LIFE IS IN GOD'S HANDS

A nurse stood beside critically ill patients and watched many die despite fervent prayers and tears.

 “I can’t help but wonder about the effectiveness of prayer for healing,” he told me. “I do know a Christian dies differently and more comfortably than a sinner.”

 I’ve seen miracles, such as the healing of a childhood friend of leukemia and of a kid about 10 years old who had childhood diabetes. I saw people who appeared to have deaf ears opened, all sorts of pain disappear, and we’ve had numerous miracles in our own family.

 Two grand nephews born with holes in their hearts were normal before they went home from the hospital, and we believe God intervened. Our middle daughter was healed so that she didn’t need tubes in her ears although she was set for surgery. Our granddaughter, Melissa, was only a toddler when her parents were moving from Colorado to Oklahoma and got caught in a blizzard. When Melissa left, her chest was tight with croup and her two grandmothers went to their knees. When her parents arrived in Oklahoma, Melissa had no symptoms of croup.

 All of our four youngest grandchildren are miracles because God delivered them from complications during their mothers’ pregnancy. Our middle daughter had symptoms of multiple sclerosis, and after many tests was found to be perfectly normal. That was at least a decade ago and she has received her master’s degree in nursing since then and is doing fine.

 A MRI revealed our son-in-law had a brain aneurysm, but a CT scan showed it wasn’t there. Tests showed our oldest son had only 40 percent of kidney function. He went to a large hospital some distance away, and doctors there found he was perfectly healthy.

 All of these miracles occurred after our family engaged in fervent prayer. Yet, I admit, not all my prayers for healing have been answered. My mother died of a stroke at age 58, despite our prayerful petitions. Our oldest daughter died of cancer. I have several medical conditions. Is there an answer?

 One day I was thinking about the truth of the matter. I know God answers prayer and does heal, but I also know people die every day for whom someone was praying.

 Then, I also thought, people also die every day after surgery that brought back health for someone else, and others die taking medicine that helped others with a similar condition.

 There are no easy answers to the dilemmas that surround our mortality, but through studying scripture I’ve found God is in charge of all matters of life and death. “It is appointed unto man once to die, and after death the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Furthermore, we can be confident he loves us, and whether we live or die, if we know Him, we are the Lord’s (Romans 14:8).


 Ada Brownell is author of Swallowed by LIFE: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Her blog: http://www.inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com ©Ada Brownell Feb. 9, 2012

Joplin makes us uneasy about storms

I live near Joplin, Missouri, where about 1/3 of the city was wiped out last year by a tornado. Visiting what's left of the city where the huge St. John's hospital was chewed to the bones by the horrid beasts that whirled through there. The paws of the monster storm wadded vehicles like tissue paper and threw them over the landscape like litterbugs throw trash out of a car window. Houses disappeared as teeth of the storm chewed hundreds of them down like kernels on a corncob. Thank the Lord they are rebuilding, but many of the building lots where homes formerly stood now are bare except for a "For Sale" sign. Today one twister hit Kansas. Thunder rattles our windows here tonight and lightning is writing graffiti in the sky. Uneasiness grips Missourians more than it used to. Devastation like we saw in Joplin makes us realize we should have a plan and be prepared at all times. We have a wonderful neighbor who allows us to go to his basement. Yet, when the sirens go off, we wonder what we should grab when we go and if anything we need will be left when we return. I had a garage sale recently and tonight as I looked into a closet I asked myself why I didn't sell the big pillows I used to have on my bed with European shams. Than I realized I use those pillows when we go into the bathroom when the sirens go off. Yet, the bathroom isn't safe. I have a huge mirror, a big picture with glass, and glass doors on the bath tub for the shower. I have covered the shower doors with quilts and taken down the mirror and the picture, though, during storm warnings when we couldn't go across the street. The Lord's disciples got caught in dangerous storm, but they were on the water. Amazing that all Jesus had to say was "Peace. Be still," and the winds stopped rocking the boat and the waves settled down like a big fuzzy dog finding the most comfortable spot on a fluffy scatter rug. The Lord has settled many emotional storms in my life. The Bible--God's Word--is where I usually hear His voice. My favorite verse right now is John 16:33. Jesus said, "In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." That is cause for rejoicing. When we get to the other side of trials and tests our faith intact, I probably should rejoice like the folks who stand beside the bare roots of a blown-away home, knowing everything they owned, including their cars, are rubble. Yet they say, "I thank God we're alive. Everything else can be replaced." When we know the Lord, nothing can destroy us. Jesus said, "Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). * Copyright 2012 Ada Brownell

