healing

Confronting Rejection

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At the end of John chapter 8 and the beginning of 9 we read that as Jesus left the temple where people were getting ready to stone him He passed by a blind man. Clearly Jesus knew all about rejection. The blind man was one of those rejected and avoided by others. Each day he sat alone at the street corner waiting on the kindness of others to provide for his basic needs. At the beginning of his encounter with Jesus the blind man could even hear the disciples asking each other about whether he had sinned. Maybe he put his head down in shame giving up on any expectation of help until he heard Jesus give him a word of hope.

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”  John 9:3

Facing rejection well is all about where we plan to park our hope. If we are just hoping that others will accept us or help us out we will find our car parked in the long-term parking lot of despair. The daily parking rate there is so high that after a while you might just feel like abandoning your vehicle! But God has better plans. God sees us not just as a hopeless victim but as an opportunity for Him to love.

But experiencing the love, acceptance and healing of Jesus Christ doesn’t mean we won’t face more rejection. Through the day after Jesus had healed him this blind man was doubted by his friends, thrown under the bus by his parents and excommunicated by the religious leaders. Now that’s a bad day! The good news came, not when everyone  began to love and appreciate him, but rather when after he was thrown out; he met Jesus waiting at the door. Jesus is waiting outside our doors also. He knows what we are facing and at our lowest moments he comes. If you are experiencing hard and bitter rejection don’t even begin to lose hope today. Our lives are not in our own hands nor will our future be determined by others. God is waiting just outside our doorstep and is offering us blessing and acceptance in His eternal arms!

 

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From the Rising of the Sun

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These last 2 years we have faced the greatest tests to our faith as a family. It began as an automobile accident in which someone rammed the back of my wife’s new car at a red light. Nancy experienced months of pain in her hand and her car which we had just made the first payment on was crushed. We were angry and frustrated but God was working in ways we could not have imagined. Because of the pain and suffering in her hand and her loss of work my wife decided to seek legal help to recover damages. Immediately the lawyer requested a complete MRI of both Nancy’s neck and lower back. While no injury was discovered, the images revealed a mass that turned out to be stage three cancer.

From then on each month brought with it new problems and pains followed by surgery and months of Chemotherapy. Together we faced despair, discouragement and even anger, and yet God was drawing us closer to Him and to each other. It has not been a straight line road to victory but we have grown so much along the way. The Bible tells us that from the rising of the sun all the way to the end of the day; God’s name is to be praised. Both at the times when things are bright and sunny, as well as when shadows begin to lengthen God is good and worthy of praise. He has ordered our days, our steps and even our every breath. I confess to having thanked God very little and yet I have learned to trust Him more. I do appreciate the prayers of those who have followed us through this time. The last tests came back to us this week that Nancy is now cancer free and we are deeply thankful. God has been teaching and working behind the scenes of our lives in ways far beyond anything we could ever think or even imagine. It has all been His grace and grace alone. God has chosen to walk on a path over waves to come to us in the chaos and darkness of our storms. Now we know more than ever that to the final setting of the sun He will always be worthy of all our praise!

 

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Rejoice-Pray-Give Thanks

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Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16‭-‬18

When I worked as a tree climber years ago I learned that my life depended on my rope. Our ropes in those days were generally three separate cords woven together. Each cord could have held our weight but in the case of a sudden fall the breaking point of that strand was only one tenth of its load capacity. By having a rope of three woven strands we were assured that in any situation we would be held safely. In the same way God has woven together a three stranded lifeline to hold us. In the past I always carved up these verses into three separate commands, but as I read this morning I realized they are in fact three strands of just one cord in Jesus Christ.

We must rejoice because by His amazing grace He has chosen to come to us no matter how humble our place. The Bible tells us that He is not ashamed to call us brothers. He is willing to include us in His family.

We should always pray, because our Lord like a brother will always listen. There is nothing that affects our life that does not concern Him. Since He has taken the time to count the hairs on our head how can we doubt that He will help us in even our smallest struggles? Remember that He said. “Without me you can do nothing!” John 15:5

Give thanks. Ingratitude will not undo the miracle of God’s healing, but it will keep us from a close relationship with Jesus. In Luke’s gospel we see that one day Jesus healed ten lepers. They had all prayed and all rejoiced but only one remembered to say thanks.

He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Luke 17:16

The bible does not say that the other nine lost their healing or that they had sinned. But the man who was thankful was the only one who worshipped at the feet of Jesus. The three stranded rope of this man’s faith brought him all the way to an intimate relationship with Christ. Today we are just the same as any of these lepers. We all have a need for a miracle and we all can rejoice in His amazing grace, but only when we are truly grateful will we know how to worship God. He is so kind and good to us all. Will we be found at His feet today?