Burn out or rust out? What is the process in the human body similar to rust?

Swallowed By Life

Discussion Questions

 By Ada Brownell

Preface and Chapter One

 Discussion questions for Chapter 1 of Swallowed by Life (Answers Tomorrow)

1.      You’ve heard people say they’d rather burn out than rust out. What is the process that occurs to the human body that is similar to rust on iron? When this process occurs in people it is called  _________.

2.       How many people are estimated to suffer from chronic or terminal diseases at one time in the United States?

3.      Name three things you know about the human body that shows we are more than flesh and blood.

4.      How many days does it take for the skin to rebuild?

5.      In how many years does the skeleton become a totally new one?

6.      The mystery of eternal life requires ____________________. Why?

7.      Do you know the scripture this book is based upon and the reference for where it is found in the Bible?

8.      Does death being swallowed by life make sense to you? Why or why not?

9.      Does 2 Corinthians 5:3-5 bring joy or confusion? How? Why?

10.   How does the message of this scripture compare to John 3:16? Can you think of other scriptures with a similar message?

Link to buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell

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

http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

                                          By Ada Brownell

Do you know evidence shows we’re more than a physical body? 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.

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

Ada Brownell bio

Ada Brownell has been writing for Christian publications since age 15 and spent much of her life as a daily newspaper reporter. She has a B.S. degree in Mass Communications and worked most of her career at The Pueblo Chieftain in Colo., where she spent the last seven years as a medical writer. After moving to Springfield, MO in her retirement, she continues to free lance for Christian publications and write non-fiction and fiction books.

      Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/AdaBrownellWritingMinistries

     Twitter: @adellerella

     Blog: http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com Stick to Your Soul Encouragement

     Amazon Ada Brownell author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

THE ONLY WAY OUT IS UP

By Ada Brownell

I recently did research for a newspaper op-ed piece about the perilous condition in which our nation finds itself. The piece appeared in The Pueblo Chieftain December 2011, “The only way out may be up.”

In the 1950s, my husband and I lived in a cabin on top of Tennessee Pass. Les was agent-telegrapher at the Pando Reio Grande Railroad depot, across from Camp Hale, near Leadville. Colo..

One afternoon soldiers arrived on the train. A young man carrying his duffle bag gazed around in awe.

 “Mountains this way. Mountains that way. Mountains over there. Mountains over here. The only way out of this place is up!”

America finds itself trapped in a similar place.

After discussing the national debt and other problems, I wrote:

Our society careens near the precipice on the dangerous curves of moral bankruptcy. Similar to the narrow highway over Battle Mountain, a way out of Camp Hale, we’re near the edge and in a storm it’s difficult to see. Battle Mountain has few guard rails because highway crews need to shove the deep snow over the side.

 Guard rails that historically steered our nation morally have been dismantled— The Ten Commandments nudged over the cliff. Children are taught to worship the created rather than the loving Creator. They grow up believing morality doesn’t matter. The Centers for Disease Control reports we kill 234 babies for every 1,000 live births. In 2008, CDC reports 825,564 legal abortions. CDC’s 2010 report on Sexually Transmitted Diseases identified STDs as one of the most critical health challenges facing our nation, with 19 million new infections each year costing the health care system $17 billion annually.

 At the same time, Freedom of religion is being strangled while secularism becomes the national cult. On Dec. 2, 2011, the Family Research Council released this memo obtained from the Navy concerning Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland: “Navy officials have announced that ‘no religious items (including Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit. FRC brought the memo to the attention of Congress and Rep. Steve King. After speaking to Walter Reed, they were assured the Navy was rescinding the policy.

Many of us love money, things and entertainment more than one another. A large number of couples no longer honor their marriage vows and in their search to find joy compromise everything important and thereby drop into the chasm.

We stand in the storm, mountains to conquer, but no longer have strength or tools to scale them. A large number of folks require alcohol to have a good time or to soothe the conscience and kill the emotional pain. A good portion of our society seeks something stronger, according to the tons of illegal and prescription mind-altering drugs sold.

I believe with the soldier of years ago who said, “The only way out of here is up!”

