"You Should Start a Journal. " Part 3

What a beautiful morning ! It is cool, (but not crisp yet) and the sun is showcasing a solid Carolina blue sky. The Lord is blessing us.

Here it is, October, 2013.  Nine years later and I am enjoying this blessing.  It has been a challenging year for our congregation and continues to be so. Much illness, work needs and some of  our friends and family have gone to be with the Lord. But even in the midst of all this God has blessed His people. Much prayer, love and encouragement has gone out  for the saints. Ah, What would we do if this were not so !! Praise Jesus that He intercedes  for us. For in His name we pray.

Much love, many prayers (from many places and hearts), so much encouragement and God's continual presence in my and the lives of my dear ones sustained me in 2003.  But, it was very frightening and one of the first things that I thought about was I am going to die...soon ! Although many rallied around me and were saddened and worried, no one can ever really know how it feels when you have a diagnosis of cancer. ( I feel sure that no one can under stand the pain of losing a beloved one fully either )

Although I was frightened, God was ever there , day by day.  Giving me comfort, sending encouragement through others , reminding me with scripture,  through songs, the very beauty of His creation !  Saying to me, I know....I know your heart ......I know your pain.....I know your weaknesses....and I know your fear.  His mighty arms were tight around me assuring me that It would be okay. No matter what the days ahead brought, He would see all of us through it !!

My dear husband was shocked and saddened but was still able to sleep soundly through the nights. ( Those of you that can do so are very blessed to be able to .  And I am very thankful that my hard and ever working husband can do this. )  But there were many nights at first when I lay awake at night and cried and wondered what the future held.  I was hesitant to wake him for I knew he needed his rest.  One night as I lay there softly shedding a few tears, our lab Blue, jumped up on the bed and lay down between David and myself. She put that velvety soft head on my chest and just lay there, giving me comfort in her own special way. It was amazing how peaceful it made me feel. (I know a lot of you are going.....Sleeping with a dog in your bed,,,,,!!)  It was not something we did on a regular basis, but there were several more nights when she climbed up to comfort me. You know God can even use a big ole yellow dog to show His love.

Blue would  crawl in bed with anyone who let her.  Especially the children..What dog wouldn't !?  She loved to be at all the parties.

 

Blue is over twelve now. All her siblings have passed away.  Today as I sit here writing this, she is laying at my feet panting with very labored breathing.  She has been fairly well, but just since yesterday has had difficulties breathing. Although you can tell that she is hurting from her arthritis , she rises painfully to her paws and follows me from room to room.  She does not want to be alone If this is her time, I pray that she will go quickly and in comfort. I sure vlove this ole yellar dog !!

"You should start a journal. " part 2

Have you ever had something happen to you and later on down the road you see that God had given you a blessing to help you get through a rough time ?  (Even if you are not sure you could call it a blessing.)  And then there are those blessings that bring great  joy!

A couple months before the "worm", I turned 53.  And much to my surprise and joy, my church family threw a huge outdoors cookout and party for me. There had to have been  close to a hundred people there. What joy it was to have so many of my beloved friends  there; talking , laughing, eating yummy food  and enjoying good ole Christian fellowship !

What a wonderful time that was. (And yes, I did love all that attention !!) But most of all , the closeness, the love of the brethren  was very obvious to all. Not only for me , but for the church.

You might be wondering what this all has to do with my story. Well, it has to do with love. The kind that is spoken of in 1 John. (Our pastor has been going through 1 John in morning worship. Pastor Cliff Blair's sermons can be heard at  www.sermonaudio.com. )

All of 1 John is so beautiful and rich. And in chapter 4 we are encouraged to love one another.
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God;and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."  vs. 7 and 8  "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."  vs.10 and eleven. What a wonderful way to see God's love for us... to see it manifested in the love that His body has for one another !!

I remember ,there was a very well known author  and his wife at this gathering He has written many books on theology.  They were staying with a friend of ours and they had brought them along to the gathering. (They were from Great Britain ) They were wondering why my 53rd birthday was being celebrated. Was that a special birthday time in the US ?  "No," replied my friend, "we are celebrating because we just love her."

Just because we love her..... Just because we love our God..... Just because we love our Saviour..... Just because He first loved loved us.

What a gift this party was.  My Father knew what was ahead in the many years of trial. Not only for me,but friends, family my beloved husband, David. A lasting reminder that He loves me...us...His church. All because of His love.

