The Abundant Life
A Christian Family Blog Looking at the Practical Side of Walking with God
Doing Things God’s Way
As human beings we can get comfortable in certain situations or routines. This can happen in good or bad routines. I know for me going to the doctor, getting treatments, and generally not feeling well were just everyday life and I was used to it. I got comfortable in it which sounds weird but it happens.
It has been a little over 3 years since I was diagnosed with cancer. In that time I got really used to being sick, going to the doctor, and getting treatments. It has been a year since my last major treatment and since then I have been feeling better and my doctor’s appointments have been tapering off. I have resting a lot and have been working towards getting my energy back. That chapter of my life is coming to an end.
God saw me through that chapter and I am so thankful for bringing my family and I through it. I have been healed from cancer.
A New Chapter In My Life
So hear I am at the beginning of a new year with a blank slate for my life. I have been praying for God to show me what to do with this new life that He has given me. A month or 2 ago I had felt that God had said for me to spend time with the kids as my wife went back to work during the tax season. This sounded great as I knew that I did not have the strength to return to work full-time myself.
This is when things got difficult. … Continue Reading
The Power of Keeping a Journal
I have been a blogger going on 7 years now. I started with a simple person website where I took some pictures and posted them online in a type of photo-blog. This turned into a family website as the kids were born and from there several other blogs were started to post info on various subjects and topics.
Along the way I felt the need to express some feeling on some personal issues that I was facing. I wanted to have a place where I could say anything that I wanted but did not ever want that to get out. I needed a place to unload so that I did not unload inappropriately towards anyone.
Thus my personal journal was born.
I setup a personal password protected website online. This was so that I could access it anywhere I had an internet connection but at the same time if someone accidentally stumbled upon it they would not be able to access it. I didn’t feel comfortable with keeping a hand written journal because that could easily be opened and read and because I prefer to type as opposed to write with a pen.
What do I write in my journal?
Anything and everything except people’s names. If by the slim chance that someone did find my journal they would really need to know me and the people I know in order to really know who or what I was talking about. My journal is not for others to read anyway. It is a place for me to empty and collect my thoughts so that when I do interact with other people I can do so more effectively. … Continue Reading
Getting Back on the Horse
In life we all have times when certain life events can through us off the back of the proverbial “horse”. It can be embarrassing to be tossed from the horse because as humans we always want to portray that we are in control no matter what life throws at us. The truth is life has a way of unseating us seeming at will. It is not a matter of whether you will every get bucked from life, but when.
In the book of Proverbs there is a verse that says:
For a righteous man may fall seven times
And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity. Proverbs 24:16
In my own life I have fallen several times, sometimes by my own hand, but other times through no fault of my own. Either way, the majority of times I get back on the horse quickly and try not to get into the same situation again.
How did I fall?
This time around my “fall” as I would put it was my cancer diagnosis. As far as the doctors tell me … Continue Reading
This Site Died, But Now It Is Back
My last post had the title – Didn’t Die, I’m Still Around - but unfortunately this site died for a couple of weeks without me knowing it. My credit card expired for the domain nam company and so when they went to renew the theabundantlife.net domain name it didn’t go through. They being the savvy business people that they are pulled the plug on my site and put their own content up. Well things are back to normal around here now. I have been saying that I am going to start writing here again but I don’t. That is a whole other post…
I Didn’t Die, I’m Still Around
It is interesting on how quick time can go by.
I knew that I had not posted to this site in some time but I did not realize that it had been 1 1/2 years. Whew! I realize that with the length of time it has been since I posted and the subject matter I had been writing on that one could easily assume that I did not make it past November 2010. The truth is that I am still here and kicking.
Where Have I Been?
In treatment. Fortunately not cancer treatment – I am going on 2 years since the known cancer in my body was removed. Unfortunately since that time I have had several serious ailments that been as bad if not worse then the cancer. I am not going into details here but if you are interested you can check out my personal site on my health issues -
In the last 2 years I wish I could say that I have been full of faith and have continually had the devil under my feet. I do have victory over the devil (I am still here) but it really has been a battle, the hardest of my life. I all that time I don’t feel that I ever turned my back on God but I definitely have not been “active”. Active to me means daily interaction with regular church attendance. I have not had that.
What God Has Done
What I have had is a God who has been my father and has remained faithful no matter what my prospective of my righteousness is in my eyes. He is faithful, He is loving, He is kind, and I have no doubt of His ability to give me strength when I am weak and feel like I cannot go any further.
I am so humbled by what He has done for me that I feel like I could never pay Him back. I didn’t deserve to survive. But I did through His power. I am still weak and do not know what my life will be like now. Irregardless I have something on the inside of me that wants to do whatever I can in order to let people know God as I know Him. He is not just the savior of my soul but of my body and spirit as well.
He is real and he saved me in so many ways.
He can do the same for you too.
A Season of Thankfulness
As I go into the Thanksgiving season I am overwhelmed by the things that I have to be thankful for. The reason for this is where I was at in my life just one year ago. To be honest I was not very thankful at that time.
A year ago in September I had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. I year ago this week I was in the middle of chemo and radiation treatment. I remember only being able to take one bite of ham for Thanksgiving because I could not swallow. It was a scary and sad time in my life.
