SAFETY IN THE EARTHQUAKES OF LIFE

SAFETY IN THE EARTHQUAKES OF LIFE

By Ada Brownell

      Our daughter lay dying down the hospital corridor and my heart screamed, “Where are you God?”

      It was the first time in my life an earthquake struck my faith in the message of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall  not perish but have everlasting life.”

      The Bible says, however, if you build your life on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ you can stand through the storms, even a large spiritual and emotional quakes and the aftershocks, as I discovered.

      The interesting thing about faith is it’s an act of the will. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” we’re told in Hebrews 11:1 (NIV). The scripture further explains: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible…. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (verses 3, 6).

      When we back up into Hebrews 10 we’re admonished to keep believing, even when our faith has been shaken: “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him” (Hebrews 10:35-39).

Carolyn Brownell Coney

1959-1990

            Abraham after living a long life of believing and communing with God had his crises when Sarah got tired of waiting and tried to bring about their desires for a child herself. But apparently Abraham kept believing he would father a son and many nations: ^“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:19-20)
           But God was good on his promises, as He always is. Sarah did become with child and Isaac was born.
            Through prayer, study of the Word and surrounding myself with brothers and sisters in Christ, I found I truly believed those who have faith in Jesus will never die, but have eternal life.
            As a Bible student and a medical reporter, I wrote about my journey and the evidence that's everywhere that shows we're than a body.
            Even spring should remind us, there is Resurrection!
            We still miss our Carolyn, but we'll live with her and Jesus forever!

© Copyrigh Ada Brownell April 2015


Summary of Swallowed by Life

SWALLOWED BY LIFE: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal

By Ada Brownell

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

Do you believe you could live with someone else’s heart or kidneys, but not without your body? Evidence shows we’re more than flesh. The author, a prolific religion writer and retired medical journalist, talks about the evidence; the wonder of life with all its electrical systems; the awesome truth about cell death and regeneration; mysteries surrounding the change from mortal to immortal; where we go when our body dies; resurrection; and a glimpse at what we will do in heaven. Questions and answers make this non-fiction inspirational book a great text for group study. It’s written for support groups, religion classes, people with chronic or terminal illness, individuals who fear death or are curious about it, the grieving, and those who give them counsel.

Review: “It was wonderful how the author merged the medical with the spiritual.”

Another review: I was surprised by the high-quality, intriguing group study I found in Swallowed by LIFE! It's hard to find books with good discussion questions like this. I can predict some GREAT dialogues happening because of the thought-provoking nature of the chapters and the questions. It would be a study for people who want to be real and honest in their spiritual walks.

Where you can find Swallowed by Life:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/JnbKVL

Booksamillion.com http://ow.ly/cJmx8

And you can see reviews on GoodReads http://ow.ly/cJmMe

Christian Publishers Outlet in Springfield, MO and Scripture Supply in Pueblo, Colo., also have the paperback

           

      

AN AUDIENCE FOR MY SOLO

By Ada Brownell

“If I’m ever seriously ill and in the hospital, you are the only person who can look out for me,” said my cousin, who had several health problems.

Not long afterward she lay in a hospital bed, alone. Although in severe pain, she had driven herself to the hospital, hitting another car in the parking lot. She hadn’t taken time to call me. I lived across town.

 She had emergency hernia surgery, but when I got there the next morning, something was wrong. Her abdomen swelled and grew larger. She was in misery.

I prayed with her, tried to encourage, but knew she was in trouble physically. She knew, too.

“Do you think she might have sepsis?” I asked the doctor when he came in.

He discovered she was septic. After a CT scan, she was taken back to surgery.

Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection. Sepsis occurs when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight the infection trigger inflammatory responses throughout the body, triggering changes that can damage organs, causing them to fail.

When my cousin came out of surgery, I was informed her blood pressure went down too much and her kidneys were damaged. She was on a respirator, too.

The first thing I did was turn off the television in her room which was turned to a soap opera and other shows my cousin, a committed Christian, wouldn’t choose to listen to or watch.

I held her hand, talked to her, prayed with her, but she was in a medically induced coma. The respirator also was problem. The straps dug into her face, and I asked the nurse to make that more comfortable for her. The nurse loosened the straps.

