Growing in Grace

I'm watching an old Dr. Quinn episode. The story is about the town thinking that a comet is going to crash to earth and wipe them all out. It shows how people respond to the thought of the end of the world. Some turn to alcohol; one spends her life savings on China; another quits working; a couple wants to get married; one builds a shelter; the young people see it as license to do whatever they want; the reverend cancels school and opens the church for everyone to come for confession and counsel; the doctor carries on as usual and her beau tries to encourage her to live life every day in the moment. There is discussion about what will happen after they die. One woman trusts that when she dies, she and her husband will be in heaven. He doesn't see that as enough of a comfort and begins to have a heart attack. The young people talk about all they won't be able to do here on earth and the misinformation they have "heard" about heaven - like they will look differe

John 5:24 reads, ". . . whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. . . " Salvation. A free gift from God. When we hear the Truth and believe it, we receive the gift of salvation. While this in itself is awesome, there is so much more. I have often heard of the Christian walk being compared to that of a developing child. When someone first comes to the Lord we call him a "baby Christian". He has much to learn about Christ. But the more a person hears teaching on the Bible, reads the Word of God on his own, and enjoys fellowship with other believers, the more he matures in his walk. As his knowledge grows, his relationship with God grows and he develops into a mature believer. This is the goal anyway. But every so often a person who is born again may only remain in the infant stage of his development, or as Dennis heard it called - he is like a stillborn baby - accepting Christ as Savior, and maybe even attending church regularly and perh

I recently read the book "Jesus Freaks: Martyrs" by dc Talk and the group Voice of the Martyrs. It has been very humbling to read about the faith of so many who have suffered great persecution and even death because of their faith in Christ. Even in the face of great physical pain to themselves and often their family - these believers stood their ground and refused to deny their Savior. A story I read that stood out to me was about Pastor Florescu. He was imprisoned in Romania in the 1960’s. He was arrested by the Communists and tortured in the hopes that he would give the names of other believers. He continually refused to give the names of his fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Then they did the unthinkable and brought in his 14-year-old son and began to whip him. The father watched until the writer says “the poor man was half crazy. He bore it as long as he could. But when he could stand it no more, he cried to his son, ‘Alexander, I must say what they want! I can’t

Last summer I began working through a Women of Faith study entitled "A Life of Worship". It proved to be very timely as many of the things I was learning really helped me in the early days of Dennis' cancer diagnosis. I recently revisited the study and wrote out some notes from each chapter. I really wanted to wrap my mind around the concepts. Patsy Clairmont wrote on p. 91 "I know I want to be more than I am today. That means I'll have to use my time wisely, invest myself discerningly, and savor the flavor of every delicious moment assigned to me." These words offer a plan for fulfilling the desire of my heart . . . to lead a life of worship. What were we made for? The answer is a life of worship. “Worshipping in all the moments of our lives changes us because we move from trying to be perfect to resting in the perfect will of a God who loves us passionately.” (Sheila Walsh) God has created us to bring glory, honor and praise to Him. “To glorify somethi

June 21, 2011 Tomorrow is the beginning of the end of Dennis’ cancer treatment. He will begin chemotherapy in the morning. This will be four cycles that will include an infusion on Wednesday; coming home with a pump; and returning on Friday to have the pump removed; and then no chemo for 10 days. So again, it ends up being every other week. This will last for 6 ½ weeks; ending the first week of August. Because he has responded so well to all the treatment, the oncologist is reducing the chemo a bit to help minimize the side effects. (Dennis has been having numbness and tenderness in his feet from the previous chemo treatments.) While the numbness and tenderness are uncomfortable, overall Dennis is doing well. He is healing well and feeling stronger every day. He was able to attend Ellie’s last day of school Chapel last Thursday and even spoke briefly about his cancer journey. Friday night he was able to attend Josh’s kindergarten promotion and Sunday he went to church with us. Denn

Shaping our children’s hearts to live for God is called discipleship. The Clarksons write that “discipleship of your children is your first priority as a Christian parent - to shape their hearts to live for God.” The first step they give to accomplishing this task is to be sure your heart is turned toward your children. “If the parents’ hearts are not turned toward the child, that child’s heart will turn elsewhere.” Our attitude toward our children is very important; we need to see them “as God wants (us) to see them - as future servants and leaders for Him in the next generation.” H. Clay Trumball the author of Hints on Child Training (1890) wrote “It is, therefore, largely a child’s training that settles the question (of what kind of person he will become). . . In all these things his course indicates what his training has been; or it suggests that training that he needed, but missed.” The Clarksons give five “heartbeats” of discipleship. The first one has to do with

It seems lately that many things related to parenting have crossed my path. It was part of our Bible study last week, I’ve been reading the book “Educating the Wholehearted Child” by Clay and Sally Clarkson, and just today the Focus on the Family “Thriving Family” magazine arrived with articles on raising daughters and developing self esteem in our children. This has all been really great material to read - very convicting as well as encouraging. One of the most interesting things I have read is from the Clarkson’s book. Although the book was written for those families considering home schooling, much of the beginning is filled with basic parenting principles. They began with the idea of stewardship. I think we are all familiar with this principle in regards to our time or even our money; but I had never thought about it in relation to our children. In their book Educating the Wholehearted Child, the Clarksons write, “Scripture calls you to be a good steward, or manager, of all God h

Our women’s Bible study this past year did two Beth Moore studies. The first was on the book of Daniel. As I watched her first teaching on chapter one and then began the study on my own at home, I was very excited about the two main topics she covered. One of them had to do with an overindulgent lifestyle. I was encouraged to hear repeated some of the lessons I have been learning over the past year, as well as to receive motivation to continue growing in the area of stewardship and submitting all things to God. First, what is an overindulgent lifestyle? Beth Moore began by explaining about Babylon. Babylonia was the place where the Israelites gathered after the time of Noah. They decided to build a city with a tower to heaven. They wanted to make a name for themselves. So God scattered them in order to save them from themselves. This attitude of self-importance has been carried through the ages to our modern day world. The Babylon of today is a philosophy, a way of thinking, an

June 8, 2011 After nine days in the hospital, Dennis was released yesterday afternoon. He is still sore and about seven pounds lighter, but so glad to be home and doing okay. It is much easier for me to have my family all in one place! We are taking it much slower with the “regular diet” instructions and keeping things light and simple. We had to reschedule all of his appointments for this week, so next week in between end of the year activities we will be visiting UCI for follow up appointments. Dennis still has two months of chemotherapy ahead of him. Our oncologist was gracious enough to fit us in next week instead of waiting for the two-week appointment we had scheduled this morning. I had hoped he would call and do that since we are a bit anxious to get started on the last part of treatment. The later we start, the later into the next school year it will continue. But I keep reminding myself there is a purpose for everything and God knows what He is doing. I read s

June 5, 2011 I’ve been posting on Facebook this week, but I know not everyone is on Facebook, so thought I’d give an update of where we are at this point. Dennis is still in the hospital. It’s been a long, rough week. He continued to experience pain early in the week. Pain medication was allowed, but the doctor said he should try to avoid it, as it would continue to slow down his system. He chose to go without it during the day, but asked for it before bed to help him sleep. He was also having throat pain due to the NG tube, so a throat spray was ordered to help with that. He was also encouraged to walk as much as possible. Early in the week he had a real hard time. He got winded very quickly and was exhausted after just a short walk. But I am proud of my husband, he presses on even when it is difficult. As the week went on he began to feel like he was healing as he was experiencing less pain when getting out of bed and walking. He was able to go for longer walks more o