Joy Beyond Tears

How often have you seen a grown man cry? Not often, would be my guess. There are times, however, when tears are comforting and just the release of pressure that is needed.

That's what you would have seen back in 2007 when my husband and I had just gotten out of the doctor's office with the report on my breast biopsy: Cancer, Stage 3, immediate treatment needed. 

Out in the car, we shed our tears, then said, “We’d better get on over to the recommended Oncologist’s office.” It had many chairs, nearly all filled. I was not very used to medical scenes because I’ve enjoyed generally good health for most of my life. I sat there thinking this felt like a cattle call, and then I thought what a strange term!

My name was called and my new life began. The interview covered health history, recent medical reports, and insurance. Then I was given an almost immediate appointment with the oncologist.

This wonderful woman did not let me out of her office until she had personally booked my lab work to be done that very day, a MUGA test for my heart, and my next appointment. Her plan included chemo, surgery, and radiation.

My case was unusual in that I not only had Stage 3 Breast Cancer but Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC). It was so painful I couldn’t bear to wear a seatbelt or have any pressure on my breast at all.  

What kept me encouraged through 9 months of treatments was God’s word. I found hope in the Psalms. I was reading Psalm 84:5-8 (NLT) this week and it reminded me of the joy I found while walking through my valley of tears.

Verse 5 says, “What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD.” Verse 12 adds “What joy for those who trust in you (LORD).    

God’s word is true. I experienced joy beyond tears during my cancer journey. Perhaps you’re on a tearful journey of your own. I encourage you to find a translation you enjoy and look for hope in God’s word every day.  

The World in Words

I’ve always enjoyed words.  Mom was a whiz at Crossword puzzles. Not me. I preferred Word Search. We both enjoyed Scrabble, but try as hard as I might she was always the winner.

Writing was always my thing. I wrote in my diaries, journaled, and wrote summaries of vacations daily for several years. I started blogging about ten years ago.

I published a *book of inspirational stories, and even wrote a few poems, though I don’t consider myself a poet. Here’s one I’ll share with you:

 *WORDS of LIFE

Darlis Sailors

Words have length and words have power

Say “I” and it marks my place

The world is big, and I am in it

Say “you” and life gets larger

I admit there are others

I have a place, but so do you

 

You and I can join as one

Show strength as “we,” a force for change

We, as a team, produce good or evil

 

Alone I am one, my choice

With you, I must learn to give

Our spaces touch and new vision emerges

 

How will we live, part you - - - part me

Our plan is formed with give-and-take

Small words of life with power

 

This concept of you and me is an ancient one. Jesus is quoted in the New Testament as saying, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV). The first is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.

Way back in the writings of Moses, love your neighbor as yourself appears in Leviticus 19:18. Something with such a long shelf life deserves our close consideration.

“I,” “you,” and “we” make up our world from day to day. Relationships matter, so don’t give up if you’ve messed up. Do what it takes to give yourself a fresh start.

*REFLECTIONS: Inspirational Stories from Everyday Life, Darlis Sailors, Available from BookLocker.com, copyright 2016.

**Words of Life, REFLECTIONS by Darlis Sailors, P. 165.                                              

Thank You: Politeness or Prayer

At an early age, most people are taught to say, “Thank you.” Parents beam when their young children get it right, but that’s not always the case.

At a pre-Christmas family dinner, an aunt and uncle were visiting from another state. They had brought their nephew's son a child’s nativity set.

He was busy handling the figures when his mom said, “What do you say to Aunt B?” He looked up and said, “Bye-bye.” Oops! More training was on the way.

This week I was enjoying my colorful breakfast. Why I noticed it, I don’t know. It was a familiar combination. But there I sat admiring the white yogurt, the “blue” berries, brown and beige cereal, and white almond milk.

Besides being colorful, it blended together in a tasty way. As I crunched on my favorite cereal, I mentally reviewed Genesis, Chapter One, where God created trees and plants with seeds inside to keep on reproducing food. God included “seeds” in all of Creation . . . birds of the air, sea creatures, animals, and people to reproduce “their kind.”

In my family, prayers before meals were routine. By that, I do not mean rote. Usually, mom or dad prayed over the food, but somewhere in the back of my mind does hover a child’s prayer: God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for this food. Amen. So maybe I’m just short on early memories.

My Catholic friends were encouraged to bow their heads and say a silent prayer, then end with the sign of the cross. Being a Protestant I joined them in bowed head and silent prayer, but was lost at the sign of the cross.

It does amaze me, however, that so many people simply dig into their food without so much as a two-second “God, I thank You for this food. Amen.”

Throughout my day I say “thank you” quite often. I’m polite to waiters and waitresses, store associates, bank tellers, and friends and family. I think it’s just as important to say “Thank You” to the God of the Universe who provided my food from the beginning.

If you haven't given it a thought lately, I hope you’ll join me. You don’t even have to bow your head, just say the words and mean them from your heart.

  

Two Kinds of Gold

I bet you didn’t know you deal in gold every day. My husband was quite aware of it, which I appreciated. In fact, he did a lot of research on his favorite type of gold, and he would have agreed with the following description.

Picture this: A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. (Proverbs 25:11 NKJV). How would you like to have that setting on your dining room table? Or anywhere else in your home?

I’m glad the important factor there is NOT the silver or gold, but “the right word at the right time,” as so aptly described in The Message Bible.

How many words do you think you say per day? I’m not a big talker and yet I’m sure my daily quota would really surprise me. The better question might be “How many words do I thoughtfully speak each day?”

Whether I’m writing or speaking, I do believe words have value. I’d like to be known for positive words, such as those expressed in Psalm 37:30 NIV: The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak what is just.

