Total Confidence in God eliminates this lady’s fear of cancer

I sat at the nurse’s station reviewing my first patient of the day. I flipped through her chart as the techs prepared her for the procedure. Nothing special. She was a 56 year old lady from Bradenton, Florida, who had a coin size mass seen in one of her lungs on a routine chest x-ray. Using computed tomography I had been requested by her referring physician to get a piece of tissue from the nodule to be examined under a microscope, by the pathologist to determine histologically if the growth was benign or malignant. Having reviewed her history and her routine chest films, I walked into the procedure room to introduce myself, explain the procedure and answer any questions she might have. I found a pleasant 56 year old female, who seemed quite calm and answered all my questions with a calmness not ordinarily seen in these situations. Most people have a deadly fear of cancer and death and both anxiety and barely suppressed fear are usually the norm.

I explained what I was about to do and that the tissue sample would confirm or exclude malignancy. I explained how I would numb the skin over her chest and then using CT imaging for placement, I would attempt to insert a cutting needle in the middle of the soft tissue mass in her lung and obtain a core of tissue for the pathologist to examine. She listened carefully as I went on to describe all the possible complications associated with the procedure. She smiled and nodded her assent, asked no questions and signed the consent form with the same degree of concern as if signing a letter to her best friend.

(Read the rest at Wtness.org)

A true story as related by John T. Spencer MD,
a recently retired physician, after almost 40 years of practicing Medicine. 

 

How long does Love last?

On the birthday anniversary of my recently deceased Mother in July, I went to her gravesite in Rochester Hills, Michigan at the Guardian Angels cemetery.  When I went, I was not exactly sure why I wanted or needed to go.  Sure, I’m a person who believes in the afterlife, but I’m also a pragmatist, and not much of a sentimentalist.  I think: “Since my Mom’s current life is as a soul in the afterlife, the body she left behind is no more than an empty container… it’s not the real her.  I can’t see that body anyway.  It’s in a grave.  Also, I can remember her from anywhere on the planet, and if spirits can hear humans, then she can hear me from anywhere.  So I was not really sure why I went. 

When I stood over her grave (and the grave of my departed father and my brother Jim), I thought, unsentimentally:  “Hmm, the grass above their graves is pretty dry, sparse and has weeds.  I might pull the weeds.  But what would that matter to any humans on this earth?  Would that really matter to my Mom, Dad, and Jim?  That seems so incidental.  It affects nothing.  Very few if any family members come here.  If I did care for the grass, would I be doing it so that the rare visitors would have a better experience?   Doesn’t it seem that the same minutes could be better spent doing something for my own immediate family members, who are still alive?”

While I was thinking about that, a Chrysler Minivan pulled up several tens of yards away, and an old short man walked out and over to a six foot tall black curved-top marble monument with some Greek name on it.  He made the sign of the cross on himself, indicating to me that he was either Catholic or Orthodox.  I wondered what he thought as he motioned that hand pattern.  Did it help him in some way?  Did it help his dead relative in some way?  Did it help God in some way?   It seemed not valuable.  (I’m being difficult in this posting to set up a contrast.  Of course I see value in it, but not in the way that most people define value… it’s a confirmation of my own beliefs to me and to my God)...  

(Read the rest at Wtness.org)

This man has no arms and no legs. Why does he not curse God?

(this blog has grown up and is now a full website.  Please go instead to www.wtness.org.)
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Nick Vujicic was born without arms or legs.  Yet he loves God and Jesus Christ.  How is that possible? Nick tells his own story.

Nick Vujicic was born with no arms or legs

• If I fall and think I can't get up, I haven't failed until I stop trying. Only then will it be true that I can't get up. But if I keep trying, there's always hope, and the possibility that I will get back up.
• Sometimes you have doubts about what is going to happen in the future, and it scares you.
• But I found my strength in Jesus Christ.
• My victory is not when I stand up.  It's when I know I can't do this on my own. 
• If God can cause a man without arms and legs to smile, then God can cause us to be thankful, and to hang on to the hope that we have.

Nick Vujicic surfing with Bethany Hamilton

In February, 2012, Nick married this woman. They now live in California. They hope to become parents some day.

