Book Review: 90 Days of God's Goodness

In Randy Alcorn's devotional book, 90 Days of God's Goodness, Randy gives the soul a powerful tool: a flashlight. But it's not a flashlight to shine on our own soul. We don't need to look more closely at ourselves during a trial. He gives us a flashlight to shine onto the nature and character of God, so that when we have been kicked in the soul, we can find His goodness in the trial, through the trial, and even because of the trial. We can see Him as the author and perfector of our faith.

On day 6, Randy quotes Pastor James Montgomery Boice as he stood before his congregation in Philedelphia in May of 2000, to explain that he'd been diagnosed with liver cancer. He quotes, "...God is in charge. When things like this come into our lives, they are not accidental. It's not as if God somehow forgot what was going on, and something bad slipped by...God is not only the one who is in charge; God is also good. Everything He does is good...If God does something in your life, would you change it? If you'd change it, you'd make it worse. It wouldn't be as good."
Suffering happens to every child of God. Jesus promised that in this world, we would have trouble. Randy Alcorn realizes this, and his book 90 Days of God's Goodness equips the saints to see God's goodness in the trouble, and to trust Him for the outcome.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

Settling...

...into the new normal. Or the new, new normal I suppose I should say. I don't know how many diseases are cured by giving the patient an entirely new disease. I hope not too many. When I had cancer, I didn't feel sick at all. In fact, my only complaint was that I wasn't swallowing food easily. That would have made it easy to lose 50 or 60pounds! My thyroid cancer is "cured" for now, and I feel terrible most of the time! Insomnia, fatigue, irritability...and would somebody please turn down the heat!! And these are things that I'm told for the most part will be my companions for the rest of my life. I liked the cancer better.

Scars

I have lots of them. I’ve had many surgeries over my lifetime. Fortunately, most of the scars have been in areas that aren’t visible. But recently I had to have open chest surgery to remove my large and cancerous thyroid gland. Those scars are easily visible across my neck and down the center of my chest. They are red, angry looking scars, even though my surgery was almost a year ago.

Initially, I was self-conscious about the scars. I often had complete strangers asking me about my health issues, which I felt were none of their business. I would become indignant if someone asked me about them. One of my doctors has also been quite focused on the appearance of the scars, even though I had not been complaining about them. He’s even suggested that I consider having them surgically (are you kidding me?!) removed, and having the subsequent scar irradiated to prevent the red angriness from returning. Hmm…sounds a bit extreme to me!

Lately though, God has been changing the way I think about my scars. After all, they are a reminder of the grace and mercy that He has shown me through a difficult time in my life. He carried me through cancer and surgeries and treatments, caring for me in ways He would not have needed to had I not been ill. My family, my church family, my neighbors and co-workers all ministered to me by providing meals, help and emotional support - they were Jesus “with skin on” to me and my family during those long months.

I’ve also realized that Jesus Himself bears scars - the scars from the nails that were brutally pounded into His hands and feet, the wound pierced in His side from the soldier’s sword to make sure that He was really dead. Those scars are evidence of hideous torture and intense agony. But they are also evidence of His deep love for His people. His scars exist because God the Father planned before the world was formed that He would send His Son Jesus into the world to redeem His people and save us from our sinfulness. The scars on Jesus’ body exist to glorify God the Father.

After his resurrection when Jesus appeared to His friends, they saw the nail prints on His hands and the wound in His side. They proved to them that He really was Jesus, risen from the dead. His body still bears the scars of crucifixion - they are evidence of His great love for His people. I know that when I see Him one day, I will look at those scars and remember what He has done for me. Through His sacrifice, I have peace with God.

I’m thankful for my restored health. I am thankful for all that God has done for me, sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sin. And I am thankful for the scars. Instead of being something embarrassing and unwelcome, I’ve decided to look at each scar as a
Sacred Call to Always Remember. They will forever be reminders of God’s love and mercy. And those are things I don’t want to ever forget.

