Cindy Finch Suffering from roller-coaster emotions? I wish I could tell you some sweet little words that would make it better. But I can’t. You are on a long, hard journey. But you are not alone. When you’re reduced to nothing but grit… and even that is diminishing, God promises to hold you in His tender care and stand tough on your behalf. Watch His light shine brightest in your darkness. To the Terminally Ill: Hold hands with God; He knows the way. Do everything you know to do; then leave the rest to the all-powerful One. Let Him choose …
King of the Sewer
Crisis When my friend, Cindy Finch, was pregnant with her youngest son, Brandon, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. “You’d be dead in a few weeks if you didn’t come to see me,” her oncologist told her. When doctors gave Cindy the most aggressive cancer treatments available, they said, “they’ll either kill you or save you.” Cindy became sick beyond functioning; but by a miracle of God, the medicine worked! Five years into remission, Cindy was thrust in another test: The treatments had caused her to develop serious heart and lung failure. Open-heart surgery removed the damaged …
Touching Invisible Places
To be loved and understood is the cry of the human heart. Someone knows you inside in out, remembers what you’ve been through, and how it affects you today. He hears your silent prayers, and knows when your cherished dreams are dashed against a rock. At a women’s missions event this summer, a woman from the next table motioned me over. She was crying. She told me she’d just read “In Tune” from one of the postcard poems I’d placed on each table. I learned that the woman propped up in a wheelchair beside her was her daughter. She had …
Pain’s Window
Writing this poem, I pictured a hurting woman staring out her hospital window while Christ stood protectively over her. She couldn’t see him, but He was crying too, His hand resting on her shoulder. I could tell Jesus ached for her to see Him, to feel Him. I remembered His words as he stared over the ancient city, expressing his brokenness: “Jerusalem Jerusalem… how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” Mathew 23:37 The woman at the window felt hopeless, forgotten and alone. Her …
Why Would God Allow This?
I wasn’t prepared for the phone call. Jay, a friend I hadn’t talked to since high school, had just heard that an innocent little girl in town was raped and murdered…
“Where’s your God in this? Why didn’t He do something?”
Out of this World Counselor
In storms, we need someone who’s going to assess our situation with honesty and fairness. Someone who’s going to perfectly love, understand and guide us. Knowing this, Jesus did something about it: [box] “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.” Jonah 2:2[/box] Thank you, Father, that You never leave me. Thank you for your Counselor who gives me truth and peace. Counselor, thank you for welcoming me in Your presence. Patiently… You download hope, fanning my spirits …
God Never Wastes Pain
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROz6m7DP5oc[/youtube] Whatever you’re going through, Christ sees the purpose beyond your here and now. In 2005 He arranged my friendship with a young wife and mother who was dying of stage four lung cancer. Chantale invited me into her world for regular visits. I was nervous because I didn’t know what to say, but God reminded me of my gift to write poetry. When Chantale said it brought her peace, I kept writing these home and hospice-delivered gifts. What started as poetry in obscurity has become a faith-building gift book. Because God never wastes pain, A Friend in the Storm …
Overly Eager for Heaven?
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3 “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” 2 Peter 3:11-12 Sounds clear enough to me: We’re supposed to be “heavenly-minded,” living …
When Life Falls Apart
Struck by dread and endless questions, in the thick of instant night, tears and fears consume me empty, shred my grit to stick the fight.