In February, 2012, Nick married Kanae Miyahara

(Read the rest at Wtness.org)

Find Jesus in the Lasagna

No, this is not another tacky silly story about how somebody found a silhouette of the Lord on a burnt piece of toast.   No pictures in the lasagna.  Rather, two people I love thought of lasagna at the same well-timed moment, and it made us all think we were receiving ‘help from above’.

In the previous blog post,  I mentioned that I’d write two stories about real-life coincidences that indicate to me the love of Jesus in the days before my Mom's death, because someone was provided exactly what they needed in a surprise way.  This is one of those stories. 

Background:  at the time of this story, my mother was declining in health rapidly due to breast cancer.  My brother-in-law was in the hospital in a touch-and-go situation requiring daily attention from my wife and her sisters.  And my middle daughter Monica was getting less attention than she normally gets when she comes home from college for a several-day break.

So my wife Mary, stressed to the hilt but still mindful of the needs of her children, said to Monica, “Sweetheart; I haven’t given you much attention recently.  I’d like to do something nice for you. 

...


(Read the rest at Wtness.org)

My Mom died 10 days ago. Why do I love God more?

On March 3, my mother died.  It rocked me. This woman who raised me from an infant; who poured herself into the care and formation of her four children… was no longer on this world.  We each need a mother.  I no longer had mine.

For many days prior to her passing and many days after her passing, I found myself overwhelmed by the quickly rising waters of sadness.  On three occasions, I broke down while other people were present.  Once it was in the middle of church. (I think it embarrassed my wife, who simultaneously put her arm on  me to show her support). 

I could keep the sadness at bay a number of ways:  By working to increase her comfort in her final days; by working to arrange the funeral with my siblings immediately after she passed; by working on cleaning the decades of accumulated flotsam out of her house while all of us were still in town; by eating more; by sleeping when I couldn’t get mental relief; by trying to have some laughs with friends about nonsense.  But none of these controlled the sadness for long.  Before long it found a new way in.

Why in the middle of this sadness do I find I’m closer to God?  Isn’t my belief in God grounded in the idea that he will remove all sadness, and will replace it with a mindless sickeningly sweet joy?  No. I’ve gotten to know Him now for a few decades, and I know Him better with each passing year and with each passing difficulty and success...

(Read the rest at Wtness.org)

Experienced a living Jesus while living a sinful life

After turning back to Christ in the 80's, for the second time, I was really trying to understand God and was still wondering if this whole concept was real, or if it was just something to keep people in line, like "Love Thy Neighbor" and "Treat others as you would have them treat you". I was not married to the woman that I was living with and still married to my second wife at that time. But, the more I sought God, the more He moved us apart. She soon moved out and lived with a friend that I use to do a lot of drugs with. I had my two oldest kids with me at the time, whom they had come to know her as "Mom". After church one Sunday, the kids wanted to visit her.

We walked over and when we entered the house, she was sitting at the table playing monopoly with my friend and his wife. He was tripping, and she and his wife were drinking. My kids went to play in the other room with his kids. I felt a really strong urge to get away from there. I went into the bathroom before I left and prayed. As I started to pray, in the spirit, I was brought up to what I believe was Heaven.

Then, Jesus appeared, sitting on the throne. He spoke three words, "I AM ALIVE", more plainly then if someone right beside me said them...


(Read the rest at Wtness.org) 

Alan from Lebanon, New Hampshire

The Lord's help during a sad time

For several months, two people who are important to me have effectively shut me out of their good graces.  We can't avoid interacting with each other, and when we meet, conversation is reduced to perfunctory exchanges, with not much enthusiasm.  I will be frank here and admit that it hurts more than a little.  In fact, I pass through most days with a melancholy accompanied by a lack of energy for most things.

I have tried to force myself to keep a happy disposition, and I've been temporarily able to use diversions such as seeing other friends or watching a movie to make myself feel better, but beneath it all, there is a long sadness about this.

Today I went to take a walk in the woods near a stream.  I feel closer to the Lord then.  I sat on a log an prayed.  I had been spending regular time with the Lord in readings and prayer and fasting since January, so I'm starting to recognize Him when He's there, though it's nothing as certain as looking at a photo or talking on the phone.

