|
|
From My Heart to Yours
|
The story I am about to tell you is 100 percent true.
Though it is filled with somewhat overwhelming
circumstances, it is dowsed with God’s protection and sweet revelation. As you venture through this month being
reminded of love and tenderness, please take time to ponder this testimony of God’s intervention and loving
protection….
“Miss, Your heart just stopped for
seven seconds. Please don’t move!
We’ll get cardiology down here
right away!”
Those were the life altering words spoken at Cleveland
Clinic Hospital on September 26, 2002 by the nurse who
frantically entered my room.
Minutes later another nurse came into my room and
said… “Miss, I have no idea how you are in this bed right
now. There is no chart on you. You don’t have a referral letter. You do need to be here, but I have no idea how you
got through the ER doors. You don’t follow any of the protocol that our hospital follows. I can’t get you to the
cardiac ICU until I get a chart made for you. Please be
patient, I will have to make one myself. ”
Immediately, I told the nurse that I believed in the
power of God and that I felt He got me into the Clinic. He
replied, “I believe you, because I have worked here for
fifteen years and I have never seen a situation that
completely ignores all protocol!” He then proceeded to get
the chart made.
For eight days prior to this ER visit my body kept
collapsing and I fell to the ground over a 125 times. As you
can imagine, my body was weak. I had been to two other
emergency rooms that week that sent me home, unable to
diagnose my problem. We felt we had no other choice but
to travel the distance to Cleveland Clinic trusting that God
would make a way to let me through the ER doors. (Since
Cleveland Clinic is a mayo clinic, you can’t just show up.
You are required to have referrals and make an advance
appointment if you are not a current patient.) “With man
this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible
with God” (Mark 10:26-28).
Prior to this, I had been through a year and half of
testing and misdiagnosed with epilepsy due to seizures
being one of my symptoms. During that 18 month time period I progressively got worse, and I spent a lot of time
praying and asking God to reveal what was wrong with me. Even more, I sought his healing in my life.
|
After such a long journey of not knowing what was wrong… God truly prepared me to hear what the doctors had to say that September day at the hospital. I was ready for answers. So, when the doctors told me that I had complete heart block, I had a total peace. (It makes no sense by worldly standards to have peace when you find out you have been in heart failure for 8 days. Yet, our God promises a peace that passes understanding!) Most people who have this condition never get the chance to discover it. Death occurs first. It is an electrical problem that malfunctions in the heart causing it to stop beating. The Chief electro physiologist at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Wilcoff, sat by my bed and told me he had no idea how I was even alive. Not to mention, he was amazed that I had never been harmed (not even a bruise) in the hundreds of times I had passed out during my lifetime. In the Cardiac ICU I proceeded to tell him I had passed out since I was a child every time I was sick. Because I was a missionary for years, I had also passed out in multiple countries. It was a very sweet moment when I was able to tell him how every time I passed out, God never left me alone. He always put a relative, a friend, or several times a compassionate stranger in my path to pray with me and help me get help or get to a hospital.
Dr. Wilcoff proceeded to tell me I needed a pacemaker. At the ripe young age of 31 it wasn’t on my Christmas list. However, I knew I would feel better once I had one implanted! I am wired up and have been serving the Lord both pre-pacemaker and beyond in my ministry business of Adonai Fine Arts Center. I count it a joy to be able to remind children of their incredible worth to Jesus! Truly He cares for their every need! I can speak with confidence of his tender mercies towards us.
If time would allow, I would elaborate on all of the ways God gave me comfort and favor during a very hard time in my life. He literally opened miraculous doors to get me into the Cleveland Clinic and quickly opened a spot for me to get the pacemaker surgery! He restarted my heart hundreds of times and in multiple countries; making sure I was never left alone. He demonstrated His love for me in so many sweet ways. He tells us to “cast our cares upon Him for he cares for us” (Psalms 55:22). He tells us “He can do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). If this month holds loneliness or sadness for you, please know He longs to show you His sweet comfort and care. Accept these words of testimony to God’s great ability to do the miraculous in our lives from my heart to yours!
Gina Kerhin
New Philadelphia, OH |
Our Furry Friends
|
My daughter’s 19-year-old horse,
Cali, was sick. Very sick. After a few
months of treatment with no results,
the difficult decision was made to put
the thoroughbred down. My daughter,
Tara, had gone through losing her
beloved dog only months before, and
was not dealing well emotionally her
horses‘ illness. Losing an animal is
very hard and disposing of an animal of
that size can be very unpleasant. More
often than not, a landfill is the only
option and Tara could not fathom that
for the horse who was her friend and
companion for 15 years.
