What is your approach to health issues and faith?

Sickness, illness, chronic health problems, challenging times, some folks are blessed to never really ever experience. I’m not talking about avoiding the doctor, we all know those folks that refuse to go to a doctor, but I’m talking about folks who have been blessed to avoid any significant health issues in life. For individuals who have faced some aspect of health moments in life, if they were short lived, you are never so happy to have gotten that moment behind you. Of course time is always a relative matter when it come to comparisons, but I’m not attempting to compare sickness or illnesses, but short term and long term chronic health issues have their own set of challenges that are different from one another. The impact on family is also different depending on the circumstances faced, that care required and ones availability to render aid to their loved ones or friends. There are plenty of folks who face such moments in life totally physically alone, their constant contacts and interactions are with health care providers, facility staff members, aids, or others helping in their care that are unrelated. Having spent time in 5 different nursing homes I can easily write about those moments from my personal experience too. What becomes an overwhelming force in ones life because of health challenges, is the manner in which we embrace the experience and the attitude and understanding we hold too, when we experiencer or walk through these types of moments in life. This embracing philosophy is important for the individual and the family alike. Often times one side of this equation is either the positive to the negative or in worse case is the demonstration of negative no matter what. Doom and gloom are real factors in life, I know individuals who have like a bachelors degree and even one or two who holds a masters degree on the subject. If you have avoided health challenges in your life to this stage, congratulations, you may very well be an individual who never faces such moments, but if you are the flip side of this coin of life and if you are a Christian, then elements of doom and gloom are not us. We have been eliminated them with sunshine and hope because of our faith and confidence that God does all things well, in His time. We have accepted sunshine and hope because of Romans 8:28, and I can easily testify to what I have learned and I can share examples of how this single scripture has molded my mindset and my life. Christians who experience and endure health moments in life have a testimony that some can identify with, while others can only hear and believe because of the words and experience shared. We Christians who have experienced and endured also have a unique moment to demonstrate through the midst of such times, the Grace of God. Don’t miss your opportunity, if I’m writing about you. Until then

SMILE

Answers, we look for them everywhere, and when all is said and done, we normally discover we were looking for answers in all the wrong places. If that’s not frustrating to you, then you have some super duper attitude fixer-upper stuff that you need to start sharing with the rest of us. Answers are problem solvers that provide great relief to ones weary spirit when you have been searching for solutions with no results. Discouragement develops after we have been searching for answers and we’ve looked several different places, yet still found no help from our turns and efforts. Many of us have the feeling that if we go searching for answers, the answers should be readily available, ok, you can make the first solution challenging, but more than one challenge per issue is overboard on setbacks. Normally we know we are at this spot when we say out loud, “good grief, can I not catch a break?” Dishearten shows itself when our heart becomes exhausted and if we allow this attitude to prevail, soon dishearten will become a way of life, “woe is me” takes over and you will need a heart shock to get you back up to start if you live with this too long. When you and I make plans we seldom ever plan for set backs in our big lofty dreams. We maker plans for good moments, happy times, laughter and joy. We are afraid we might jinks ourselves by planning for contingencies. Sadness is a normal part of living, or at least it has been in my life experiences. I’ve had failures, some of my own making and others that I had absolutely no control over at all. Temporary sadness happens but I’ve never spent much time focusing on my sadness. I’ve spend just enough time to make sure I have identified the cause, and then I’m ready to move forward Feeling left alone is an emotion that many individuals, from children to adults have had to face and deal with. Feeling alone I often associate with a lack of vision and purpose on my own part. Now I’m aware that Jesus sent the disciples out two by two but there will be many journeys in which you will travel physically alone, but you will never be spiritually alone. Having someone walk beside us physically is great, yet learning how to have that same type of relationship with Jesus will give you a new emotion the next time you feel alone. Negative things, influences, attitudes, reactions, these and many other such negative approaches to life will be our neighbor even without an invitation to come over and sit awhile. The only way to combat negative is with positive. If you join in the negative chorus then you’ve just added another voice to an already too many member choir. Don’t be discouraged, don’t be dishearten, don’t be sad, don’t feel left alone, fight the negative with positive, and I am suggesting that the first step in all of this is to begin you day with a SMILE. Smiling is not applauded enough. Smiling is not encouraged enough. We don’t recognize it pubically enough when it is staring at us, we fail miserably to capture its beauty and the power of a smile. Embracing a smile in the mist of discouragement, or being disheartened, experiencing sadness, feeling alone, or when surrounded by the negative is not the complete and whole solution but it is a great start to changing everything. Until then