Although medical personnel said her kidneys might recover, after about a week they concluded her kidneys weren’t working at all, so I asked them to do dialysis. They did.

But yet her condition worsened. In case she could hear, and many people who had been in a coma later said they could hear, I began to softly sing hymns.

“There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,” I sang from “No, Not One!” I followed that with “What a friend we have in Jesus,” “In the Garden,” “Jesus is Passing This Way,” and many others. I hadn’t sung solos in church for years, but every day I visited, prayed, and sang.

One day as I walked out of her room, a nurse met me.

“I kept wondering where the music came from. Then I saw you singing. It was wonderful. I so enjoyed hearing those songs.”

After nearly a month, my cousin died and I prayed the promises of God with her as she passed. I’ll never know if my solos helped, but I was thrilled that nurse was blessed by the words, composed by Christians who also went through sickness, trials and hardships, but their faith was in the Solid Rock, Christ Jesus.

Those composers knew that whether they lived or died they would be with the Lord, as the Apostle Paul declared. I expect to meet my cousin in heaven. The glorious hope is something to sing about, but also something to believe and stand on, live by and go to Glory with.

Jesus said, “Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26)..

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JESUS'S RETURN COULD CATCH US NOT READY

ARE YOU READY?

By Ada Brownell

Yesterday as we passed a cemetery I thought of how many bodies lay there waiting the day when “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

But as I read into the next chapter I noticed a warning: “For you know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

“For when they say, ‘Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

But you are not in darkness, so that this day overtakes you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as other do, but let us watch and be sober...” putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.

“For God did not appoint unto wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him” (1 Thessalonians 5: 2-10).

Then we are reminded to comfort one another with these words.

 I pray today God renews your faith, your commitment, and fills you with His comfort hope and peace.

© Ada Brownell 2015

A THIEF AND THE CATCHING AWAY OF THE CHURCH

Yesterday as we passed a cemetery I thought of how many bodies lay there waiting the day when “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God.

"And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

But as I read into the next chapter I noticed a warning: “For you know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

“For when they say, ‘Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

But you are not in darkness, so that this day overtakes you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober...” putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.

“For God did not appoint unto wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him” (1 Thessalonians 5: 2-10).

Then we are reminded to comfort one another with these words. I pray today God renews your faith, your commitment, and fills you with His comfort hope and peace.

THE REWARD

By Ada Brownell

God has a reward for those who climb over their doubts to leap into the supernatural realm of faith.

 God’s Word says: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).

1. Believe He exists.
2. Believe He loves you (He is pleased you seek Him, and He wants to reward you).
3. Believe He answers the prayers of those who earnestly seek Him.

I remember many miracles in our lives like the time we moved to Thompson, Utah, population 100, three bars, no grocery store except a few items sold in the bars, and no church.

I thought we'd missed God's will for us. For a year I prayed, hoping to move. Then the Lord did a work in me and I told Him if He'd send a helper, I'd start a Sunday school there. Within a week, a lovely young Christian woman my age and her two little boys moved to town and we started a Sunday school in the schoolhouse.

One time when we moved from Arvada, Colorado, to Pueblo we'd prayed the Lord would help us sell our house. God waited until the last minute. The realtor brought us the contract when we were loading the last few things in a U-Haul truck. He helped us sell other homes also, mostly by owner.

He's done miracles of healing in our family. Gary, our oldest son, thought by one doctor to only have a percentage of his kidneys working, found to be whole.

Gwen, our middle daughter, had symptoms of multiple sclerosis, but tests proved otherwise and she's fine.

Doctors recently suspected our youngest son, Jaron, had leukemia because of consistently elevated white blood cell count. After prayer and retesting, he was negative for leukemia and the blood count was normal.

Years ago we had to travel in a snowstorm because my husband’s mother was dying. We had worn-out tires with little tread on the front of our car, making it difficult to control on icy highways. On one Colorado mountain pass we drifted into the left lane on the two-way highway. A truck roared toward us at a good speed. I screamed "Jesus, help us!" It was like the hand of God shoved us into the correct lane and we passed safely.

 God hasn't always answered the way we wished. We lost our oldest daughter to cancer when she was age 31. But God's comfort and peace was there. He doesn't leave or forsake. We sorrow not as those who have no hope.

