Thursday

July 10, 2025

    My church fellowship group meets on Thursdays (we have been off the past few weeks for a summer break) and then every other Saturday morning, the men and women meet as separate groups. The men have been working through the book The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges. There are three of us who have been taking turns leading the discussion. This week I'm up and the chapter topic is Peace. 

    That is one thing I know God has truly blessed me with during this cancer journey.  I have had complete peace throughout the experience. He gave me the wisdom and comfort to just take each day at a time, to patiently wait for, and through, each test and procedure, and to have full confidence that everything would work out exactly the way He had planned. 

        John 14:27

        "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

        John 16:33

        "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world."

    Last night at Compass Bible Church, Huntington Beach, (where Cathy and I attend) we had the second, special midweek service of the summer. This session was on Habakkuk. The three take aways were to...

1.    Ask God your questions.

2.    Wait for God's Answer

3.    Joy is not in the answer, but in the Answerer. 

    I never questioned God about having cancer. I've shared my family history. It always seemed inevitable and why would I think I'd be any different. I accepted the reality of my situation and put my trust in God that He would see me through. 

    I did, however, have questions about whether the cancer would be treatable or life threatening.  I waited, and am still waiting, for God's answers. So far so good, the cancer appears to be gone and nothing new has shown up.  I'll know more about that tomorrow at the dermatologist appointment. Otherwise, I will continue getting checked every 3-4 months for 2 years, and every 5-6 months for three more years after that.

    No matter what the answers are, I know my joy will be found in God.  He is the answer to every question, every problem, and every trial in my life.  He has never let me down, and He has always been there for me. 

    I'd like to share another story of a time in my life when I clearly saw God at work. I had an older half-brother, Rick.  Sadly, he passed away in 2011. We didn't grow up together and we only had one moment of contact for 25 years.  We reconnected in 1995, just a few months before my mother passed away. I firmly believe God brought Rick back into my life that year.  I was about to lose the only family I had, so He brought back family into my life that I had lost many years before. 

    Speaking of my mom, November 1st will be the 30th anniversary of her death. I give her lots of credit for the Christian man I grew up to be, and I am reminded regularly how much she influenced me. 

    Proverbs 31:25-26, 28a

         Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her                 mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 

        Her children rise up and call her blessed;

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