Monthly Archives: June 2003

Reflections on This Past Week: The Impact on My Faith

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How my faith has changed in the last week:

  • Prayer heals. I think that D survived largely because of the prayers of everyone in the conference room when the surgeon was consulting with us. I’ve been keeping him and his family in my prayers since and all has been going fairly well. On Friday, I found out that he was upgraded from a 20% chance of surviving to more than an 80% chance. That’s definitely an improvement in odds.
  • As Christians, we know that death is our homecoming to Heaven. We know that putting our trust in Christ gives us the promise of eternal life. I saw some tears shed during Mary’s funeral, but it was *NOTHING* compared to the tears shed at non-Christian funerals I’ve attended. I have been hugged more in the last week than in the last 10 months — people have needed comfroting but it’s less intense than it could have easily been. After all, St. Paul writes:

    What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-35, 37-39)

  • Ministering to someone does not mean you know the exact words to say. If the Lord wants you to talk to someone, He will *give* you the words and frequently it’s what you *NOT* say that helps. Holding someone’s hand is just as meaningful as saying “it will be OK” and keeps you from looking like a fool when it is *NOT* OK. A hug can say more than words ever could. Praying confides that you are not doing this alone.
  • I really need to pray when I feel the urge to do so. Prayer has kept me sane this week. I’ve looked forward to getting to Sacred Space on my blogroll or reading the Our Daily Bread devotion for the day. My prayer time this week has kept me sane and I’m hoping that I can build better habits right now for my future. The urgings to prayer this week have also probably kept others sane as I know that the Lord works through our prayers for others.
  • I’ve figured out how to succinctly state the basis of my call to ordained ministry. Simply put, I love to tell the story. God’s promises are still amazing to me 8 years after the night I was led to faith in Jesus Christ and there is a hunger within me to tell people about them and to help people to work with them in their lives in all circumstances.
  • My deep appreciation for the words of the traditional hymns has increased. The hymns written a hundred or more years ago might not be as catchy or upbeat as today’s Vineyard music but many of them have much better lyrics and a better/more singable tune. I’ve extolled the virtues of “Abide With Me” enough in my journal this week; but I sing that nightly and hymns like “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” beat out “The Lord Is My Light” any day. “Amazing Grace” still makes me cry.

    • Reflections on This Past Week: Words of Wisdom

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    Chris commented yesterday that after several hard days and hard posts from [me], [he] was strangely relieved to just see a Friday Five on mundane stuff like hair. Believe me, those posts have been part of the reason I’ve survived this week. It’s been healing to be able to blog out my feelings on things and just write about things. The other way I’ve been surviving is singing along to my various hymn CD’s while working on my computer at home. “My Life Flows on in Endless Song” is doing more for me right now than “Shout to the Lord”. (I just wish that the arrangement of the former wasn’t instrumental so that I could have some words to post. Ah well… I’ll get it off of Cyberhymnal later.)

    Some wisdom from this week:

    “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. ”
    -Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

    “Do not let your hearts be troubled. trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if i go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. you know the way to the place where I am going.”
    -John 14:1-4

    “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
    -John 3:16-17

    “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes–I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
    -Job 19:25-27

    “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
    -Proverbs 3:5-6

    “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
    -Matthew 6:33-34

    HP 5

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    I’m 1/3 of the way through and nobody is dead yet.

    After I finish, I might tackle this.

    **Update** Just finished the book. It was a fairly fast read though the plot drags if you know that someone major is gonna die. I’m not going to be mean and reveal who it is. That would just be seriously wrong.

    Friday Five

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    1. Is your hair naturally curly, wavy, or straight? Long or short?
    It’s pretty much straight but starting to get wavier. It’s about a few inches past my shoulders and I’m trying to grow it longer.

    2. How has your hair changed over your lifetime?
    I was a towhead when I was younger and my hair has darkened to a light brown. I’ve hennaed it a few times so I also have some reddish highlights mixed in.

    3. How do your normally wear your hair?
    Pulled back up off my face, either in a bun or French-braid (“freedom-braid” is just lame) or a ponytail.

    4. If you could change your hair this minute, what would it look like?
    Longer and hennaed

    5. Ever had a hair disaster? What happened?
    My perm in 7th grade made my hair look like it should be on a poodle. I got called “poodle locks” for weeks by some morons in my gym class.

    **UPDATE** My Internet started working again on Friday night.

    The Last Few Days

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    The last few days have been packed. I attended the first funeral on Wednesday (of the three active members of our church who died this past weekend) and it was very uplifting. Mary (the deceased) was an amazing woman and the readings were very powerful as were the chosen hymns. Afterwards, I and others stayed to transform the fellowship hall from church to dining room for Mary’s funeral luncheon.

    Just before the second funeral, Jon told me that he and Bill had to head to Columbus to be with the family of a member of the church (D) who was having major heart surgery yesterday. His surgery was scheduled for 2:30 pm and he had a serious heart attack around 12:20. Thankfully, his son and wife were in the room and they got a code called in within 15 seconds. His brain was unfortunately without oxygen for a period of time, so his survival rate was put at 20%. After conducting two funerals, Bill and Jon were exhausted and Jon volunteered me to drive.

    When we got into the hospital, D was still in surgery. We sat with his wife and his son until the surgeon called us in for a conference. I wasn’t expecting to be allowed in but they asked me to stay. (Usually on hospital visits, I bring a book or some crocheting and fold myself into a chair in the lobby for however long the visit takes.) D survived the surgery — praise God! The surgeon was really awesome and explained the situation, finishing with a request for Bill to pray for all of them — a very good thing in this situation. We sat with the family and comforted them until D was moved into ICU. Again, I was allowed to go into ICU but I did so only to find out where D was so I could direct Bill there later. Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at the Wendy’s in the hospital basement and headed back home so Jon and I could do visiting hours for the person to be buried today.

    The funeral today went well — at least that’s what I heard. My job was getting the drinks and stuff ready and making sure our WELCA president sat down on occasion. 🙂 I also baby-sat the kitchen with our Church Council president while the ladies were at the funeral and John (CC pres) and I did some more prep work. The luncheon went well — WAY too much food but I limited myself to only what I was hungry for at the time.

    Continue reading →

    No Internet Access

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    I currently have no Internet access because my IP is having wire problems or something. I’m blogging from Jon’s computer at the church. If you need to reach me in the next few days, email me at jen [at] peaceful, and I’ll have Jon check when he goes into the church office.

    This isn’t bad because I’ve been trying to write a blog entry offline and it’s been difficult. I can focus on that entry this weekend since I’m not sure they’ll have anything fixed before Monday.