My prayer began as a jumbled mess, with a hundred topics and questions. It didn't take long for Him to jump in and calm me down.  I felt an involuntary calming down of my nerves, and then I had some thoughts that I wondered whether they were my own.  They were not like the thoughts that in the last several months I had voluntarily generated.  Those were like "What can I do to fix this?" "What did I do wrong?" "How can I say how unhappy I am with the mistreatment without making matters worse?"

This calming thought was like this: "You are already taking the right approach by not reacting angrily or upset by this.  You are doing the right thing by purposefully deciding to treat them well." 

I admit, it did calm me down.

(Please to to WTNESS.ORG to read the rest of the story)

Why this poor, hungry man never considered stealing

It was about 1999.  I was taking a walk along Woodward, a large boulevard near my house. Also near Woodward is a motel that offers cheap monthly rates, and this is a place where people with no homes can stay.

An older black man with a shabby coat but dignified air was walking in the same direction as me, so we got to talking, and we found we were both going across Woodward to the McDonald's there.  After about 10 minutes of socializing, I discovered that he lived with his family temporarily in the motel, and was barely making it from week to week while trying to find a job.  He never did ask me for anything.  But he spoke of God. (He didn't know I was a Christian, but nonetheless spoke very comfortably and without embarassment; proudly even, as if he belonged to a royal family despite his current living situation.) 

Not the real man. I didn't have a camera with me.
But he looked like this, content and sure.

He said that some of his acquaintances at the motel use the approach of trying to scam people out of money, and some even steal to feed their families.  But he said that's not an option for him, because he didn't want to do anything to damage his relationship with his Lord. And he was not surprised that the Lord made things just barely work out week after week.

I was impressed.  I decided to help him continue working things out in this way for perhaps another week, and gave him some money.  He had given me something in return.  He gave me a memorable example of how strong faith can help you turn aside temptations to do immoral things for short term gain.

He plans to stay in difficult marriage

I'm certainly not going to name my friend in this posting.  But I do want to applaud him for his position.  He was telling me about an extremely difficult marriage situation, obviously not happy. But after hearing the whole story, he, another Catholic, took the bold stance of saying, "But I believe God wants me to stay in this marriage no matter what, and make the best of it, and try my hardest.  So that's exactly what I plan to do. If God for some reason has a purpose for living with a B**ch the rest of my life, I accept that cross.  But obviously I'll be doing a lot of praying and a lot of working at making it better."

THAT is the spirit of Jesus showing up in my friend.

Related Bible verse:  "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."   Matt 19:6

Unconventional Hope for a Heart Transplant Patient

An acquaintance named Craig, a man with grey hair and a low upbeat voice, told this story yesterday. Craig has a friend who has needed a heart transplant to survive.  He has been waiting for a judgement from his cardiologists at a renowned Michigan hospital, and finally had a visit with them.  They gave him what for anybody else would have been considered a death sentence:  "You are not a candidate for heart transplantation".

The patient's response was puzzling to me, but appealing.  Craig said that his friend said "Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus.  I don't know what your plans are for me, but I accept them.  I know you will continue to be with me the whole way."

What kind of man would react that way?  Either a madman, or a man who really trusts.

I don't pretend to know what went through his head.  But because my acquaintance Craig is not a madman, I suspect neither is the heart patient.  To me, he sees "the future" as having a longer time horizon than just the time spent here on Earth.

Doctor Death - Jack Kevorkian

From June 6, 2011

I was glad when on Christian Radio AM 990, Al Kresta told a story about the vast difference of perception about human life between Dr. Jack Kevorkian (the late advocate of assisted suicide) and an Alzheimer’s caregiver.  Al said that when he interviewed Kevorkian in the late 80’s, Jack said that an Alzheimer’s patient was "a cipher, a zero, a nothing".  Coincidentally, the very next person being interviewed by Al was an Alzheimer’s caregiver.  That man said that the Alzheimer’s patient was certainly a human being to the very end.  Al summarized it as the difference between a Satanic (I don't like the strong adjective chosen, but that's what Al said) and a Samaritan point of view on life.  The Satanic point of view diminishes the importance of life and hope in the quality of the future life.  Satan finds any method of introducing doubt and despair.  In so doing, he can cast doubt on the value of God in that life. 
The Samaritan views what is coming with hope.  The hope of Christ.  And find value in life.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Al Kresta