Happy Home

Ponder This: Solomon's hard-to-find virtuous woman looked well to the ways of her houshold and ate not the bread of idleness (Poverbs 31:27). Did you Know? You can clean out the dishwasher in only a few more seconds than it takes to microwave water for tea.

Young and then suddenly--old

I was talking today to a group of friends about the day I realized I really am a senior citizen. "I told my family," I shared, "'Seems like just a few days ago I was a teenager. How did I get old so quickly?'" I then shared that suddenly I am understanding that when Jesus said, "Behold, I come quickly," it's true. Our lives pass so fast if Jesus returns to earth today it will be "quickly" because when we think about it, if we added up all the generations from the time Jesus walked the earth until now, because life is here and gone so fast, His Second Coming, indeed, will be "quickly." One of the women recalled that a Sunday school teacher shot a puff of hair spray into the air and watched until it disappeared. "That's like our lives. We're here, then we're gone." the teacher said. The Bible compares our lives to a "vapor." "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins" (James 4:13-17NIV.)

For Easter: Excerpt from Swallowed by LIFE

The Apostle Paul wrote, “How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:12–14). When our daughter, Carolyn, died, I had the advantage of having not only read and studied the Bible for years, but having taught classes from Josh McDowell’s Evidence That Demands a Verdict, a book that examines facts about the Christian faith. One significant part of McDowell’s work is to determine whether the Resurrection is historical fact or a mere hoax. The author wrote, “After more than 700 hours of studying this subject, and thoroughly investigating its foundation, I have come to the conclusion that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the ‘most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, or it is the most fantastic fact of history.’” When a student asked McDowell why he couldn’t refute Christianity, the author answered, “For a very simple reason. I am not able to explain away an event in history--the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.” McDowell’s first two books were his attempts to refute Christianity. When he couldn’t, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and became a Christian. I knew the Bible has several internal claims that it is the Word of God. For instance, 2 Peter 1:21 says the Bible was written by holy men of God as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost. I’d already read the testimony of many witnesses, but I needed to read them again. I decided to look again at the Bible’s authenticity, at the divinity of Jesus, at His miracles, and at why we can believe He was dead but came out of the tomb alive. Several biblical writers witnessed the dead raised to life and saw Jesus’ victory over the tomb. I noticed what John says: “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us” (1 John 1:1–3). Luke also pointed out he was an eyewitness: “Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses…” (Luke 1:2). The Apostle Peter wrote: “We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). Josh McDowell points out the lives of the apostles were transformed after the Resurrection. According to scripture and biblical historians, every one of the apostles, with the exception of John, who died as a prisoner on Patmos, and Judas, who killed himself, gave their lives because they preached that Jesus rose from the dead. McDowell adds people often become martyrs because of their beliefs—but no one would give his life for something he knew was a lie. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, the disciples would have known it. The disciples knew the earthly body of Jesus was dead and His body was changed and came out of the tomb alive forevermore. Despite being thrown in prison and threats against their lives if they didn’t quit telling everyone about the Jesus rising from the dead, the disciples kept on preaching the truth so others could be saved from eternal death and live. They believed, spread the news, and died for it. Do you believe it? Faith is required for Salvation and if you want to live forever you need to believe. Although much evidence is available to prove Jesus lived, died and walked out of the tomb alive, Romans 10:9 says "If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." That means saved from separation from God for eternity, saved from hell, and saved from death hell and the grave because for you, death will be swallowed by life.