(Photo taken by Debbie  ---Our home ---Fall 2011 )

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God: and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. " 1John 4:7 and 8

"You should start a journal."

There are many things in life that we wish we had done and many things that we had not done. But I do wish that I had taken the advise of my sister, when she had encouraged me to keep a journal of the walk that was to begin with the diagnosis of stage 4 cancer.  Why do I regret now, that I did not ?
Because according to my doctors, they really did not expect me to live past a year at the most.
And now NINE years later, David and myself, along with many others, have witnessed the mighty , merciful loving hand of God . My regret is that I did not document every single minute of this walk !

(Photo of cutesy worm courtesy of Google search)

 

 

 

 " Help, I coughed up a worm !!"

(Warning, this is sort of yucky.)

 

One sunny morning in October I woke up feeling a little congested and coughed.  As I did , something unusual was coughed up. I spit it out. Yuck, it looked Exactly like an earthworm. You know how they look , kind of pale, when they drown in water puddles ? There was not blood or anything else, just the worm.  I grabbed the phone, called my primary care doctor, and told the receptionist that I had coughed up a worm and I was on my way !!  The wormy thing was put in a jar with water and a lid and taken with me.  When I got to the doctor's office they saw me almost immediately. It's not everyday that a patient coughs up a worm.

"Yes ," said my doctor.  " Yes" said his partner.  "It sure does look just like an earth worm !" they agreed.

The first thing they did was, an xray.  I remember sitting in the exam room for quite a while waiting for Dr. G. to come back in the room with the results. When he did come back in , there was a very serious look on his face. "Debbie , I think we have a big problem. " he said. Then he showed me the xray.  In both lungs there were "spots" everywhere. Some were as big as a quarter . We counted by sight at least twenty . "Is it cancer ?" ------- "We can not say at this point, but this is serious."

Blood work was drawn and an immediate appointment was made for me to have a "fine needle" biopsy. 

Before I left the exam room, Dr. G. put his hand on my shoulder and prayed that God would keep me 

and give me grace to get through the trials (that he knew) were coming.

Praise God for our brothers in the Lord who are physicians !

Yes, I was stunned, but relatively calm.  I tried to reach David, but was unable to.  So I called a dear friend who lived near the doctor's office and my pastor.  They met me at the local Burger King and we three gathered in my car and talked, cried and prayed.  

End of part one.

Art Mawmaw in the Kitchen

Art Mawmaw in the kitchen !!

Zucchini here, zucchini there, zucchini EVERYWHERE !

Ya 'll , I have been making yellow squash casseroles and zucchini bread all last week !  But this savory stuffed zucchini was by far my favorite. 

I found a recipe on the web somewhere and never could find it again, so this is what I did .

Stuffed Baked Zucchini

Take 3 med. size squash 

Wash and then parboil while till a fork will pierce skin. (Do not  peel) 

Cool slightly and then split lengthwise. 

Take a spoon an scrape out the middle of each half. And save the insides to be used later. 

Brown some hamburger meat, small diced onions and green peppers. When browned, pour off fat.

I mixed some chopped maters , grated cheese, cracker crumbs and a couple tablespoons if  Duke's. I also added some of the zucchini that I had scraped out  

Then I stuffed each one , sprinkled a little bit if cheese on top and sprayed a bit of olive cooking spray in too of each. 

Put them in a 350 degree oven till they were hot and bubbly   

Yummy!!!  And it makes a complete meal. 

Art Mawmaw in the kitchen

Breakfast Muffins

I bet quite a few of you  were wondering about my previous post of the cookies stuck on the wax paper.  Well, I made ( a three hour )  attempt to come up with my own recipe for a muffin or cookie that would be low in carbs, low fat , high protein and yummy tasting !! Disaster !!! They were not very tasty.  (and they stuck to the wax paper that that I cooked them on !



Now here is a good sounding recipe that blogger Petie  found on google search.  The photo is hers too.  www.pieranchandthepickledpeach..blogspot.com.



Head on over to her blog.  The Breakfast Muffin ( Or cookie)  recipe can be found under archive ,July 10th, 2010.  Enjoy the rest of her interesting blog while you are there.



(If and when I try to make a batch of these , I will post the results.)  They sure do look yummy and healthy !!!