The summer break is over and school has begun. Fifteen months ago I entered a medical trial to continue the battle against my blood cancer, multiple myeloma. The cancer has left and has not returned, and we praise God. I continue to receive weekly infusions of blood cells, but I am thankful to be relatively drug-free. We appreciate your prayers and love.<\/p>\n
God gave Susan and me incredible opportunities this past summer to visit family and friends in many places. We traveled to Tennessee a couple of times, to Colorado for Owen\u2019s third birthday, and to Israel, Ecuador, and Spain. I\u2019ll share stories over the course of the year, with all glory going to our Father in Heaven.<\/p>\n
The challenge for the child of God is to be grateful in the good times and the bad. Dealing with cancer for nineteen years, I would say God has answered \u2018no\u2019 or \u2018wait\u2019 more than He has answered \u2018yes\u2019 to thousands of prayers. Though we may struggle with the \u2018whys,\u2019 we can always confidently sing: \u201cYou\u2019re A Good, Good Father\u201d which contains the line: \u201cYou are perfect in all of Your ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus teaches us to trust\u2026 with His words and with His life. \u201cThough He was God\u2019s Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.\u201d (Hebrew 5:8) I don\u2019t fully comprehend this truth, but it is clear Jesus suffered many things before His cruel death on the Cross.<\/p>\n
Like most, I would rather be \u2018blessed\u2019 constantly with good health, abundant finances, and \u2018happy\u2019 times, but it seems the path to maturity involves difficulty. A foreign-born evangelist I admire recently said, \u201cWithout suffering we cannot know the Lord\u2026 \u201d Many might disagree, but this brother has endured much and has recognized good fruit as a product. He would never wish his trials on others or advise a believer to create his own suffering, but he realizes that hardships during the life of faith result in blessing.<\/p>\n
Jesus taught: \u201cThe poor in spirit are blessed\u2026 Those who mourn are blessed\u2026 Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed\u2026\u201d with a future promised but not defined. \u201cFor the kingdom of heaven is theirs\u2026 for they will be comforted\u2026 for they will be filled.\u201d Jesus \u2014 chosen and blessed by His Father in Heaven \u2014 was called \u2018Man of Sorrows\u2019 as He walked the earth, yet now He reigns on high.<\/p>\n
May we learn to ask, seek, and knock as our Lord instructs. And may we learn to trust with child-like faith as we give thanks for the \u201clove the Father has given us, that we should be called God\u2019s children. And we are!\u201d (I John 3:1)<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has now sat down at the right hand of God\u2019s throne.\u201d Hebrews 12:1-2<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.\u201d Matthew 28:20
\n(all quotes of Scripture are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The summer break is over and school has begun. Fifteen months ago I entered a medical trial to continue the battle against my blood cancer, multiple myeloma. The cancer has left and has not returned, and we praise God. I continue to receive weekly infusions of blood cells, but I am thankful to be relatively […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-struggle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3097"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3102,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3097\/revisions\/3102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}