Give Thanks

How was your Thanksgiving day? Was it one more memorable day to be reminded how blessed you and your family are? I had a wonderful time being with an amazing family that invited me, my family and several friends to their Thanksgiving dinner. We were a diversified bunch, with Slavic and American guests all gathered together at this event. We had a great potluck dinner with lots of psalm singing, sharing the significance of Thanksgiving, and what we are thankful for. We all agreed to the fact, that we should be thankful for all the things we take for granted in our daily lives. One elderly Slavic woman pointed out that she is still tremendously grateful for the abundance of bread because in her childhood she lived through a time when there was literally nothing to eat. Her father passed away from hunger and to this day she is afraid to even drop one crumb on the floor because she values what God abundantly provides on America's tables! She said that if she sees food on the floor, she will move it to where the birds can eat it. Wow! Another young woman shared how she is thankful that God gives her hope. Hope in the future and hope for her life. A man shared how he is thankful for his wife of 22 years and for God being so patient with him throughout his life.
I am thankful for one more year of God providing His mercy and grace to me. I am thankful for His Word that tells of examples of men and women who have lived their lives and have left their lessons for me to learn. I am thankful for my family and that my parents are happily married for 30 years now. I'm thankful for my fiance, who I treasure as my gift from God.

God Wants to Make an Example of Us

I wanted to share a message I heard from a pastor that really spoke to my heart this past Sunday. He told us that he was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and that he was encouraged by the doctor's to get surgery to remove the cancer from different parts in his body. The issue was that he had to get so many areas inside of him removed, he wondered if there will be anything left inside of him to continue living. He remembered that one man from his church had cancer and had went through surgery five years ago (I believe I heard right that it was 5 years ago). The pastor went to this man to ask if the surgery helped in any way and to seek his advice. In the end, the pastor was encouraged enough to go through with his surgery.
When the pastor was almost about to leave the hospital to go home after his hospital stay, he found out that the doctor's could not remove the tumor (that has grown to the size of a fist and grew into the main artery leading to the heart which could cause severe bleeding and death if the artery was punctured while cutting out the tumor) and closed him back up again without doing anything.
In the end, the pastor said that he realized that God makes examples out of those people that die early from cancers or other diseases. God wants us to be examples to others and this is including even in a state of illness or early death.
I listened to this pastor, and I understood his message well. God wants me to be an example to others even through my sufferings. He made this pastor be a living example of a man with a terrible sickness, but one who was THANKFUL to God for sending him trials and worries. The pastor was most likely heard and understood on a much deeper level that day because of his personal testimony and his reaction to it.

Amazing Little Storyteller :)

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.

When Tragedy Strikes a Church Family

It seems that at times a congregation takes one hit after the other. Deaths in the congregation, tragic accidents that leave a member paralyzed, numerous families losing their jobs to the recession, and the list goes on and on. One can't help but stand in disbelief of the never ending grief that this causes. The hardest thing is to understand why. Why!

But I realize that my job as a believer in Jesus Christ is to have faith. Yes, I can think about the many reasons of why this would happen, but I will exhaust myself and most likely never come up with a definite reason. I, as a mere speck on the face of this globe, will never be able to fully know why God permits such things.

When I imagine myself looking through God's lens at this world, I realize how undeserving I am of even turning my face towards heaven and asking "Why?" But God gave me His answers in His Word. What my human grain of a brain does understand is that the church is the body of Christ. Unity is needed in His body, but when there is disunity, God corrects.

What I see is the transformations that occurs in the body of Christ.Through the pain and sorrow, a people come together and unite as a family. Helping hands reach out to those that were forgotten and needy. Selfish needs take the last row of priorities-others are priority now. Money going to personal needs is now redirected to where God needs them at the moment. In a time of trials, God can teach numerous lessons at once. But we are perfected, we are made better after our walk in the valley of the shadows. I am not a prophet nor am I giving an answer in how to interpret trials. All I can do is direct you, dear reader, to the Bible through which we can glimpse in God's lens.

Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of. -Charles Spurgeon