Keep praying. God is there and He still works miracles.

©Ada Brownell  2014

A SPECK IN THE UNIVERSE, BUT YOU'RE LOVED!

                                          By Ada Brownell

      Recently a Christian astronomer spoke at our church. He has a giant telescope and goes out on his driveway in the middle of the night and takes pictures of what he sees. His photos of the universe have been published by some of the most prestigious scientific journals in the world, including those of the National Space and Aeronautics Administration.

      Dr. Richard Hammer is a chemistry professor at Evangel University, and his work with astronomy began as a hobby. Now he’s teaching astronomy as well.

      After showing slide after slide of the sun, moon, stars and planets spreading endlessly across the sky, he showed us several awesome photos and pointed out how earth is only a little speck humankind can see through the windshield of our technology.

      He reminded us David asked, “What is man that God is mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4).

      A whole universe, with galaxy after galaxy, and God chose this wad of  whirling dirt moving at just the right speed with the correct amount of gravity and oxygen as the place to form a man and woman—His creation. We all know those humans rebelled and didn’t believe if they ate of the forbidden tree that they would die. After all, the serpent laughed and said, “You won’t die.” But not long afterward, they stood beside a dead son and then they died.

       The last slide I remember Hammer showing was a photo of bloody hands, representing the nail-scarred hands of Jesus coming to deliver humankind from sin and death, and I couldn’t help but remember we are only a speck in the universe.

      That night after we returned home I read 1 John 3: 1-3:  “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are the children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

      John says it all.

      © March 30, 2011

AN IMPORTANT PLACE FOR YOUR NAME

Your name appears many places. It first was written on your birth certificate and the wristband you wore in the hospital after you were born.

The government has archives on you, beginning with your Social Security number. The driver’s license bureau keeps records under your name. Your name appears on loans, titles, and deeds.

Your name may be in the news if you receive awards or do notable things. Your name will be listed with marriage licenses and your engagement and wedding announcements may be in the newspaper—but hopefully it won’t be in the divorce column.  If you are in a serious accident or arrested after age eighteen, your name might be in the news.

If you become a screen star, a politician, an inventor, a hero, extremely wealthy, a philanthropist,  a successful businessman, a writer, or just someone who voices an opinion in the right place, people will see your name. Your name could become a household word.

Mostly, however, our names are spoken more than written. Sometimes your name just runs around in people’s heads.

Unless the Lord Jesus Christ returns first or you are lost at sea or buried in an unknown tomb, someday your name probably will appear on a tombstone or an urn containing your ashes.

For the most part, your name reflects who you are and what you do. Today is the day to prepare for the future.

That brings us to an important book where you want your name to appear.

Your success at achieving the ultimate life begins with your name in the Book of Life, the “Who’s Who” of who is going to live forever in heaven.

How do you get in?

Different from some other Who’s Who books, you aren’t required to pay a fee or buy that edition. An entry is free of cost to you—but a huge amount already has been paid in blood by Jesus Christ for your name to be included. That’s called redemption because we were born into sin and the penalty for sin is eternal death.

Jesus told his disciples to rejoice that their names were written in heaven.[1] The last book of the Bible, Revelation, has multiple references to the “Book of Life.”[2]

 Revelation chapter 20 describes the vision the Apostle John saw of the Great White Throne Judgment: “I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to things written in the books.”

 In Revelation 21, we’re given a description of heaven that “has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city. There will be no night. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, and the only humans who will be there are those whose names are written in the Lamb’s (Jesus's) Book of Life.”

It all begins when we make a decision to believe, repent of our sins and accept the redemption, the abundant life, Jesus promised.

That’s when your name is entered in the Book, and becomes special.

--Excerpt from Ada Brownell's motivational Bible study, Imagine the Future You, available on Amazon.  ©Ada Brownell 2014

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[1] Luke 10:20

[2] Rev. 3:5; Rev. 20:12; Rev. 21:27

IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU

By Ada Brownell

This motivational Bible study will help you discover evidence for faith; how to look and be your best; who can help; interesting information about dating, love and marriage; choosing a career; how to deposit good things into your brain you can spend; and how to avoid hazards that jeopardize a successful life on earth and for eternity, all mingled with true stories that can make you smile.

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06