Faith, a trust that changes everything

Being a Christian defies an individual as a follower of Jesus. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, from the dead, is the defining action by God that validates the authenticity of Christianity. If Jesus had not defeated death then there would be no hope for you or I to overcome death with life. Because God so loved the world He gave us His son and because of His son Jesus, the Christ, we have the free unearned gift of forgiveness from our sins and the gift of eternal life too. You might define Christianity as simply trusting and you will hear or read no argument from me on this thought. Trust is a component of Christianity that I believe Christians will demonstrate throughout their lives because we are a follower of Jesus. Defining Christianity is not complicated. Living a life that demonstrates Christian principles is a game changer for those who witness us exercising our faith. I have a simple statement to share regarding begin a Christian, following Jesus, forgiveness, eternal life, believing, faith and trust. “Faith is a trust that changes everything.” Some folks might want to debate the thought that life can hand you some challenging situations, issues that require much processing, matters that even seem like a setback in your spiritual growth of faith. The flip debate to life handing us challenges would be that we create these on our own. No matter which side of the coin you embrace, the fact remains that “Faith is a trust that changes everything.” Being able to write out answers for your questions, I want to be able to provide these, yes indeed. To be able to help you in your spiritual growth, totally, I am committed, but what I have to offer is that which I cling to in my journey of faith. Peter in Acts chapter 3 was asked to give silver or gold to aid a weary and lame beggar who was asking for money, that which the beggar believe he needed to survive. Scripture records Peter saying “Silver or gold, I do not have, but what I have I give, get up and walk.” I have been personally confident at various times in my life, that I knew exactly what I needed, only to realize later I was clueless regarding what I needed most. Faith for some individuals, is a get what you ask for conversation, that type of faith might best be classified as a faith scheme lacking hope and no sacrifice of trust. “Faith is a trust that changes everything.” I don’t know what you are facing at this very hour, I don’t know the life journey you have just traveled nor the feeling of desperation you might be experiencing. What I do know is that being a Christian involves trust in our faith, that Jesus is at work, we do not always understand nor have a clue how things work out, but Christian hope is the answer because we trust, in faith, He does all things well. Until then

Life’s Interruptions need a grounding rod

​No one likes interruptions, but they will and do happen in life. At times you will feel devastated while other moments will feel like just a bump in the road. Preparation is the key. Faith in Jesus is my grounding rod. ​My father and I often had a conversation on the topic of writing things down. I write down a lot of things. I write down dates and times and the people I experience moments with. These notes I often record from life reflect everything from sermons I preach to dinners and events with friends. I like for my friends to even sign such reflections, just like a guest book. My dad and I could agree that somethings were good to write down but there were other thoughts he believed were best kept too oneself. I even agreed with dad on those thoughts, in part, but I saw personal value in writing them down for reflection and I’ve continued to practice such throughout the years. ​Interruptions in life are one reason I like to write things down. Any notebook will serve as a good journal of thoughts for the interruptions of life. It is often suggested that it is best to have a response to life’s happenings than a reaction. I agree a response is better than a reaction but that is hard to temper in the heat of a moment. Writing things down as the interruptions occur I‘ve discovered have provided me a foundation of preparation that knocks me less off my feet, because I’ve not only thought about it, but writing my feelings down has provided me with a response for when such moments arrive. ​Feeling devastated by life happens rather quickly in life for some, although it might take sometime to realize. For example, the loss of a parent to a child or the loss of both parents because of an accident. Depending upon age appropriateness the ability to morn a loss and see the blessings because of the same experience is one that requires reflecting and processing. Never miscounting the impact of a single moment in life helps put all the things of life into a big picture that can provide plenty of positivity even though tragic. ​Faith can be applied loosely to life. People often use the word faith with little to no thought, or at least it seems that way, in conversations. I’ve heard people yell at folks “I have faith in you”, after just walking away from a conversation, as an add on to what was said. I’m not saying that isn’t genuine or appropriate, but faith has more than one definition. For example, faith alone is defined as to believe or give credit too while there is no evidence for, or faith can be expressed because of another person has suggested the idea. Biblical faith also contains an element of conviction and belief. Christian faith identifies the source of authority for faith. Biblical faith is called a blessed hope and assurance. It is a solid foundation that has no elements of corruption or decay. ​When I write that Jesus is my grounding rod it is because my experience in faith has proven itself throughout the interruptions of life. Life is a bump in the road and it is my full intentions to make sure that if I’m driving I can safely maneuver and if you hit the bump too fast that I can be there to help you get back on the road of life again. Until then