Hiding God's Word in My Heart

This year I've committed to memorizing the book of Philippians. Yes, the entire book. I've never memorized a book of the Bible before. The longest I've ever memorized are a few Psalms: 1, 23, 51. So this has been really stretching my brain cells, for sure! But what insights it has afforded me so far!!
I woke up the other morning with a picture in my head - a dog digging a hole in the yard to bury a bone. He was moving a bunch of dirt out of the way to make a place for the bone. That made me realize that hiding God's word in my heart is a lot like the work that dog was doing - moving a lot of dirt out of the way to hide something precious. There is so much junk in my heart - sin, distraction, anxiety, laziness, etc, that gets in the way of the Word. But if the Word is precious to me, I'll happily do the work - if I had a tail, it would be wagging all the while! This shouldn't be drudgery or a distasteful chore, but a welcomed privilege. I need God's grace to enable me to be joyful and zealous over the opportunity to hide His Word in the soil of my heart. Unlike the bone, which can be retrieved once and then would need to be "re-hid", the Word can be retrieved, mulled over and enjoyed over and over again throughout my entire lifetime.
"I have stored up your Word in my heart, that I may not sin against You." Psalm 119:11

Happy New Year 2011

The year is two thousand eleven,
Filled with chances for us to be leaven;
So those on the earth
Might see Jesus’ great worth,
And find hope in the Treasure of Heaven.

The Greatest Christmas Miracle

At Christmastime, we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus - God became flesh and dwelt among His people. This event was a huge occurrence, marked by many things that only God could make happen. He was born from a virgin, who became pregnant by the intervention of the Holy Spirit; angels filled the sky and heralded His birth - announcing it to shepherds and telling them exactly how they would find Him; a star hovered over the place where He was so that kings from the East could find Him several years after His birth; not to mention all the Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled exactly as they were prophesied.
Jesus’ life went on to be full of miracles - He changed water into wine; He gave sight to a blind man; He released a man from the possession of demons; He raised the dead; He walked on water; after a hideous crucifixion, He arose from the dead and appeared to many people before He ascended bodily into Heaven.
Of course all of these things are miracles. Webster defines a miracle as “an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause such as God.” Only God could have caused these things to happen. Thinking back to times before the incarnation, I marvel at other miracles of God - the parting of the Red Sea, the plagues of Egypt, the victory of Gideon’s small army. I could go on to name many, many miracles of God. He is the creator of all things. From nothing God created everything. He spoke, and the world came into being - the stars, the waters, the land and animals - everything merely spoken into existence! Nothing is impossible for God, the creator and sustainer of the universe.
As I think about the miracles of Christmas, I realize that restoring sight to eyes that He created was no great feat of difficulty for Him. Making Himself in the image of man - man that He formed from the dust - could not have been a stretch of His imagination at all. Implanting His seed into the womb of a woman pales in comparison to speaking the entire universe into being. The seas He created are still seas, the land is still land, the stars are still shining in the heavens.
What then, is the greatest miracle, the greatest purpose, of Christmas? Through Christmas, the Advent of the Holy One, God recreated sinful man and gave Him a new nature. He sent Jesus to seek and to save that which was lost, and through His blood changed our sinfulness for His righteousness. Through Christmas, this wretched sinner now has fellowship with the Almighty. That is the greatest miracle of Christmas.
May your Christmas this year be filled with the glory of God.

I have become a wonder to many...

Got my first blood test results since beginning my thyroid replacement meds. My TSH, which they want to see running right around 0, went UP from 33 to 47. It should have gone down. My T4 remains in the normal range, when it should have actually gone up. My ENT scratched his head and said that was strange. My oncologist is out of town (probably needed a vacation from all my bizarre-ness!!). So they upped my thyroid med a little, which the ENT wouldn't make much of a difference, and I have more labs scheduled for two weeks. I see the oncologist the Monday after Thanksgiving and hopefully will have more insight at that point.

Psalm 71:7 says "I have become a wonder to many..." I think I may cross-stitch that on a sampler for my wall...