Fighting the Good Fight of Faith

(This is one of my first ever blogs, June 12, 2010. I repost today because I thought, just maybe one of my FB friends could see how my Sweetheart and I "fought the good fight of faith" during his illness, 6 years ago. It blessed me then, it blesses me now -- NEVER stop fighting the good fight of faith!).

June 12, 2010: Our faith journey continues to keep us on our toes – endeavoring to be good soldiers with our combat boots on, armored with God’s Word, and completely surrendered to our Commander’s orders. We know there is tremendous value in “fighting cancer” with a good positive attitude and being nutrition-conscious! And we’re definitely doing that. But, most importantly, we are doing what St. Paul told young Timothy to do in 1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of FAITH!” We are convinced that God is using our “great adventure” to not only cause our faith to be strong and unwavering, but we have a lot of friends, family members, medical team and acquaintances taking this journey of faith with us who are also fighting this good fight of faith with and for us!

Ron successfully completed the 3-days of cyberknife treatments to kill the second tumor that was on his lumbar-2 vertabrae. We’re still working on the pain in his lower back to diminish, but he is a brave, courageous soldier. There are days when we think about how “routine” our lives once were…..waking up, getting dressed, having devotion, eating breakfast, going to work, etc. etc. And then, this “suddenly” happened that certainly caused a totally new life perspective. Rarely did we take the time to focus on how green the grass was, how blue the sky was, how bright the sun was, and how precious were the days when we were pain-free and strong. Now, each day is one to be cherished!

I’ll admit we’ve had our share of crises, but I don’t think we’ve ever come to realize the preciousness of life like we do now! For many years I received those little e-mails from friends that talked about appreciating life…..and now I get it! Holding my Honey’s hand, kissing his sweet lips, smelling his wonderful smell (btw -- “Fierce by Abercrombie” -- LOL!), hearing his laughter when he’s watching the grandchildren, hearing him tell me once again “I love you” – all those things that were once “routine” are now so precious and dear to me!

The next phase of our journey will take place on June 22nd when he is scheduled for the surgery to remove the kidney that has the primary tumor (the real culprit of this whole deal) in it. The urologist is expecting to do a laparoscopic nephrectomy (much less invasive than standard kidney removal), which means smaller incisions and less recovery time. Please pray with us for that to be exactly what happens, that Ron will recover quickly and do great with just one kidney (thank God for this back-up system), and that this will bring much relief and wholeness to his body! We look forward to planting our flag of VICTORY very soon! We appreciate your prayers and support so much!

What's YOUR Perspective?

Day 68 of Photo Inspirations -- What's YOUR Perspective?
While my Texas grandchildren were here, they practiced the speeches that they'll be giving at their Speech & Debate Competition.  Alexia's speech includes this story on "perspective".

There was family that had two twin boys; one was an eternal optimist, the other a doom and gloom pessimist. The parents took the boys for an assessment -- to find out why such drastic difference.

They put the pessimist boy in a room with all the toys you can imagine.   After a few minutes, the pessimist was crying bitterly.   "Why are you crying?" the doctor asked. "There's so many toys here, I don't know which one to play with."

The optimist's room was loaded with horse manure.  After a few minutes, the optimist twin was dancing for joy and kicking up the pile of manure. "What are you so happy about?" the doctor asked. To which the optimist twin replied, "With all this manure, there's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"

It really is all about perspective.  And it really is about our attitude and outlook.  When we look in the mirror -- do we see a scrawny, sickly cat, or do we see a strong, courageous, powerful lion?  Do we look at the glass half empty, or half full?  Do we look for the problems, or do we look for the blessings?   Do we look at defeat and disappointment as the end-all or do we always look at EVERYTHING that comes our way as "ALL THINGS work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose."  Romans 8:28.

It may seem having this positive attitude in a negative world can be an almost daunting task, but I promise you -- it has been the single most effect tool in my life to live free of worry, fear, and negativity.  I highly recommend it as a way of life. My perspective is that strong, powerful LION! How about yours?

Faith-Filled Words = Blessings

At my Life Group last night, we talked about how important it is to speak and believe what we are wanting in our lives. The fact is, our words have incredible power! When we speak faith-filled words, positive things just naturally come our way. But, many people just focus on negative things in life, and then they speak negative words that position them for more negativity coming their way.

But when we begin to think and speak the blessings and favor of Almighty God, we’re like a magnet that draws God’s favor in our lives. It’s time for us to declare, and for us to teach our children to declare, “I am strong. I am loved. I am smart. I am happy. I am empowered, and a successful child of the Most High God. I’ve been handpicked by the Creator of the universe to be here. I have great things in my future!” And when we exude that positive attitude through our thoughts and actions, the winds of blessings begin to shift in our direction -- and not only are our lives changed forever, but that positive influence will change the lives of those in our world.