Friday, September 28, 2012

Dont give up

If ever you think of giving up, I want you to consider what I am about to tell you. Over the last few weeks, a friend of mine has been battling cancer. It is a monster for sure, and those who have had it or know someone who did or has will attest to this fact.  Cancer is a beast with one mission, destroy and kill. In fact, it has the same mandate as our enemy, Satan.  He seeks out whom he may devour; seeking to destroy and kill. 

Corrine has been in the hospital, confused and weak.  Each day her husband and family go seeking hope.  Just this week, things took a turn for the worse.  She went from being awake and confused to being in a state of unresponsiveness. Her lungs began filling with fluid and she has been diagnosed with pneumonia.  The doctors in their great wisdom told the family that she will die.  They took her off any treatment they were administering and decided that palliative care was all they could offer to this woman.  That was four days ago.

Each night, they predict as the last one she will be with us. They determined time of death in advance, and even went as far as writing DNR (do not resuscitate) in her file, without family consent. The hospital, worked together on the plan of immediate death.  One doctor said after the first night, it would be “long” if she lived past the day. She did. So they said it will be a miracle for a third. It was. Here we are, at day five.  She opened her eyes.  She held the hands of her sister in law, squeezing in response to the conversation, she kissed the hand she held and brought it to her heart as a sign of her own “I love you”.  This is the girl that they said would die on Monday, not knowing that Friday was coming. Didn’t they crucify Jesus and didn’t see the third day coming? He rose. She opened her eyes.

Beloved, this testimony is not to bash the medical profession; Not at all. It is to let you know that as man, we are not all knowing. We do not have the capacity to see beyond a limited scope. Our humanity makes us frail and weak when compared to God.  I want you to know that God has the final say on every thing in our lives, especially life and death.  It is time to believe what He says, and stop reacting to every wind that blows and eating every word from man as the final truth and end.  God is real. It is a miracle that Corrine is still alive and even the doctors would have to agree. After all, they themselves said it had to be so. And so we thank God for the small sign, liken to the small cloud that was seen before a river load of rain burst from the sky. 

Let us therefore hold on to the hope that we have in Christ.  Let us hold on to God with every fiber in our being. Let us give him our best and worst days; our trials and our victories; our every care and concern.  God is able to exceed our expectations.  Trust in Him.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH


I have turned 38years old this month.  I have not written anything and it is not because I have been low in spirit but rather, just plain busy.  Okay, I must admit, that on the morn of my birthday I did feel a pang of something.  I can’t say that there is a word that best describes it, for it wasn’t just one emotion but a myriad of such.  I was happy; I was not.  I was excited; I was weary.  I was a whole lot of things in just the few hours it took for me to get ready and out the door to work.  (I interject here to state that I went to work that Friday under duress.  Why I do not have my birthday off is still a mystery to me.) 

As I placed my hand on the door knob to make my exit, I paused.  I was reminded at that moment of how very blessed I was, and how many things I could and should be thankful to God for.  I have health and I have a sound mind.  These things I would normally take for granted. i presume that I will always be strong, and I will always be able to do for myself the things no-one thinks twice of – taking a bath, walking, talking, feeding myself and using the bath room alone.  I had to look at what others in my circle were going through, to truly appreciate the wealth I had in my possession.

I have seen how cancer has deteriorated the quality of life my friend once had.  I have seen how it caused her to shed pounds faster than any Billy Blanks Tae Bo routine.  I have seen how it has robbed her of clarity and comprehension.  I have seen how it has raised its ugly head of blackness in her life and threaten to zap the strength and will to fight from her.

I have seen how bulging discs and convulsing muscles has taken away my sister’s independence.  I have seen how she has measured her daily pain by each new level that it attains, and how she now has a new normal because of it.  I have seen how her mobility have been reduced because of multiple car accidents.  I have seen her crying real tears from enduring acute pains from cold insurance company doctor’s assessments. 

I have seen and I realize that I have so much.  I have all that these women do not have and more.  Why then should I allow myself to wallow in self-pity because of an increase in my age, or my increased dress size?  God did not allow me the liberty, for as quickly as those thoughts seeped into my consciousness, they evaporated at the same speed. 

So I am truly on the other side of 30, and is now closer to 40 than I realized.  But I have seen enough to know that this is a moment meant for worshipping.  Truly, I am wealthy, healthy and of a sound mind.  Indeed, I have more than enough.