Distant

“Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, 
the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
Galatians 4:6

Just today I finished up the first draft of our women’s Bible study that will begin in January. It’s a verse-by-verse trek through the gospel of Mark and I’ve titled it Following Jesus. It’s the first full gospel that we will have gone through in our Women of the Word Studies and I’m pretty excited about it.

Mark is the only gospel writer who recorded Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane to begin with “Abba Father” (Mark 14:36) and I’m glad he did. Even in His distress, we catch a glimpse of Jesus’ intimate relationship with His Father in Heaven. Abba was an Aramaic word that Jewish children would have used to address their father — something like daddy or papa for us today.  But, the point is that it reflected a close and warm relationship.

The opposite of close would be distant and you may wonder why I titled this post with that single word. Well, the reason is that my husband’s second book has finally been published and it’s titled, “Why Do I Feel so Distant from God?” 

Have you ever felt that way? Have you sensed a distance from God? I think we all have because even the Psalmist said “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?” (Ps 10:1) That verse is actually the opening verse of Paul’s book. 

If this resonates with you — feeling distant from God — I invite you to scroll on over to Amazon and order a copy. I think you will be blessed. (Hopefully, a case of books should arrive at our campus bookstore in time for the weekend as well.) 

The bottom line is that God has always intended a close relationship with us, rather than a distant one. My hope is that as we approach a season where we reflect once more on God making Himself known to us in the flesh, we will also do our part to seek Him with all our hearts. As James said, Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 4:8)

My treatment update is uneventful, but here it is — 4 radiation sessions down, 26 to go! 

My Love & Blessings,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com

Being a Peacemaker

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Matthew 5:9

I have a routine of setting up my Wednesday blog posts on Tuesday night so it’s ready to go early on a Wednesday morning even if I’m not. This week, Tuesday night happens to be the evening of election day here in America, so I’m scheduling this post with no idea which way the election will have turned by the time morning arrives. But one thing I do know is that in a two-party system like our country has, when the result of the election is made known, half the country will be disappointed at best or downright mad at worst. 

Another thing that is certain is that our country will be in recovery mode for a while to come. This is nothing new, it’s always been this way after a general election and probably always will be. But this isn’t a political post. This is a post about peace and peacemakers.

My husband taught all of Matthew chapter 5 on Sunday, which is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. The opening verse (above) was just a small portion of that teaching, but as I listened I thought to myself, “this might be the most important phrase for this week!” As followers of Jesus, we’re surrounded by opportunities to help peace happen every day, but election cycles elevate those opportunities.   

Making peace with God is clearly in the forefront of what Jesus was meaning in that phrase, but being a peacemaker covers a lot of territory and includes peace between people as well. I’m tempted to launch into a three-part essay here on the ways we can actually be peacemakers between people at a time like this, but I think I will refrain. We all know what it means to inflame a tense situation and we know what it takes to diffuse those tensions. I think I’ll just encourage us this morning to do whatever the Lord puts in front of us to be peacemakers in this challenging political environment — because blessed are the peacemakers!

As for my typical update at the end of each week’s blog — I’m headed for another train ride. Tomorrow I’ll be jumping on the radiation train. This train ride has 30 stops over a six-week period. I’m so thankful for the abundance of technology that we enjoy these days and I’m confident that God will use this treatment in the healing process as well.

My Love & Blessings,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com

Incremental Healing

Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, 
his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
Mark 8:25

At some point in your life, you’ve probably struggled to maintain your passion to finish a project of some sort. Along came a well-meaning Sally Sunshine and reminded you that, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” You may have smiled on the outside, perhaps even thanked them for the great reminder, but on the inside you were tired and just wanted it to be that day when Rome was actually finished. 

Some projects just take time — even though we would rather have instant results. As I was reading the gospel of Mark today I noticed an interesting thing about someone who came to Jesus for healing — it took some time. All of the previous healing encounters were instant, but here came this blind man and Jesus healed him incrementally. Here’s how the passage reads, from Mark 8:23-25:

And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 

That was a new twist in the long list of healings Jesus had performed up to that point — healing in two stages. I’m not going to comment from a theological perspective (since I’m not one), but I’d like to comment from a personal perspective. Here are all the things I love about how this blind man was incrementally healed and what it could mean for me:

• If I come to the Lord asking for healing and I don’t receive all that I’ve asked for, I have permission to be honest and say so — I can admit it’s not perfect.

