Friday, September 23, 2011

Week of September 24 - 30


September 24
 
And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
     Matthew 6:13

 
God does not give us this disease called cancer. God does not strike us with hardship or harm us through retribution. God seeks only to save us from destruction and deliver us from all that keeps us from living fully the life we were created to live. God simply wants us to know and experience the peace, hope, joy and love that God knows. When we place our trust in God and look to God in everything we do, we can begin to experience God’s ultimate will for us every day. In that we will be saved from evil and delivered from debilitating distress.
 
When I am in anguish and pain, I know I need to remember that you can deliver me from falling into despair. I know, too, that you can save me from my own destructive fears. O God, I need you today and I thank you for never leaving my side. Amen.


September 25
 
He made my feet like the feet of deer, and set me secure on the heights.
     II Samuel 22:34

 
It is our faith that enables us to be lifted up to heights we never imagined we could reach. Our faith enables us to find strength we never knew we could have, answers we never thought we could find and joy we never could have expected to experience. Our faith in a good, loving, compassionate and eternal God, equips us to know eternal wonder and infinite peace. This faith is our bedrock and our hope. We must never give up on its power to transform us so that we may triumph over the disease in our midst.
 
My mind can scarcely comprehend, dear God, what you do for me to deliver me from the ravages of cancer and its effects. But I know you are working without fail to give me much more than I could ever do for myself alone. Amen.

 
September 26
 
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
     Matthew 5:16

 
Cancer does not mean that we have to stop living a life that is vibrant, full of possibility or expectant with dreams for tomorrow. Cancer does not have to mean the end of hope, but can mean the start of a new life that is many times better than the life we knew before. Survivors embrace the opportunity to begin a new life, to make new and better priorities and to set goals well into the future they expect to keep. In the darkness a light can still shine and, in fact, it can shine brighter than it’s ever shined before.
 
When I am tempted to give into the darkness, dear God, I know I can come to you to help me see that there is light. You are the most brilliant light in my life. I pray for you to help me reflect your light with my life. Amen.

 
September 27
 
He reached from on high, he took me, he drew me out of mighty waters.
     II Samuel 22:17

 
It often feels as if cancer has hurled us cruelly into a deep and roaring torrent that threatens to drown us in its fury. Those raging waters rush us along, taking all control from us, carrying us to places we neither recognize nor want to be. It pulls us away from all that is comfortable and seemingly safe and it churns us upside down and inside out. But God’s love for us reaches out to pull us from that fury. God’s grace surrounds us with life-saving strength to keep us from drowning in the depths of despair and disease. God’s hand delivers us and gives us new life.
 
God of deliverance, in this storm in which I find myself, I feel so out of control. Remind me that you are in control. And since you are in control I can know that no matter what comes my way, you will give me all that I need. Amen.

 
September 28
 
The God who has girded me with strength has opened wide my path.
     II Samuel 22:33

 
Cancer can have a way of broadening our horizons, understandings, outlooks and future. Far from restraining or limiting us, when seen as an opportunity to change our lives for the better, cancer can enable us to see life in a new and more profound way. When life is threatened, when our mortality is made startlingly real to us, survivors seize the opportunity to make life more meaningful, consequential and filled with joy. The importance life takes on can free us to embrace its wonders and possibilities in more positive and affirming ways.
 
I will celebrate today the renewed opportunities you have given me to live my life more fully and gratefully, O God. I pray to see more goodness and hope than I have ever seen before. I thank you for showing me the way. Amen.

 
September 29
 
You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
     Matthew 5:13

 
Too often a cancer diagnosis gets us written off and too many react to us as useless…weakened…diminished. Expectations are lowered. Hope for the future is tempered. Those attitudes can leave us holding on to very little optimism about circumstances. But cancer does not need to be a death sentence. It does not need to be a statement that our lives are nearing an end. Cancer does not mean our lives have to be diminished. In fact, cancer can free us to live more passionately and gratefully. Survivors embrace that freedom and commit to living in more satisfying ways.
 
In those moments when I feel depleted and spent, I need to be strengthened and revived by you. God of renewal, I ask to feel your restoring spirit today. I need it so very much. I need to live expectantly once again. Amen.

 
September 30
 
… This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
     Isaiah 25:9b

 
Most of us are not good at waiting. In fact, we are quite impatient. We set our own timetables and are disappointed when things don’t go just as we’d like. Often, many of us blame God when life doesn’t unfold as we want. But in doing so, we forget something so utterly important …our timetables are not God’s. We forget it is God who knows best, who offers what we need when we need it and whose timetable is the perfect one for us. Even when we don’t always understand God’s mysterious ways, we can be reassured that they are the ways to seek and to find.
 
My impatience gets in the way of my best interests too many times, O God. But in my reflection I know I need to actively wait on you, and when I do, my needs will be wonderfully met. Amen.

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