I added repentance is our nation’s only hope and God is the only one who can lift the heavy burdens of sin, unbelief and rebellion that plague the individual, rob him of peace, strip him of joy, and plunge him into a constant state of despair.

Ignoring the chasm beside the treacherous road we travel will not give us peace. We do need to look up, and when we do, we need to believe that “He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11: 6).

HELP FOR THE GRIEVING AND DYING

By Ada Brownell

 When we walk through difficult times, we need physical, emotional and spiritual help. There is plenty out there if you know what to look for and where to go.

When our daughter Carolyn began to recover enough after chemotherapy, she urgently desired emotional help. I was a thousand or more miles away, and that’s one reason why I wrote Swallowed by Life. I told her about the Cancer Society’s support groups, called her every day, prayed, and flew to see her twice in two months.

Yet, a diagnosis of a terminal, debilitating or painful disease is a whopping load for the patient and his loved ones to carry emotionally, even when the Lord walks with you every moment of the day.

I have several recommendations picked up through wandering around in the medical community and picking experts’ brains.

1. GET A GRIEF-MATE

Find a spiritual partner to help you in your fear and grief. Arrange to contact your grief-mate when you feel overcome by fear, you are terribly sick, have a situation you don’t feel able to handle, or a decision with which you need help.

Your grief mate can be a pastor, a counselor, a Sunday school teacher, a friend or a relative who is spiritually strong.

I have a friend who has battled cancer for years and it recently returned and her husband, Gerald, just discovered he has prostate cancer. Yet, she leads a cancer support group at our church. While she spends much of her time encouraging others, she relies on the love, prayers and fellowship of people filled with compassion.

                        2. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO GRIEVE  

Allow yourself to talk about your loved one, or about your own illness and the doctor's prognosis.

Cry. Jesus wept when he heard his friend, Lazarus was dead. When I was grieving, I set aside a devotional time every day when I could get alone with God and talk to him about my grief. During the day and when you're in public, you sometimes have to shove it away. But I felt better knowing I'd have that time in my upstairs bedroom kneeling and crying before God, telling him about my broken heart.

Each day I stripped another layer off a part of me that felt as if I had died, too, and helped me keep a focus that I am still living and need to fulfill whatever purposes God has for my life here.

It helps to understand the stages of grief and that grieving is normal both for the dying and those left behind.

According to Drs. Frank Minirth and Paul Meier in their book, Happiness is a Choice,[1] there are five stages of grief which occur to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one or discovered he has an incurable illness. Even Christians will have these grief reactions.

1.   The first stage of grief usually is denial.  The person refuses to believe that what is happening is true.  This stage normally doesn’t last long.

2.   The second stage is anger turned outward.  In this stage people sometimes feel angry at God, their doctors, or anyone they feel they can blame for their problem.  Sometimes people even angry at someone who died.  Other people get angry at those in good health or those who haven’t lost a loved one.

3.   At stage three, we have anger turned inward.  The grieving person begins to feel guilty, then begins to be angry with himself.  He absurdly begins to blame himself for everything.

4.   Stage four is when the person feels genuine grief.  Tears and sorrow are normal and help the individual get grief out. Even though we know there is hope for those who “die in the Lord” there should be genuine grief.

5.   The fifth stage is the resolution stage where the person comes to acceptance of the event.  This stage is the result of a person working through the four other grief stages.

                  3. LOOK AT EVERY MOMENT OF LIFE AS A GIFT

When you’re the person who is dying, you still have a purpose in life. I probably told you this before, but when my dad ended up in a nursing home, he kept saying, “I’m no good for anything.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I said. “You’re still not done raising your family. You’re showing us how to grow old.”

 As long as we have breath and our mental faculties we can pray for others, love them, and be an example.

      Don’t let death swallow the days and the hours remaining when there is still life. Love. Smile. Rejoice in the hope you have. Do things you enjoy. Even when you’re ill, you can eat a favorite flavor of ice cream, watch a butterfly outside tasting nectar, listen to a bird’s song, go outside and look at the stars and marvel at the One who created them.             

---

[1] Baker Books, 1983/2007

You can purchase a copy of Swallowed by Life at https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell

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)..

.

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.