• The implication is that I can be thankful for what I have received, even if it’s not 100% complete.

• The implication is that I can ask for more healing.

• The underlying message from this encounter is a reminder about patient perseverance rather than a reliance on instantaneous results. 

I know this blind man’s incremental healing was a minority experience in the Gospels. But in our lives, don’t you feel that incremental healing is a majority experience? Have you not experienced praying for healing or restoration and had to apply patient perseverance way more often than you’ve enjoyed instant results?

What is your prayer request right now? Are you asking for the restoration of a relationship? Incremental restoration is a win — keep asking! Are you asking for physical healing? Incremental healing is a real experience — thank the Lord for what he has done and be honest about your further needs.

How does this relate to me? Well, I do feel that God has been present in my treatments thus far to offer incremental healing. However, I can identify with the blind man when he was honest about his sight — it wasn’t great yet. If I were to be honest, I would say that I feel my cancer is very likely under control, but I’d like further healing from this neuropathy — I’d really love to be able to use my fingers again! So, that’s what I’m asking for — further healing for my fingers and toes.

Today I’ll be meeting with my oncology radiologist who will prescribe my radiation treatments, then I’ll move on to my fourth and final (kinda final) phase of treatment and hopefully get this all buttoned up before Christmas!

My Love & Blessings,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com

The Power of Boredom

So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

Have the words “I’m bored” ever come out of your mouth? In general, I don’t mind an under-programmed day at all, so I can’t recall declaring a sense of boredom very often in my life, but I know it’s been there.  

I grew up in blizzard country. The technology for accurately predicting weather was still a few decades from being perfected, so a snowstorm could easily creep up right in the middle of the school day when I was young. Since it would be too dangerous for the buses to shuttle us back to our homes in the country, we would be stuck in town — for who knows how long. My mother’s sister lived right next to the school, so I always knew exactly where I would be spending the night when a blizzard stirred up trouble. Sometimes it was a couple of nights!

My Aunt Linda was a minimalist before it was popular. Her home was tidy and other than a robust plant collection it was somewhat bare. In mid-west homes, the basement was almost always the designated space for children to play. But when you descended the wooden stairs in Aunt Linda’s house, you would find an abundance of concrete and a scarcity of toys, or books, or really anything much for children. In all fairness to her, her own children had grown and left home many years earlier.

But the strange sensation that I remember in her home and even in her basement was one of peace. As we say now 'less is more'. Maybe that only means that I’m a minimalist as well. Or maybe it means that I never really minded being alone with my thoughts or coming up with creative possibilities when there wasn’t much in the way of alternatives. 

The point I’m building up to though is the power of boredom — maybe we could call it the hidden blessing of boredom. What some might consider a boring situation often carries great potential. Look what it did for King David in his early years of tending his father’s sheep. There had to have been precious few avenues of entertainment and an abundance of time to ponder things greater than himself. David was able to spend long, uninterrupted evenings studying the stars. He became proficient with his harp and developed lyrics of praise to God that we still enjoy today. He must have crafted slings, gathered stones, and practiced endlessly — until he was accurate enough to kill a lion or a bear (1 Samuel 17:34-35). 

David had as much grass as Aunt Linda had concrete — and not much else. But look what he did with his boring circumstances! He used it to a great advantage, as have many other great thinkers and inventors and artists and theologians and regular Christians. Oh, that we had more scarcity and less busy-ness in our lives — I wonder what we might accomplish for God’s Kingdom.

You may find yourself recently in situations which you consider repetitive or boring. Maybe this is a new experience for you. Perhaps this simple phrase — the power of boredom — might cause you to view your situation differently and inspire you to ponder things greater than yourself. Perhaps God is actually giving you a gift by removing distractions in order to develop other significant areas of your life to better serve Him.

Maybe some of this conversation is what is at the heart of our theme verse: So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

As for me, I’m just moving forward day-by-day. Even though little physical issues continue to pop up that require attention, overall I do feel that I’m getting stronger every day and functioning pretty close to 100%.