This year it is so much different. After a reoccurrence of cancer at the beginning of this year, major surgery, and another regime of chemo I am done and cancer free. Wow, that is the first time I have said that – I am cancer free! It feels good 
.
This year I am looking forward to eating as much ham as I can stuff in my stomach along with all the other Thanksgiving goodies. I have no doctor’s appointments to go to, no treatments, no medications. I am back to a normal life. It feels so good to be here, I am so thankful that I made it through.
Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
There is no way that I could have made it this far without some key people in my life. For them I give much thanks.
Speaking to Your Mountains
It has been a while since I posted on this site. The reason for that is that I have been going through a lot personally especially with going through chemo. As bad as the chemo has been at times I will admit that the emotional and spiritual battles have also been very difficult. During these times the feelings of loneliness and dispair were quite great. It is by God’s grace and the people that He has had around me that I believe allowed me to persevere through these times. There is one other thing that happened during this time that I believe allowed me to push through to victory.
I learned to speak to my mountains.
I am sure that if you have been in church for any amount of time you have heard the scripture that references this phrase. As a recap here it is again:
“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. – Mark 11:23
I was reminded of this verse while listening to Joel Osteen recently. In that message he explained that a lot of us when we get into trouble pray about the mountain that is front of us. We talk about the mountain. We even get others to pray about the mountain for us. What we don’t do is speak to the mountain.
How is Speaking to the Mountain Different then Praying About It?
It is the is the difference between someone talking to you and talking about you – there is a difference. … Continue Reading
Learning to Live in the Moment
It has been a while since I posted here. The reason for that is that so much has happened in my life in the last few months. Literally my life was going one direction and from one moment to the next it went another direction.
What happened was that I found out that the cancer I thought I had beat had come back. Finding out that news caused my wife and I to make some pretty big decisions in a pretty short time. One of those decisions was to have surgery to remove the parts of my stomach and esophagus that had been cancerous.
I ended up having the surgery two weeks later. The surgery went well and the doctor got all the known cancer out. During the weeks following the surgery I would have my good days and not so good days. I learned to understand that this was apart of recovery. Overall though the first few weeks of my recovery went well.
Unfortunately in the 4th and 5th weeks of recovery I ended up in the emergency room 3 times for various things related to the surgery. None of the items ended up being to serious and I thank God for that. Unfortunately during that time it was hard for me to deal with these medical conditions from day to day.
It was during this time that I began to realize that I needed to learn how to live moment to moment as opposed to day to day.
The reason for this is that I would have good things and not so good things all happen in the same day. It would seem at one moment I was on top of the world and the next I was in the lowest pit. As I started having more and more of these days I realized that I needed to cherish the good moments and not dwell on the bad when they came. By doing this it made the not so good moments more bearable.
Paul said it like this:
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. – Philippians 4:11-12 NIV
I think that is what I am learning through all of this. I am learning to not let the bad out-shadow the good. Everyday we have on this earth is going to be filled with good and bad. It is up to us what we choose to look at and dwell on. We cannot control the bad news that comes our way but we can control how we react to it.
Counseling and the Question of Surgery
Previous Post in this Series: Treatment – Lots of Radiation
Or Start at the beginning: Having Cancer as a Christian
Around the second week after receiving chemo I started to go to one-on-one counseling at my church. The reason for going to counseling was to deal with the fear and emotions that I was experiencing while going through treatment. I had looked into some other secular counseling options but I felt I really need my counselor to have a Christian perspective. The reason for this was that I was really believing that it was God ultimately that was going to get me through this. Unfortunately some of the websites that I had visited out there were too accepting of the negative outcomes of battling cancer. I needed someone who would ask me the hard questions about my beliefs and help me deal with my weaknesses.
I got that person.
The interesting part (to me anyway) was that while we did talk about the cancer we talked about a lot of non-cancer things as well. We talked about my life growing up and my interactions with my parents, other family members, and friends. My counselor challenged me on a spiritual level but also on a relational level as well. My counselor had a good balance of psychology and spirituality.
It was during our sessions that I explained that I had interacted with the Lord about my healing and that I had questioned Him about why he did not heal my right then and there. I told them that I had felt God had told me that he was going to heal not only my body but my mind and spirit as well. My counselor was very happy that I had this interaction with God and that I should keep seeking Him which I did. … Continue Reading
When Your Faith is Shaken, Turn Your Eyes to God
In life it is hard to not be swayed by circumstances. Sometimes in life you are on top of the faith mountain one moment and find yourself at the bottom of it the next.
I recently found myself in this situation.
In my previous post a talked about visiting my friend in the hospital who had been diagnosed with cancer a month after I had been. He and I talked about faith and God’s ability to heal him. We also talked about how life and death were in the power of the tongue and how through that power we have the power to stay or leave this life.
He chose to leave.
It was barely a week after I wrote that last post. I can’t say that I blame him. I guess in that week from when I had seen him to when he passed away he had not eaten and was extremely weak. I believe that he got the point where being with God looked like a better alternative then being here on earth. I don’t hold it against him but my heart hurts for him and his family. In my opinion his life was cut short.
His passing shook my faith. … Continue Reading
