The Hope

I have been meaning to post this on the blog for a while and it has actually been written waiting for me to do so but I have hesitated and I am sorry for that. Today at church and through what my family has been learning is that openness with each other is what family is all about and is the only way we get through the ups and downs of life. Prayer for each other is so important and we could all do better at asking for it. I do want to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for my family with having to deal with the loss of my uncle. A couple of weeks ago my uncle committed suicide and with finding that out our whole family was shook pretty hard. It has been hard to make sense of anything and watch my family go through the heartbreak. I want to ask my fellow brothers and sisters for continued prayer for my family, especially my dad. This coming Saturday the family is having a memorial and I pray that there is healing of hearts, truth spoken, ears and eyes opened, and hearts turned to God. There will be a few people there that we know of that have not given themselves to Jesus and possibly others. I ask for prayer for Rick, who has been asked to basically give the sermon and I have also been called to speak, which is out of my element. That week following my Uncles death and praying again in my favorite place (in the milking parlor) I felt called to share what God has spoken to me. I am not sure if I really want to get up and speak, but I do want to obey. So I am sharing this with you, my brothers and sisters, for encouragement through prayer for my self to go through with speaking in front of many who I have no idea where they are in their walk with God. You all know that I don’t get up in front of others and share intimate thoughts other than through writings. So I just ask for strength to follow this calling I have had. I also thought I would share with you what God spoke to me about and what I will say at the memorial. Here it is-

In the wee hours of the morning on Friday the 8th, I woke up with a start and was wide-awake. The first thoughts in my head were Uncle Richard, whom had been missing since Wednesday and the urgency to pray for him. I have never had this happen to me before but I indeed prayed for my uncle. I sat on the edge of my bed and the words to pray for him came to me. I prayed over and over that my uncle would just call upon the name of the Lord and that is all he would need to do. I am not sure how long I sat there, it could have been a few minutes or an hour but I prayed passionately for his safety. Not knowing what this all meant, I woke up that morning with a feeling of peace. I told my husband Rick about it and how I had this strong feeling that everything was going to be ok. I just knew in my heart that my uncle would be found and that he would be fine and alive and well. I carried this hope with me through that day not knowing that a call later that afternoon would break the family’s heart and shatter that hope that had grown so strong.

Through the days that have followed my mind has kept going back to that early morning and to the strong knowledge in my heart that my uncle was fine. I could not ignore what happened, but why? Was God telling me something? Does He want me to share this with others? I felt the hope wash back over me. I knew then with out a doubt God did speak to my heart and is the giver of hope and life. My natural human thoughts of how this world works was to instantly believe that what I had felt was all wrong and my uncle was truly gone. But now I know through lots of prayer my feelings that he was alive and well are not in the physical sense but in the spiritual sense. My uncle is alive and well in his new body and new home with Jesus. I know that I can’t give you straight facts at this moment as to how I know that He is with God now. None of us were there with my uncle or could read his thoughts, but what I do know is that God is faithful and he never leaves us alone. I do know that God loves us so much. I do know that Jesus died for us and conquered death by rising again to give us life through him. He was there at that moment reaching out his hand with the gift of salvation he so freely gives. Jesus died for us so that we could have life and not just this life but eternal life. God is the God of hope. So let us have faith in God to take care of what we could not and let hope fill our hearts and believe that we will see Uncle Richard again.

Love Steph

A Good Reminder

"A principal thing to write in the notebook of our minds in the area of human relationships is: When people insist on perfection or nothing, they get nothing. When people insist on having what they daydream as a perfect relationship, they will end up in having no relationship at all. When people waste the time they could have - by screaming for more - they will have no time at all. The waste of what could be, by demanding what cannot be, is something we all have lived through in certain periods of our lives, but which we need to put behind us with resolve."
-What is a Family? by Edith Shaeffer

Proverbs 16:23,24 "The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips. Pleasant words are as an honeybomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

Proverbs 17:23 "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

Would we rather have moments in our lives filled with unfulfilled expectations which result in wrecked periods of time which we can't go back and change? Moving forward, I hope to remember this always and speak words of love, encouragement and care.

IHS,
Cammie

David's surgery is done

I just got back to the hotel after David's surgery. Leaving him there all connected to wires and tubes was the hardest thing I have done since leaving my children for 3 weeks. David is doing well so far. He was able to talk and respond coherently. We were told many patients can't so soon after the surgery. The surgeon told us we could make firm plans for travel 3 days after the surgery. He thought that Sunday [our scheduled flight] was too early. Please pray he is wrong and we can go home as planned. Please pray David recovers enough to tolerate the flight home. I have to figure how I am going to sleep tonight. It's been a long rough day. Knowing that people are back home praying for us and thinking of us helps more than I can express. My mantra since leaving David is a line from a Christian song: Rain on I will not drown I am standing firm on higher ground. That along with "I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me" has kept me from getting lost in the emotions. ~Becca

Greetings from Bangkok

I wanted to take a moment while we have internet access to let update you all. It is Saturday afternoon here [Friday about 10:43pm in Oregon]. David and I have been here for almost 2 weeks. We got good news about his heart: even before the surgery it is functioning better and the doctors can't explain it. David and I simply thanked God for the miracle.

He did have to have his blood drawn & sent to Israel twice; it clotted before arriving the first time. This means his surgery got pushed back which is of some concern as we may not be able to leave as planned on August 24. His surgery is scheduled for Monday in the early evening pending having quality stem cells arrive. We are taking it easy this weekend. Got the last of our shopping done. This afternoon David is going to have an hour massage while I will be in the spa for two and a half hours for a body pack and massage. Tomorrow we are going to pack both for the hospital and for home.

When we get to come home depends on David's recovery. His surgery is Monday and we're scheduled to leave less than a week later [very early the following Sunday].It is very possible we will leave on time and we are praying that will happen. We've enjoyed ourselves, but miss the kids so much. We thank you all for your prayers; they are making a real difference in David's health. We ask that your pray his recovery would go smoothly so we can leave on time. I will have internet access again Monday after his surgery and will at least email Cammie with an update. Our life has been one crisis after another since January and it is by prayer we have made it. Thank you for taking the time to pray for us. ~Becca

Awake Oh Sleeper

"If the world has not come to its end, it has approached a major turn in history, equal in importance to the turn from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It will exact from us a spiritual upsurge, we shall have to rise to a new height of vision, to a new level of life where our physical nature will not be cursed as in the Middle Ages, but, even more importantly, our spiritual being will not be trampled upon as in the Modern era. This ascension will be similar to climbing onto the next anthropologic stage. No one on earth has any other way left but -- upward."
Concluding remarks from Solzhenitsyn's address at Harvard....

As I read these words I can't help but think of the early warning systems in place to alert coastal areas of an incoming tsunami. I think we may be a bit beyond the early warning stage but in either case the wise begin to move, leaving behind habit and comfort for higher ground. The skeptic waits until it is to late and the fool stands on the shore, camera in hand waiting to see what happens next.

Are you moving? Handy next steps coming soon...

IHS,
Zach