My Love & Blessings,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com

Why Not Me?

If one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it.
1 Corinthians 12:26

I’m quite sure most of you spent a good amount of time in the recent weeks following the saga of those two back-to-back hurricanes, Helene and Milton. Natural disasters aren’t new —we've always experienced wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes and people have always been affected by these disasters.

But what I’m pondering this week is the effect that other people’s suffering has on me (and you). The flooded communities in North Carolina are a good example. I see photos or watch videos and feel a strange tug in my heart that asks, why them and why not me? Why am I safe and happy and warm and dry and grocery shopping and going to a ball game and sleeping in my comfortable bed tonight? The untouched normalcy of my life produces a sort of mis-placed sense of guilt — yet, I have nothing to be guilty about, so it must be grief.

I’m sure you have also been distraught by the losses we’ve recently heard about. Or maybe your heart hurts for people closer to home who are suffering in all sorts of seen and unseen ways. It doesn’t have to be a huge natural disaster for people to suffer — couples struggle in their marriage, parents suffer when their children go rogue, families have financial crises, friends suffer from health problems. 

God designed us to live in community and to carry each other's burdens, so it does come naturally for us to empathize with the suffering of others. The Apostle Paul described Christians, as being knit together in love (Col. 2:2). Our theme verse (above) reminds us if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it (1 Cor. 12:26). 

But here is the balance — we also live in a world of rejoicing! Babies are being born, couples are getting married, contracts are being signed, preschoolers are learning to do chores! For all of the suffering around us there is an equal portion of rejoicing and Romans 12:15 charges us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. 

Are you up for the task of doing both at the same time — extending sympathy and handing out attaboys in the same hour? The truth is that other people will sometimes suffer when our life is smooth and we will sometimes suffer when their lives are smooth. So, let’s do whatever we can to weep with those who weep (even if it’s as impersonal as sending relief funds to flood victims), and let’s rejoice with those who aren’t currently suffering — they need our support as well. Mark my words, we will all take our turn at both suffering and rejoicing throughout our lifetime, so let’s do it together!

As for me, I really have been on the receiving end of so much love. So many have stopped for a moment to enter my world and send a card, give a hug, offer a word of encouragement, and to pray. I feel that I’ve been in a classroom with hundreds of instructors who have taught me well the concept of carrying one another’s burdens.  

Treatment-wise I have nothing new to report. I’m just waiting on a final all clear from my surgeon before we move forward with our final phase of treatment. Paul and I have been at the Bar M Ranch for a few days as he has been fellowshipping with other Calvary Chapel Pastors and teaching a few sessions. We take our trailer and I’m thankful they graciously let me camp out during their retreat. We won’t be back for church this evening, but I’ll see you ladies on Friday for our final chapters of Esther, and of course then on Sunday.

My Love & Blessings,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com

Factory Reset

“...Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer… 
he shall be to you a restorer of life...
Ruth 4:14-15

For quite some time, Paul and I have been in the season of life where we pass along our cast-off cell phones to one of the grandkids. Recently however, we took advantage of a trade-in offer and that worked too. We performed the required factory reset, sent off the device, and received a substantial rebate.

Regardless of where your retired tech goes, factory resets are essential. For one thing, you don’t want to pass along your personal information; but also devices begin to act sort of worn-down after years of use. Often a phone or laptop has simply experienced too much life, collected too much clutter, and it really needs to be wiped clean. Sometimes people also experience too much life, collect too many complications, operate with too much confusion, and begin to feel worn-down by everything that has happened — they need a reset.  

This is how I see Naomi, in the book of Ruth. From the opening verses, we learn that Naomi suffered through too much life, too much tragedy, and too much grief — she was no longer functioning at full capacity. It all started with a dramatic migration away from her home. Then came the death of her husband, followed by the unthinkable — the death of both of her sons. By the time she finally made her way back to Judah, she was a shadow of her former self. Ruth 1:19-20 tells us her friends no longer recognized her: The women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara (which means bitter). If there was ever a soul who needed a factory reset in order to function properly, it was Naomi.  

