A JOYFUL NOISE

Let it go……… Don’t worry; I’m not going to break out into song from the beloved children’s princess movie Frozen .  Although, I wish we did have some snow for Christmas. Christmas.  My parents always ask me what do I want for Christmas; and every year I tease them and break out into the song of “ I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”.  And every year I get that same look from them. You’d think they’d learn by now not to ask me that question.  I usually never really know what to respond when someone asks me “what do I want for Christmas?” (or even birthday, for that matter).  I’m just grateful for what I already have and especially, during this time, for what Jesus have done for us: He came to earth in the form of Man, by being born to the Virgin Mary, so that He bear our sins and die in our place.   Every year, our Christmas celebration looks different.  There have been years were we have traveled up to New York to be with family, ther...

Not only is your affliction momentary, not only is all your affliction light in comparison to eternity and the glory there, but all of it is totally meaningful! Every millisecond of your pain….in the path of obedience is produce a peculiar weight of glory you will get because of that. I don’t care it was cancer or criticism. I don’t care it was slander or sickness. It was not meaningless! Of course, you can’t see what it’s doing. Don’t look to what is seen. Don’t say it’s meaningless. It’s not! It’s working for you an eternal weight of glory. Therefore do not loose heart—John Piper Yesterday (11/17/2019) a Pastor from our church read the above quote from John Piper.  A portion of his sermon was about how justification in Christ will bring Joy in suffering.   There is a purpose in suffering, even if we don’t know the reason now. I think I can safely say that we all know the truths and promises of God.  We can recite them and we can easily use them ...

Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul* Indelible Grace Dear refuge of my weary soul, On Thee, when sorrows rise On Thee, when waves of trouble roll, My fainting hope relies To Thee I tell each rising grief, For Thou alone can heal Thy Word can bring a sweet relief, For every pain I feel But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail, I fear to call Thee mine The springs of comfort seem to fail, And all my hopes decline Yet gracious God, where shall I flee? Thou art my only trust And still my soul would cleave to Thee Though prostrate in the dust   Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face, And shall I seek in vain? And can the ear of sovereign grace, Be deaf when I complain? No still the ear of sovereign grace, Attends the mourner's prayer Oh may I ever find access, To breathe my sorrows there Thy mercy seat is open still, Here let my soul retreat With humble hope attend Thy will, And wait beneath Thy feet, Thy mercy seat is open still, Here let my soul retrea...

On August 17 th , I was on a plane (with my parents) on our way for a family vacation with my Mom’s side of the family.   The first leg of our flight, I was sitting across from a Dad and his little girl (she couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4 years old).   You can tell that this is the little girl’s first time on the plane.   Overhearing the conversation, they were on their way to visit his Mom and apparently his wife just had a baby boy (hey, you can’t really help but overhear conversations, especially with you have to speak up in a louder voice to break the sound barrier).   Anyhow, as the plane was taxiing to the take-off pad (ever so slowly) and as we were waiting to take off, the little girl kept asking her Dad “when are we going to fly???” or “We are flying”.   You can hear the excitement in her voice with every question or thought about flying, and then disappointment with her Dad told her that we’ve not yet taken off from the ground yet.   At one...

Thank you to all of you who have kept me in your prayers, especially these past few weeks.   I decided to update you all via my blog to go into a little more details about what is going on and what the doctors are doing to help me out. My last post mentioned about my recent fall and also about my doctors treatment plan.    He definitely thinks that when I fell, I inadvertently snapped by neck back, causing my already injured neck (from severe whiplash from the car wreck in 2016) to become even more inflamed.   The RadioFrequency Ablation procedure went well, although the recovery time usually takes about a week.    For those of you who don’t know what an RFA is, it is basically going into the nerves via needle-ultrasound and seeing which nerves are causing the pain and burning them; thus, “killing” the nerve, meaning no more pain.   It is all done under a great deal of sedation.   I actually wake up, not remembering much of anything.   ...

 This past year, just as the past several years, has been rough. I was looking back at my planner a few days ago and noticed that almost every week (or every other week), I had a doctor's appointment or some sort of treatment or test to undergo.  It is interesting because many of my friends and especially some of my relatives ask me "what do you do with your time?"  I always respond by telling them that I try to help out around the house as much as I physically can.  As I looked back on my planner from late 2017 into the end of 2018, and saw all those appointments and treatments, it dawned on me how busy I really was and realized how tiring those things makes me.  I guess going to these appointments and treatments are basically "second nature" to me -- I never factor those things in to my "busyness schedule" which ultimately leads to extreme exhaustion (after each appointment). Last year, one of my words for the year is "GROW...

Thanksgiving It seems like such a simple word, yet it holds so much meaning.    It’s a time to gather with friends and family and perhaps reflect over the year and the goodness that God has bestowed upon us. Sidebar: I’ve never seen a movie or TV show that had a Thanksgiving theme episode where everyone went around the table and shared what they were thankful for…..did any of you do that??? We would share with family and friends what we are thankful for in casual conversation, but never around the table.     It seems that as I grow older (gasp!) I’ve been seeing things in a much different way.   For several years we acknowledge Thanksgiving but we also never really made a big deal out of it.   By that I mean, we didn’t go into the big fuss of making an elaborate meals or a special day out of it.   For example, yesterday we had a normal breakfast, simple soup for lunch, and stir fry for dinner.   Mom and I relaxed most of the day because...