The Alchemy of Illness

I'm taking a college class on "Narratives of Illness and Doctoring". We are reading memoirs by patients and physicians. All of the readings are secular. They leave me so sad for nonbelievers. I cannot imagine facing a life-threatening illness, chronic pain or emotional illness without a reliance on God. Can you imagine Job surviving his ills without his close relationship with the Lord? As a nurse of many years, I've seen and thought a lot about the meaning of illness and the transcendence of suffering. I've been blessed to see the hand of God reach out in life and in death. Tonight, I want to share with you my favorite Bible passage for the sick and suffering. I have used it many times, always with the same result. May it bless your heart as it always does mine.

May you feel His grace today,
Gail W.

The last Word:

Therefore, we do not lose hope. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV.

To Be Upon Our Hearts

On day 2 of Beth Moore's Paul: 90 Days on His Journey of Faith, the focus is on memorizing God's Word. It reminds me of an elderly black man I once saw on the national news following Hurricane Katrina. He had been trapped on the roof of his submerged home for several days. He spoke of how the Bible had given him hope during such a dark time. He told the reporter, "The only Bible I had was the one I had in my mind. But that was enough." I stopped to wonder, "Do I have enough of God's Word memorized to carry me through when the Book is not available to me?" Memorizing God's Word isn't something we do to earn kudos on Sunday morning. It's something we do because we know the Word changes who and what we are. The more we carry in our hearts, the more we change. I don't know about you, but I am always game for change in this heart of mine!

May you feel His grace today,

Gail W.

The last Word:

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9.

Oh, How I've Missed You

Note: In the Name above all names, greetings to old friends and new. I've spent the past forty weeks wandering in the desert and missing my friends in Blogland. I've wanted very much to write but have felt paralyzed to do so. The Enemy has kept me trapped with messages of, "You don't have anything important to say", "No one wants to read your navel-gazing disorganized thoughts", "Oh sure, you had a long run of writing well but that ended when your mind crashed and burned. You'll never get your voice back." These thoughts infuriate me so. Which is why I'm here tonight. Please pray for me friends as I struggle to resurrect the voice I loved using to glorify God.

A box from Amazon on my doorstep - the perfect way to end a long day at work! Four new authors delivered, ready to leap off the page and renew my mind. Bliss! Among the new soul messages received is Beth Moore's Paul: 90 Days on His Journey of Faith. Last year, I completed Beth's 90 day study of Jesus with several friends here online. I was not the same person when I finished as when I began. So to relaunch my efforts at blogging, I've chosen to share my journey into Paul's life with anyone who cares to listen. I pray you will find something here to renew your own mind. Today, Beth showcased one of Paul's prayers to the Thessalonians. I leave you with my adjusted version - I substituted "I" for "we" in the original text. The result was a prayer that penetrated my heart more personally. Pray this prayer right now, and God will bless your every word.

May you feel His grace today,
Gail W.

The last Word:

This means more to me than anything else, Lord - that you have chosen me for salvation . . . through belief in the Truth. You called me to this through the Gospel, so that I might obtain the glory of my Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, may I stand firm and hold to the traditions I was taught, taking what you have begun in my heart and living it out with faithfulness and boldness. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15.

Animal Musings

My last post was about imagining heaven as a perfect earth, including perfect creatures. In response, our friend Pam over at Gray Like Snuffie mused that she would have a polar bear living in her mansion. This fun thought set my heart to dreaming.

When my daughters were too old for story books at bedtime but too young to fall asleep without them, I found a book of meditations for children. The hands down favorite was the one that envisioned a magical land where animals of all sorts loved to be with humans. My daughters drifted off to sleep dreaming of riding on the backs of lions and climbing far up into the trees by way of a giraffe's sturdy neck. Koala bears played hide and seek. Kangaroos would let them go for a ride in their pouches.

As for me, a heaven of perfect creatures would mean a mansion full of big and small shaggy dogs. All would have big brown eyes, wagging tails and a propensity for puppy kisses. Since they will be perfect creatures, there will be no need to feed and water the dogs or to take them out to do their business. They will be 100% love and 0% work!

A few pussycats would do, the kind that don't make my eyes itch or my throat swell up. And I've always thought a hippo would be fun. A big fat hippo rolling around and enjoying the mud in ways my mother never would have allowed. I would have a big shop broom with stiff bristles to scratch behind his ears which would make him smile.