Do you ever wish you could somehow do a factory reset on your life? Maybe you haven’t experienced the drama that Naomi did, but you still sense you’re just not functioning as well as you once did — as well as you could. One of the nuggets of inspiration we acquire through the short book of Ruth is the amazing restoration of Naomi’s life. Just read that theme verse (above) again — God took her from no sons and bitterness, to having a grandson who would be a restorer of life. That’s what factory resets do — they restore things! 

Naomi’s reset didn’t happen overnight, however, it wouldn’t have happened at all if not for one important choice she made. Ruth 2:7 tells us “...she set out from the place where she was…and went on the way to return to the land of Judah.”  I’ve often paraphrased this verse as follows: she pointed her feet in God’s direction and started moving. 

As for us, whenever we feel we’re not functioning as well as we could, the first critical step is to humble ourselves and point our feet in God’s direction. I believe He will respond and begin that process of restoration  in our lives. It might not be an overnight change — but God is in the business of restoring, and step-by-step He is a restorer of life for us. 

As a personal update, I had a very successful surgery last week and I’ve now checked off two of the three major components of treatment. I’ve joked with my friends that I only have radiation left (in November) and my body should be completely reset to factory specs.  Thanks again for your prayers and your support!

My Love & Blessings,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com

At Just the Right Time

Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom 
for such a time as this?
Esther 4:14 (NKJV)

I’m thinking about Esther’s life again this week — and those famous words listed above. Esther, whose Jewish heritage had been concealed, had randomly and unpredictably become the Queen of Persia. A short time later her entire race was slated for annihilation. It was actually Mordecai, her cousin, who posed the above question to her and we get the sense that both Mordecai and Esther simultaneously realized the truth of the rhetorical answer. Esther had indeed been placed within the palace at just the right time and God intended to use her presence there for His purposes — if she was willing to help others.

Have you ever experienced someone showing up in your life at just the right time to offer help? I remember Paul and I happening upon a terrible multi-car accident as we were returning from an event in Sun Valley years ago. It was not a heavily-trafficked road and we were only the fourth car on the scene, but as we stopped to see if we could help, wouldn’t you know cars number one and two both contained trained medical people. What were the chances of those with the resources to help traveling on that lonely road at just the right time?

On another trip through the Badlands of South Dakota, we became the source of help that God put into position at just the right time. A cute little couple ran into big trouble with their too-low-to-the-ground sports car meeting up with too-high-above-the-ground rocks on the roads. (Pro-tip: sports cars and National Parks don’t always play nicely together.) 

Anyway, with a bounty of automotive fluids leaking, and a sliver of cell service, they were able to order a tow-truck from the nearest town — 90 miles away— that would arrive in about four hours. The remaining problem was waiting in 100+ degree temperatures, with no shelter or bathrooms, no food or water. But since we had seemingly been dispatched for such a time as this, we invited them into our trailer, started up the generator for some A/C, made a meal of pancakes and sausages, and the way I remember, the guy even took a shower in our trailer to wash off some of his ground-level auto diagnostics grime.

My Badlands story could hardly be compared to Esther’s dramatic experience — no one’s life was spared that hot day in South Dakota (that I know of). But I do wonder if all of us aren’t placed in random and seemingly ordinary positions way more often than we’re aware of to provide help and support — maybe simply comfort. Do we dare suggest that, like Esther, we’re often placed for such a time as this? I think we can. My simple encouragement to all of us is to be more aware of how God might use us each day.

Here is a great passage from Ephesians that says in New Testament language what the story of Esther describes: 

Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. (Ephesians 5:15-17)

As a personal update, in early May, I had asked you to please pray with me that my summer of chemo would be effective against the aggressive cancer in my body.  Well, you did pray with me and for me, and I want to report that the before and after imaging have proven that your prayers were heard. God has been gracious to cause enough shrinkage of the tumor that my surgery (happening TODAY) will be less invasive than originally projected. 

I really want to thank so many of you who have joined me in prayer over the summer. You have been a huge blessing to me. When you need the support of someone to join you in prayer, I hope you will connect with me and allow me the privilege to join with YOU.

My Love & Blessings,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com