In my eyes, it was somewhat of a
miracle that a friend of the family, Rev.
Hugh Berry, offered to let us bury the
horse on his farm. A kindness in which
I will never be able to repay. With a few
friends, a backhoe operator and the
veterinarian, Cali, would be led to
where would be her final resting place
in the field. And, only a few miles from
Hunter Ridge Farm, where Cali had
been boarded for the last dozen years.
It turned out to be a very sad, yet heartwarming
experience for me. A Godwink,
if you will.
My daughter wisely chose to allow her best friend, Stasha, to be present in her absence that day. The trainer where Tara boarded her horse had kindly offered to trailer Cali to her final resting place and I was grateful for Tiffany’s support, as well. The term “raining cats and dogs” does not begin to give justice to the nasty weather that cold Wednesday morning a few days before Christmas. Cali and all of us slogged down the lane alongside Hugh’s three small dogs.
|
Not one to love small animals, strangely, Cali didn’t seem to mind the animals tagging along. It was as if she was a peace with what was to come.
We had done what we could to keep the horse comfortable and rather than put her through a grueling trip to the facility at OSU, more testing and treatment that may not help; and due to her advanced age, we made the choice to allow Cali a dignified death. It was not an easy choice but one that had to be made.
Standing alone beside the fence line and taking in the scene 500 yards in front of me, I was very emotional. All at once, I saw one of the dogs halfwalking, half running through the mud towards me. As I leaned over to pick him (or her) up, the dog warmly nuzzled my neck. We were both a muddy mess. A few minutes passed before Cali took her last breath and laid down. All of a sudden, the dog I was holding wanted down and quickly ran back through the muddy field. He (or she) and the other dogs began gently licking Cali and surrounding her. It was as if they were saying farewell to a friend.
God always provides comfort to those who are mourning and on that day, it was the presence of caring friends, a gentle veterinarian and three small dogs who helped me say goodbye to a horse that wrapped her tail around my heart.
Mary Ann Adams
Dover, OH
|
In God We Trust; In America We Vote
|
Faithful Citizenship
Pray First; Then Vote
Register by Feb. 6, 2012
Vote on March 6, 2012
“Politics is dirty.” “Politicians are seedy.” “One vote can’t change anything.” “Christians
are citizens of heaven, not earth.” “Neither
candidate is a Christian, so it doesn’t matter
who wins.” “God is sovereign and controls
everything anyway.” “All elections result in
the leader God chooses—His vote is what
really matters.” Do any of these statements sound familiar? All too many Christians speak
with an astonishing indifference toward the
American political process at a time when the
culture continues to drift rapidly from God.
With the March primary fast approaching, some Christians believe they bear no responsibility in choosing elected representatives. They pay little attention to the
candidates running for office, do not care what
the candidates believe, and often criticize other
Christians for being interested and involved in
the political process. Does it really matter to
God whether Christians vote? Is voting as important as, say, teaching Sunday school or
singing in the choir? If we leave politics alone
and just convert more people to Christ, doesn’t
everything take care of itself?
In 1 Samuel 8:4–5 niv, Israel’s elders gathered and came to Samuel at Ramah, saying
to him, “You are old, and your sons do not
follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead
us, such as the other nations have.” In this
sinful request to replace God’s divine
leadership, Israel wanted to be like their
surrounding neighbors and be ruled by an
earthly king. God granted their request but
gave them a warning. In verse 9, God tells
Samuel, “Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who
will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
God goes on to list many negative events that
would ultimately transpire if His people yielded
their rights to a king. The people would have
little say and end up in bondage.
In the ninth year of King Hoshea, Israel’s last king, “Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria” because of
their sin (2 Kings 17:6 niv). Verse 15 states, “They rejected his decrees and the covenant he
had made with their ancestors and the statutes
he had warned them to keep…. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had
ordered them, ‘Do not do as they do.’ ” Old
Testament history records countless stories of
Israel’s subjugation. They had asked for a king
but often faced tyranny. When a bad leader was
in place, they couldn’t just run to the voting
booth and remove him. They were stuck with him.
|
In America there isn’t a king. There are equal branches of government. Representative authority is limited in duration, and there is an ability to change unacceptable leaders—a system of government most of the world only dreams about—guided by a Declaration of Independence that states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” In a country blessed with shared power derived from the people and given to us by God, shouldn’t we be interested in His will for the best men and women to carry these freedoms into the future? Isn’t voting the bare minimum a Christian owes to a God who has blessed this nation with more freedom than has existed in much of world history?
