MY LIFE IS IN CHAOS...BUT IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

What do you have going on in your life?  This is Tuesday and I’m thinking ahead to Thursday and calculating what has to be done before then.

“I made the mayonnaise and Ranch dressing but still need to marinate the chicken breasts, slice and freeze them. (My husband needs things to be easy when he makes his own meals.) The laundry is in process and the sheets can be changed on Monday.”

I’m having a third cancer tumor surgery Thursday morning, this time a beast lumpectomy, in the space of four years. Things are relative now: the easy tasks will keep me busy during recuperation while the more difficult ones need to be delegated or put off. It’s a situation that makes me feel out-of-control and that’s something I don’t like at all! I asked the surgeon for a month’s reprieve before the surgery was scheduled to bring a possible change to my situation. I wasn’t sure what could be done but I couldn’t just sit down and do nothing.

My first thoughts, of course, went to familial health. My family has a prolific history of heart problems, high blood pressure and diabetes but no history of cancer. So, that made me think that there is something I’m doing that makes my body fertile for the tainted cells to multiply. Therefore, I begin to investigate the environment that cancer thrives in and what I could do to change that in my body. I’ve read books, watched infomercials and special reports and looked into eating plans so I can help my body become a nuclear wasteland for cancer—a place where it CANNOT grow.

My research indicated that cancer finds sugar to be particularly fertile for its growth as is an oxygen-deprived acidic ecosystem. WOW! That described me exactly. So now what? My plan of attack started with the Whole30 eating plan. This involves: eating lots of meat, of all kinds, which are grass-fed, without antibiotics and artificial hormones; eating lots of fresh (preferably truly organic) fruits & vegetables, of all kinds in all forms; adding in “good” fats of coconut oil, fresh avocados & oil, olive oil and clarified butter; using cage-free chicken eggs; abstaining from: (other) dairy, sugar, legumes, corn, & all grains; and avoiding all processed products (which include preservatives). I admit that it was difficult during the first 30 days of detoxing, but I’ve reaped so many benefits that I continue to cook and eat like this.

This food plan took care of the sugar but what about the acidic pH of my body system? A friend sent me an article that quoted Dr. Otto H. Warburg who won the Nobel Prize for discovering that cancer cannot live in oxygen-saturated surroundings. He suggested a drink that I consume every morning which has not only helped the tumor to shrink but has also helped my GERD situation. Your Body is Acidic

Is the cancer gone? I don’t know for sure but certainly hope it’s being strangled at this moment! I can say with certainty that the tumor has deceased in size during the past 59 days. My doctors are good men and know lots about health but couldn’t help me when I needed it.

As I was listening to Christian radio the other day, the song, “It Is Well With My Soul” came on. I am always moved by the words and decided to look up the backstory on it. I found this information on ¹www.sharefaith.com.

“Horatio Spafford (1828-1888) was a wealthy Chicago lawyer”¹ with everything the American Dream says you need: family, wealth and fame. He was also a devout Christian and even assisted Dwight L. Moody with some of his evangelistic crusades. Surely Horatio was blessed of God and given favor to do His will. Yet…he and his wife “suffered the tragic loss of their young son. Shortly thereafter on October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed almost every real estate investment that Spafford had.”¹ Then, in 1873, his wife and four daughters were on a ship to Europe that had a collision and all four girls were drowned; only his wife survived.

Where do you go from there? How can you get up and go again or have any hope for the future? Horatio Spafford went to his anchor in life and wrote the lyrics to the well-known hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul”¹:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

And Lord haste the day, when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain
It is well (it is well),
with my soul (with my soul),
It is well, it is well with my soul.

God’s love is so powerful that just being in his presence brings healing: spiritually, emotionally and physically. So, to my Savior and Master I have run. It is He who created me, loves and cares for me, redeemed me and set me aside to be with him in Heaven; it is He who will heal me.

Ladying for June 28: My soul is well despite the chaos around me. I am immersed in his love and can only return it with everything I have. I pray you will find that too! 

LEGACY AND A FATHER'S DAY TRIBUTE

I've been following the family lines of the Cooks and the Walkers on Ancestry.com for about 6 years now. The Cook family has been traced back to 1194 with several Earls and Ladys and even a Mayor of London. The Walker clan goes back to 1500 with origins in the Iroquois Indian tribe and a governor of the first white colony in Maryland. Both families had heroes of the Revolutionary War, Civil War (both sides), WWI & WWII, the Korean War and the Viet Nam War; and, not to leave out the women, ladies who played major roles in the frontier life and the expansion of America. Some people might be impressed by this lineage because of the history and the romanticism that have been attached to it. We can look back at these ancestors and see what they did by overcoming obstacles and difficulties that seem insurmountable today. How could they have lived and done that?

So, this is what I see that these "great" people gave me and my family as a legacy: "Life is not easy but it brings opportunities. Capture every one you can and make yourself better."

This is life! We choose a spouse that "compliments" us and pulls the best from us; we have children that we can help to live a more full life than we lived as children; we instruct our grandchildren in the ways of God and love of country and to honor their parents. We buy low and sell high and become wise and economically strong; we become educated and educate others by reading and learning about God and life around us. When opportunities come for us to experience these things more, we seize them and let them transform us and fill us with the sights of life in a fuller dimension.  

But life is often hard and not as exciting as we think it should be, so it's easy to sit back and let it go by without a hint of what we've missed.

My life has been centered around the church and its activities since I was a child. Not only did we gather at the church building but we went to the homes of of other members--in essence we were families that comprised one BIG family. It was a very special time in my life. Now, there is a special page on Facebook to explore and reminiscence about growing up in our small town. There is so much talked about that I don't recognize as part of life in that town! A large part of life passed me by because I was so involved in the church. I had no idea I was missing out...

However, I can honestly say that I was doing what I wanted to do. My life is the Body of Christ and his Kingdom! Nothing else compares to serving it nor is as fulfilling for me. My dad was terrific at praying in public. His normal demeanor was that of humility and a little embarrassed to be in the public eye. But when he prayed, he was not conscious of those around him that could hear his words. He was talking with his friend, the world's creator. There was no stammering or searching for just the right word. He spoke with confidence in the relationship he shared with his Lord and poured his heart out so that others could relate to and desire to have the same thing. 

My mom was an intercessor and prayed for others with a fervency that (I believe) caused God to take notice. I can't tell you of the times that death was averted or difficulties were lessened not to mention occurrences of healing that happened because of her prayers.

So this is what I perceive as my parents' legacy: "Prayer is a reflection of your relationship with God and can make a difference in the life of others as well as yours."

When attending a house church back in the mid-80's, a prayer was spoken out publicly that reminded me of my dad. I asked the man who gave it if I could reproduce it to give to my dad and he gave me permission. At the time I was employed by Hallmark Cards in Kansas City and hired one of the artists to give me a graphic rendering of it. I send it to my dad (and gave a copy to the man who prayed it originally). After dad passed away, it was returned to me. I keep it now as my own prayer and the basis for the legacy I wish to leave behind.

LADYING FOR JUNE 20: Your life will be a legacy of something when you are gone. What will it be? As for me, this is the legacy I want to leave behind: "She knew Christ and make him known through her life."