So today, I am asking you, dear reader, what perfect creatures would you have in your heavenly home? Remember, these creatures will be all play and no work. I can't wait to hear your responses!

May you feel His grace today,

Gail W.

The last Word:

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, but He has revealed it to us by His Spirit.

2 Corinthians 2:9, 10, NIV.

Human Musings

National Geographic's Picture of the Day today features mandarin ducks. I have never seen these magical creatures before. Their intricate color patterns speak to the imagination of God. Nature is an open book on God's sovereignty and His love of beauty.

Whenever I see a wonder of nature, I think of my favorite fantasy about heaven. It is based on our knowledge that God created Man in His own image. I like to think He likewise created the earth in heaven's image. God is the perfect image He originally intended for man. Heaven might be the perfect image God originally intended for the earth.

This would mean that heaven consists of breath-taking vistas and unimagined color palettes. Creatures like a lion who would lie down with a lamb will dot the landscape. Maybe dogs that don't bite or pidgeons who don't poop will be there too.

Okay, this is a pretty long stretch of the imagination. But it seems to me that this is what imaginations are for. So the next time I drive over the ridge to see blue skies and fluffy clouds, I'll go right on dreaming of how much more beautiful the view will be in heaven.

May you feel His grace today,

Gail W.

The last Word: After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. The voice I had first heard speaking said, "Come up here" . . . at once, I was in the Spirit and there before me was a throne in heaven.

Revelation 4:1, 2, NIV.

Out of the "Blue", Part III

Depression may seem like a modern day phenomenon. God’s Word tells us otherwise. A list of characters who suffered from depression reads like a who’s who in the Old Testament. We’ve already mentioned Cain as the first case of depression cited in the Bible (see Out of the Blue – Part II). Saul comes next with an evil spirit that was soothed when David played the harp. David, the man after God’s own heart describes many bouts with depression in the Psalms. How often does he mention being entangled by the cords of death? This is what real depression feels like. I speak from first-hand experience.

Clinical depression has been an on-going shadow for me through most of my life. Hence my interest in what the Bible has to say on the subject. Sadly, there are many in the Church who scoff at the notion of a biochemical imbalance. Sufferers are seen as lacking in faith and prone to blaming their upbringing for current behavior. This attitude has been a source of great anguish to me over the years. I have often minimized the extent of my suffering to avoid being misunderstood. Thus, Satan’s campaign to keep me isolated in my pain is advanced.

Look around you. Are you or others in your sphere of influence suffering in silence? If one in five adults suffer, how many share the pew with you on Sunday morning? How many are fearful of speaking their pain lest they be seen as ungrateful and unable to trust God for all their needs? God does supply all our needs; in my case, He has often done so through the care of well-trained physicians and the medications He has revealed to man. Stop by later this week for my favorite example of depression in the Bible. We’ll look at the story of Elijah, a great man crushed by depression but delivered by God.

May you feel His grace today,
Gail W.

The last Word: My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
David in Psalm 42:3, NIV.

Out of the "Blue", Part II

Note: This post is part of a short series on depression from a Biblical world view.

God created Adam and Eve to live harmoniously in the Garden of Eden. Their response to the serpent’s temptation changed all that. In judging the original sin, God spoke, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil, you will eat of it all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:17). Man’s sentence? “Painful toil . . . all the days of your life.” The cost of sin was levied. Disease and its ultimate outcome of death entered the world.

All manner of disease now appeared in the course of humanity. Mental illness was no exception. In the story of the first family formed, we find disturbance of the mind. When God looked with favor on Abel’s offering but rejected Cain and his offering, “Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast” (Genesis 4:5).

If you trace the definition of "downcast" through its many forms in the dictionary, you will eventually come to the word “depressed”. Cain was low in spirits. He was depressed. While one can imagine that Adam and Eve suffered a similar fate, Cain’s depression is the first one specifically described in the Word of God. But his was not the last described by a long shot.

Join us for Part III of this series where we look at some of the great Bible heroes who suffered with depression. Our destination will be God's answers to this painful dilemma as expressed in His Word.

May you feel His grace today,

Gail W.

The last Word: Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death came to all men, because all sinned . . . Death reigned.

Romans 5:12, 14 (NIV).