Terri's BlogChristian perspective on today's issues.

BLESSING #3

In Lesson #1 I described a “casual Christian”, someone who may be a believer but does not practice his/her faith; a typical American having abundant material blessings, but taking most of them for granted.  Lesson #2 compares the Blessed American versus Persecuted Christians: people who are criminalized for believing in God and His Son, Jesus.  Simply for confessing their Christianity they are in danger of losing their families, their homes, jobs, and even their lives.  Many are forced to leave their countries, or be jailed if they remain.  Yet they remain true to their Christian beliefs, and some actually feel blessed that they suffer as their Savior did.  What amazing faith.  (You can read about these people at VOM.org.)

But God answers the prayers of and rewards His faithful wherever they are.  Let me tell you about one of His miracle blessings that happened right here in Hot Springs.
There is a young couple at church who last year went through a traumatic, faith-challenging experience.  They are parents of three adopted kids whom they have raised in a Christian home.  The whole family is at church every Sunday and our members have watched the kids grow into well-mannered teenagers, a testament to the character of their parents.
I think it was in early Spring of ‘22 when the mom first became quite ill.  The local doctors determined she had an unusual tumor in her abdomen and recommended she see specialists at M. D. Anderson in Houston (a nine-hour drive from here.)  Several months went by, with many long trips to Houston for tests and treatments.  As you can imagine, all this took a toll on her and the family.  The specialists finally determined that the tumor was a very rare form of cancer:    Stage Four.   Inoperable.
She had been keeping our church, and the school where she taught, informed of her status via Facebook, thus her “followers” were constantly lifting her and the family in prayer.  For a while she got so weak from the treatments that she stopped the Facebook posts, and information about her status became infrequent.  That, of course, just made all our prayers more frequent and more fervent.  She did rally a bit just before Christmas, and posted a video of herself singing Silent Night from her hospital bed, in a very weak voice.  I promise you, the biggest, meanest, toughest person on this earth would have cried right along with me, watching that.
A few more months went by and many hundreds, if not thousands, of prayers had gone up to God.  Proverbs 15:29 says “God hears the prayers of the righteous…”, and Isaiah 65: 24 says “Before they call, I will answer; while they are speaking, I will hear them.”        And hear them He did!
We got exciting news via her Facebook page one day – she posted that the doctors had determined that the tumor WAS operable!   The cancer, fully contained, was finally removed! Praise the Lord!   What an incredible blessing!
Now, consider the effect that this blessing had on everyone who was following this saga: her family, the church, her school, and all the Facebook followers.  Like a stone thrown into still water, how far did the ripples reach? How many lives were touched hearing about our great and loving God?  And all those who had offered prayer on her behalf definitely know God answers prayer.  If this had been you, or a family member, how would it have changed your life? For example, how would it affect your church attendance, your tithing, your willingness to forgive, your prayer life, your awareness of those in need?   Would you now understand that you are blessed to be a blessing?
But let’s consider this further: what about all the blessings you’ve already received? Things like your wife/kids/home/job/lifestyle/health?  What about all God has done for you in your life when you weren’t looking or even aware of at the time?  What am I referring to?  I could list a couple hundred of ideas, but why don’t you take some time to meditate on that?  I’d bet that once you do, you’ll come up with some doozies – I know I did.
The point is that we should take more time to be aware of ALL our blessings, large or small, every day, and to be thankful for them.  And in doing so, may we become more dedicated disciples in our Christian walk, thankful each day for our salvation, His forgiveness of every sin, providing our daily bread, keeping us from temptation, our witness, our freedom to worship; and let’s not take any of our blessings for granted.

In His service, and yours,
Mike Jared, TCM board member