Especially Heather

Victimization, Despair and HeavenJuly 30th, 2007
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; 2 Cor. 10:4-5
I often times can be found at my computer reading devotions in the morning. The kids are sleeping, the house is quiet, and I can sit uninterrupted with my cup of coffee. This morning I read the following devotion:
Just the other day, a young patient sat sadly, telling one of our chaplains that she just didn’t have the strength to fight her cancer. She wanted to live, but she just had no energy to fight, so she was resigning herself to the fact that she was going to die.
The chaplain told her, “Well, you basically become what you focus on. So if you focus on dying, on being weak, on having no strength, you probably will die. But wouldn’t it be better to focus on what makes you happy, what gives you hope, what gives you strength? Then you might find out that you do have the energy to fight this disease and to live.”
Good advice. Because when cancer strikes, the battle for survival must be engaged at the mental, emotional and spiritual levels as much as at the physical level. Thoughts of death, dying, resignation, victimization, despair, depression and hopelessness are as lethal as cancer itself.
And because God knows that and knows how weak we are to Satan’s suggestions, doubts, lies and whispers of death and destruction awaiting us, He gives us supernatural weapons to win the battle for our minds and thoughts, including His power, His Word and His authority, when we’ve given our lives to Him.-Engage your mind in the battle with cancer
How true that is! Lately I have found myself wondering about what the future holds for me and my family. I have laid awake at night, pondering on this over and over, and the answer remains the same: The future holds hope. Whether I am to live another 50 years, or merely days… The future Holds hope..
Barbara Johnson, who I recently found out died of a brain tumor, said it best…
The worst that can happen is the best that can happen.
The worst that the future holds for me is that I will die. Cancer didn’t change that reality for me!! It certainly will not steal my hope and joy while I am here! I love how Barbara Johnson ends that thought:
Christians know the truth of that statement. For surely the worst that can happen is that we die- and that’s actually the best that can happen because we know that we don’t go from life to death. As singer Kathy Troccoli says so emphatically, when we die we go from life to LIFE! We sigh out that last earthly breath and breathe in the glorious atmosphere of heaven!-Plant a Geranium in your Cranium, Barbara Johnson
Now don’t get me wrong… I have alot of living left to do! I just needed to remind myself (and possibly someone else out there) that We have so much to look forward to in this life, but it veils in comparison to what we have to look forward to for eternity!
Worry Borrows.Worry Borrows. It’s a disease of the future. It borrows the unknown trouble of tomorrow The worrier loses the beautiful spirit of hope because worry paints such a gloomy, shocking, dreadful picture of the future.”-Joyce Landford
Amen.