Choices matter. Free will remains important to God—in fact, it is a central theme of the Gospel. God did not remove the Israelites from the consequences of their decisions. He wanted them to think, plan, and make choices. When Israel stayed close to God, they prospered. When they strayed from Him, they suffered.
Should Christians care about elections and their outcomes? Consider Billy Graham’s sentiment on the matter: “In a world that might say one vote doesn’t matter…, it does matter because each person is of infinite worth and value to God…. Your vote is a declaration of importance as a person and a citizen.”
Christ expects us to participate in the culture. We are to be “salt and light” to a world lost in any number of ruinous activities, thoughts, and desires. We cannot be salt and light while sitting on the sidelines as people far apart from Christ determine the nation’s future. John Jay, the First Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court said, “Providence has given people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
God wants you to vote, and He wants you to prayerfully discuss the decision with Him. Search out His commandments and discover how they apply today. Remember that His Word speaks to people, not governments. Seek to understand what characteristics—spiritual, economic, and social—were present when God’s people were living at their best and at their worst. Then apply this wisdom to the choices in the upcoming March primary after registering to vote.
The book of Jeremiah states, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you…. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (29:7 niv). God wants America to prosper. Christians must look to Him first and then take advantage of His gift granted through the voting booth. It’s the least we can do.
Tom Troyer
Sugarcreek, OH
|
Inner Peace
|
As you know by now, I love watching
a good animated movie. Recently, my
son rented Kung Fu Panda 2 and we set
out to have mother-son time while
snuggling underneath blankets with hot
cocoa on the side.
The movie began where the first
Kung Fu Panda had left off. Po, the
panda/dragon warrior, was flying high
because he had just defeated the Valley of
Peace’s old archenemy and now Po was a
Kung Fu Master. Thinking all was well
and living life large, Po couldn’t foresee
what would happen next. His very
character was going to be tested. Who
was he? Where did he come from? All
those unspoken, yet obvious questions
came to the surface.
His Kung Fu master sets him out on
a journey to find inner peace. He is also searching for who he is, while at the same time trying to save the nation of China
from an evil peacock. Thinking he didn’t
need to listen to his master, Po sets out.
He felt that because he was the dragon
warrior, he would be able to save China
from the peacock. As the movie goes on,
Po, along with the Furious Five, find
themselves in trouble and the peacock
was sure to rule all of China.
It wasn’t until Po was forced to look
at his past and see things for how they
were that he began to realize just what
inner peace could bring about. He sought
out inner peace. Once he obtained it, it
wasn’t long before the peacock was
destroyed by the very thing that had tried
to destroy Po.
So as I finished wiping my tears and giving a shout out to Po for his awesomeness, I began to realize just like Po, I need inner peace.
|
I need to deal with the hurts and the pain from my past if I want to have an effect on this world. Like Tigress, who thought she should have been the dragon warrior and all hardcore, I have a hard shell that protects me from the influences outside or at least I thought I did. I thought that I let things bounce off of me but I have proven myself wrong as I begin the year out determined to be a woman of character.
If I want to be a woman of character in the year to come, I have to deal with the junk that lies deep within me. I can no long hide it away or wait for my enemy to bring up junk from my past. So not only am I striving for character, I’m also striving for inner peace. The peace that I long for is the peace that passes all understanding, and brings hope and glory to the One who deserves it, and when I’m peaceful, I’m resting in the arms of the One who has called me into His glorious light where no weapon that is formed against me shall prosper.
When I have inner peace the Word of God becomes alive in me and I’m a walking example of what was written over 2000 years ago. Indeed His burden is light. As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for my mind is stayed on Him who has caused the storm to cease in my life.
My prayer now not only includes “God, make me a woman of character,” but I’ve added, “God make me a woman of character who has inner peace.” As Master Shifu hoped for Po to find inner peace, my hope is for inner peace to rule in the lives of all who read this.
Jan Slocum
Port Washington, OH
|
|
|
