Funny how our own wisdom can trip us up...We may know something, but that doesn’t mean that we can always live it. I loved the last blog I wrote about applying faith by embracing our challenges by putting it into the hands of the Lord. It was working and I was doing well! Until.... my next chemo treatment. I lost my focus. Fear stepped in and side effects became even harder to cope with. I was physically and emotionally struggling. I didn’t have the energy to figure out what was different. So many tears! I had lost the peace of mind that I had before. I needed it to return. I’m sad to admit that I gave in to the fear and became weak instead of embracing the challenge and doing what the spirit had taught me to do. I missed getting the results that were so fulfilling before. Knowing that I had let myself, my family and my Father in Heaven down, I determined that I had to change things back to be ready for the next round. I read uplifting verses and inspiring books. I opened up to the love and prayers of family and friends. I took some time to define my ‘Journey to Wholeness’ with more intent. I wanted to choose JOY! I was able to push the fear away as I began counting blessings. In order to turn things around and ‘choose joy’, I found that I also needed to understand more fully the purpose of suffering, pain, weakness and sin; that it is suppose to go on...to continue, one way or another! I know that life if full of suffering and will always require it. It’s part of our purpose. I am put here to grow through all the challenges that come my way. I needed to understand that God gave them to me with purpose and intent! They will never go away. It was then when I began to understand on a greater level that God will never leave me alone in my suffering, whatever it is. I might turn my back on Him because of my fears, but He will never leave me! He is there for me, and with me, through each trial. With greater understanding, a new vision of my intent, deeper prayers and a Priesthood Blessing, I went to my next chemo treatment with hope and courage, I was choosing joy by counting blessings and knew that with the Lords help I could do this....again. I am happy to report that as I focused on Joy and allowed myself to understand that there was purpose in this experience,...the Lord’s purpose and He was there with me and for me, It turned out so much better. I was able to feel the strength and peace that He gave me before. It was so much easier to endure the same side effects as before, just by focusing on joy and embracing the Lord and His plan for me. Even though we are suffering, we are not intended to feel doomed or lost or left to be in pain alone. He is there, waiting for us to choose joy, by acknowledging each blessing, tender mercy and gift that He so lovingly bestows. Even though our struggles can blind us to everything that we are blessed with. A choice to see our blessings and our gifts, can dim the pain and the problems so that joy, hope and peace can be ours. Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. What is right with your world? Are you seeing the blessings before you? Have you defined your vision for your life or your journey so that you can know what your real intent is? I pray we can always trust God to bring us to our desired destination........Wholeness. Thankfully now, my tears......tears of Joy! ARTWORK: The art work I chose to go with this piece is titled, “Mended”. I painted it to depict the gift of love that is so precious and is bestowed on each us daily, no matter what our trials or pain may be. I hope it can be a reminder that even though we are suffering, we are not intended to feel doomed or lost or left to be in pain alone....find the blessings, feel the love and ‘Choose JOY!’ VISION MAPPING: For anyone that might feel the need to define your vision for your life or your journey, as I have, I have included a download of my ‘5 Step Vision Mapping’ form that you might find helpful in pursuing your vision for your life. You will find it in my 'Motivators' Section. Good luck on all your ventures!
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After being diagnosed with Cancer, my life changed and put me on a path that I never thought I would ever have to experience. So I began this blog to record my thoughts and inspirations about my Journey to Wholeness.
I knew that if I learned to embraced this challenge, I could, with the help of my Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, become healed.....become whole. I want to embrace every step of this journey...My Journey to Wholeness. First of all, what does it mean to be healed or to become whole? Are we seeking a physical or a spiritual healing....or both? My search began with the scriptures. Matt. 9:20-22 “And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment; for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned Him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath make thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.” I hope you don’t mind me assuming that you are also going on this journey with me. I have found that our challenges are easier to bear when we know that we are not suffering alone, that someone else is going through a difficult time as well. Of course it will be your own path, but we can do it together; for we need each other. So may I ask.....What has brought you to this refining walk: this Journey to Wholeness? I think about Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in their fiery furnace, they were strong faithful men who were determined to do Father’s will, no matter what the world was demanding of them. They knew their God would deliver them from the fiery furnace and out of the Kings hand. Sometimes our challenge is because of our own choices, and their consequences, that cast us into the fire, sometimes it’s brought upon us; as with these faithful men. Either way it doesn’t matter, the solution is the same. A few years ago, I learned this simple concept. “Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it not against it. Make it your friend and ally....not your enemy...Include the Lord in your efforts and all things shall be added unto you.” Since then, I have had many opportunities to apply it. Some small and silly, and some larger and consuming. I feel that through learning to embrace whatever comes, my faith is strengthened and I am more open to father’s will. I can also see the Lord ‘s hand in orchestrating and preparing me for this challenge. Through learning this concept, we place our faith in our Fathers plan....we reach out to Him.... just like the woman with an uncurable disease, in the scripture quoted at the beginning, and allow Him to be our significant other in walking this path; this path that is hard. Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, we are placed in a fiery furnace to prove our willingness to allow God’s will to be done; whether the outcome is what we desired, or if it is something different, It will be for our best good and the good of those who share the experience with us. (Daniel 3) I’m sure this journey looks extremely uncomfortable, even too hard from where you are standing. My chemo treatments have side effects that seem undaunting, and you are also facing something that is bringing you to your knees, but one faithful step opens the door for miracles to happen; divine assistance can be ours and the fire will have no power over us, we will be delivered and made whole. Matt. 14:35, 36 “...and [they] brought unto him all that were diseased; and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment; and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.” I love how our faith and trust in following the Lords will in all things, not only brings glory to God, but...we will have received our desires and MORE. Plus....those who have witnessed our miracle are also changed and brought to Holier ground. We are placed on this earth to find our brokenness and exercise our faith and trust in God the Eternal Father and His plan of redemption to bring His light into our lives through those cracks. We need Him to heal and become whole. CHALLENGE: If you, or someone you know, has experienced this first step of embracing a challenge and reaching out in faith, to healing and wholeness, please share with us in the comments section below. I feel we all grow through knowing that someone was strong in facing their challenges and brokenness. Thank You! ARTWORK: With this Blog post, I have shared my favorite watercolor piece. I painted this piece to depict my perception of a loving and caring Heavenly Father. He placed us on this earth to find our brokenness and exercise our faith and trust in Him and His plan of redemption that will bring us home to Him. He wants us to bring His light into our lives, through our brokenness....by putting our faith in Him. We need Him to heal and become whole. |
AuthorHi I'm Jeannie Puzey, Archives
October 2018
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