Some people speak with words of steel. Words that are spoken carelessly and cause a lot of damage. They might be words of bitterness, anger, or jealousy, for example. Steel is strong and does much good when used correctly, but harsh negative words usually build better walls than bridges.

Now let’s examine the other kind of gold. There could not be more of a contrast than that of Ecclesiastes 3:7b NKJV: A time to keep silence and a time to speak. That goes along with the old saying, “Silence is golden.” Yes, it can be, but timing is everything.

If someone is trying to communicate with you and you are stonewalling them to avoid an issue, silence is not golden. 

On the other hand, if you’d really like to fly off the handle and spew out destructive words but you contain yourself and remain silent, you’ve probably just produced a very high quality of gold.

So, how much gold will you produce this week? Whether silent or spoken, both have value.      

Photo by sydney Rae on Unsplash

 

A Reason for Deep Respect

A friend gave me a workbook for Second Samuel.  It was quite challenging, but I enjoyed learning more about David, shepherd boy, king, and writer of about half of the Book of Psalms.

While fighting cancer in 2007, I began studying the Psalms, which means “praise.” I was surprised by some of the laments, but Psalms has remained a favorite. Modern readers will find The Book divided into 150 chapters, some long, some short, with a variety of messages.

My Bible *dictionary explains better than I can some basic categories. They’re helpful for understanding, though not rigid:

             Prayers of lament, or crying out to God

                Psalms of thanksgiving, or praise

                Hymns, even some of our spiritual songs contain words from Psalms

                Psalms of enthronement; David over Israel; God over all Creation

                Penitential psalms cry out for restoration to a right relationship with God

                Wisdom psalms that deal with two kinds of living, godly or evil

True wisdom produces a change in behavior. Wisdom is “applied knowledge.” That requires a personal decision. After we read or hear the word of God, we have to decide . . . follow it or not. Obey it or not. Serve God or self.

David wrote, Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Who is the man (or woman) who desires life, and loves many days, that he (or she) may see good? (Psalm 34:11-12 NKJV)

Some people check out right there . . . not interested. But those who continue see some good advice: Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it (Psalm 34:13-14 NKJV).

Why would David mention teaching fear? He’s not talking about fear as anxiety or worry or utter terror. Fear of God is our response to respect His authority. Read the Psalms, and you’ll see Him as King of the Universe, mighty in power, and righteous in His judgments.

A healthy fear of God honors Him as the source of true Wisdom, worthy of our obedience and worship. Even reading that description leaves you with a personal decision. Believe it or not.  

*The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Psalms, Book of, p. 1343, Left Column, Holman Reference, Nashville, TN, 2003.

Photo by mahyar motebassem on Unsplash 

No Fear in Love

When I fell in love with my husband, I had no fear. I trusted him implicitly. I knew he cared about me, and I cared about Him. Our love was mutual.

At one point, we lived in a coastal town not far from where the NO FEAR brand was born. According to Wikipedia, this American lifestyle clothing company created its popular logo, along with slogans and quotes. It was later sold to a company in the UK.

NO FEAR advocated the virtues of extreme sports. I’ve watched a variety of them on TV, but rarely for long. The participants are certainly not lazy or held back by a fear of death. They are worthy of admiration, but I’ve never desired to join them.

I prefer to focus on a different version of no fear. Just recently I’ve been inspired by a new look at an old verse. I John 4:18 (NIV): There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.

It dawned on me a few days ago that I’ve always looked at that as if we were at fault for not loving God enough. But today I see it as not trusting Him enough. He loved us so much that He gave His only Son as the perfect sacrifice to take away our sins. (John 3:16)

It’s awesome to know that when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple that separated people from the holy of holies was torn from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-51 NIV). From that time on we were to enter God’s presence through Jesus, seated at the Father’s right hand (Hebrews 10:12 NKJV). There would be no more animal sacrifices for sin.

Read The Book of Psalms and you’ll find repeated references to God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. Who could be more worthy of trust and love than someone with those two characteristics?

So where do you stand in your relationship with God? Psalm 51, David’s prayer of repentance, shows no fear. Instead, he rejoiced in God’s loving kindness and tender mercies. 

The All-Inclusive Word

Today was quiet and restorative. I felt like a sheep near still waters. Last week was productive, but extremely busy. A friend introduced me to an awesome writer’s conference where the biggest challenge, in my opinion, was keeping up with the three-hour time difference.

What a privilege to meet a variety of authors in different genres. My three-ring binder of handouts and personal notes is about two inches thick. It took quite a while to decide on categories for my divider pages.

It took me days to recover from hours and hours of Zoom classes. That’s why I enjoyed quiet time today by meditating and making notes on Psalm 145, verse by verse. Now and then I relaxed with things I had recorded on my DVR.

Talk about being relaxed! I nearly forgot I had a blog to write, so I decided why not share *Psalm 145:9-20? These verses intrigued me because of the word "all."

Here's a list of some of God's characteristics. In reviewing these, I see many good reasons to trust the LORD God with our lives:

He is good to all

He has compassion on all He has made

His dominion endures through all generations

He is trustworthy in all His promises

He is faithful in all He does

He upholds all who fall

He lifts up all who are bowed down

He is righteous in all His ways

He is near to all who call on Him in truth

He watches over all who love Him

He will destroy all the wicked

Have you ever experienced God's compassion, fulfilled promises, or

lifting up when life has you overloaded and bowed down? 

I have. What a wonderful God we serve.

Take time to review God’s characteristics with your own life in mind. Or simply read Psalm 145 for yourself. David packed a lot of information about God into twenty-one short verses.

*This inspirational blog is from Psalm 145 in the NIV, 2011 edition, by Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan.