but I didn't exactly hear that.  My surgeon still wants to do the second phase of the surgery and We are thinking it will happen next month.  Everything will be finalized this week, but when we gave them our calendar and they pulled out Dr. Dewald's schedule his assistant looked at it and said, "Well that's unusual, we just had a cancelled surgery for the week you requested and can put you right in there!"  

God opens and closes doors.  If you are waiting for your next step....praise Him in the hallway!  

Proverbs 16:9

NIV- In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

NASB-The mind of man plans his way,But the Lord directs his steps.

My before X-ray

My after X-ray 

What Are The Chances?

 

Today is Good Friday.  The day that Christians all around the world stop and contemplate the sacrifice by Jesus on the cross to bridge the gap between God and humankind.  I have been asked by a close friend in the past "You aren't one of those Christians are you?  One that takes the Bible literally, are you?"  I've been scolded by a Christian friend not to take the Bible as literal because it isn't trustworthy like a history book.  I've been made fun of by atheists who say I'm unintelligent because I take my faith blindly, without logic or reason.  I respectfully disagree with them all. 

In an exercise of building my own faith,  I have asked myself, "What are the chances?"  Well, come to find out, I'm not the only one that has wondered about that very question. Mathematicians and statistical scholars have asked too, and they have even calculated the odds.  So, here they are:

There are over 700 prophecies written to help us identify the Messiah throughout the Bible.  Prophecies foretelling how, when, where of his birth, death and resurrection.  And don't forget, also his return.

Dr Peter Stoner (Science Speaks, 1958)  calculated the probability  that the chance of one man accidentally fulfilling just 8 of these prophecies is one in 10 ¹⁷ It is a number that is hard to wrap the mind around.  Here is an illustration by Dr. Stoner to help us visualize it:

If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They'll cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would've had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.

Now, what are the odds that only 48 of the more than 700  prophecies of Jesus were fulfilled?  Dr. Stoner estimated the odds against that to be 1 in 10 to the power 157. [1]  A number that would fill a  blank page with zeros.  Here is an illustration to help us visualize this number:

How large is the number one in 10¹⁵⁷? Well, it contains 157 zeros! Stoner gives an illustration of this number using electrons.

Electrons are very small objects. They're smaller than atoms. It would take 2.5 TIMES 10¹⁵ of them, laid side by side, to make one inch. Even if we counted 250 of these electrons each minute, and counted day and night, it would still take 19 million years just to count a line of electrons one-inch long.

Statistically, any odds beyond 1 in 10⁵⁰ have a zero probability of ever happening by random chance. This is Borel's law in action which was derived by mathematician Emil Borel.

Dr. Stoner concludes,''Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact, proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world."

Those are the odds.  If you take blind faith out of the equation and insert mathematical probability and logic, you get a zero probability that Jesus was accidentally or mistakenly the prophesied Messiah. 

That means Jesus came just as God promised. He lived among us just as God promised, He died for you just as God promised.  He rose from the dead just as God promised.  And He will come again in glory just as God promised.  It is a Good Friday, indeed!

Revelation 19:10,

“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

*If you are interested in studying some of the prophecies Jesus fulfilled check out the Bible Study link on the top right of the blog.  I will add it as soon as Resurrection Sunday is over, but for now I am going to go celebrate with my family!

The next season....

Here we are in the dead of winter and just around the corner is SPRING!!!  Please hurry, I cannot wait!  I am also on the verge of a new season of health as well. 

It all started a few years ago.  I visited my best friend in FL and she mentioned I was leaning forward when I stood or walked.  I went home and started looking a pictures and I saw it too.  Now that I was paying attention, I noticed that I couldn't do what I used to be able to do anymore.  My stamina was declining and I ended up having to sit on the couch by the end of the night with an ice pack or heating pad on my back and neck. 

I started researching for reasons, tried physical therapy (3 months each time with 2 different clinics), used all sorts of prescription pain relievers, exercised, wore braces, chiro care, hot tubbing it (my personal favorite :) and just about anything else we could think of to help bring relief, turn back the clock or gain strength. 

After a set of xrays last February, it was recommended I see a surgeon to repair my Harrington Rod placement that had failed from my original surgery in 1985.  I was sent to a reputable spine/neurosurgeon.  He gave me a grime prognosis without surgery and a risky surgical plan to correct it.  It was so risky in fact, that after gathering more information and while developing my surgical plan the surgeon changed his mind and cancelled the August surgery in July. 

I was back at square one.  I was very depressed and confused.  Now what???

Not too long after the surgery was off the table, my current physical therapist asked me to call the Orthopedic Brace specialist, Patrick Flanagan.  She thought he could help.  I did and he has helped me.  He even knew about my case before I ever walked in the door and was hoping I would come in to see him!  He has developed a bracing system that is in a clinical trial and is now using me as a test case.  I love my brace.  It doesn't reverse the clock, but it gives me the support and rest my muscles need to make it through my busy day.  I count him and his invention as a blessing on this journey.

Not long after I started working with the brace, a Chiropractor called me.  Dr. John Merkling had heard about my case through one of my close friends and wanted to help.  He has helped me more than I ever thought possible and I count him as another blessing in this journey.

Today I met with a new surgeon, Dr. Dewald at Rush University.  I was not sure what to expect after all we have been through, but was pleasantly surprised.  He did agree I need reconstructive surgery on my spine, but did not think it needed to be as extreme as my first surgical consult did.  He knew exactly what I needed and has done it many, many times before.  He didn't give me a grim future, but cast a vision of hope and help that seems manageable - not extreme.  I am still considered 'high risk', but for some reason this time we all have peace about it. 

My surgery is scheduled for May 20th.  I will be in the hospital for 5-7 days post op, and will be recovering home for several months.  I will not be able to drive, lift or do simple tasks around the house for months (God help us all :) I may need a second surgery, but it will be smaller and not as difficult, but we will not know about the second until the first has happened.  When the 6-12 months are over I will be straight, strong, and looking forward to many years ahead of mobility and activity that I crave!!!  YAY!!!

So here is the update I have promised.  Thank you for your prayer thus far.....and please consider prayng for our family in the days ahead.  It is a season full of challenges, but most importantly of hope. 

“A voice of one calling in the desert,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.

 And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’

Luke 3:4-5 and Isaiah 40:3-5