Party of Five

Job 2:11-13 When Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. After the loss of our first child, there was this one single act of compassion that will always stand out in my mind. One of my closest friends had chosen to come and spend the day with me while my husband had gone back to work. It was to have been my first day by myself since my miscarriage, and this dear friend drove over to my house with her arms stocked full of packets of hot cocoa mix and "chick-flicks"...you kno...

Everytime I've been pregnant, it has always amazed me at how different my outlook on life is once I realize that I'm expecting a new baby. I go from daydreaming about actually being pregnant to daydreaming about the life that was now growing inside of me. My obsession would continue to grow each day, making sure that what I ate and what I did, above all, benefited my baby's health. I have even found myself holding a one-sided conversation with the baby (who often would kick back a reply or two if I was lucky!) The child that was forming inside of me consumed my every thought during the day and my dreams at night. The fact was, I always felt like I'm on top of the world, the luckiest woman in the world, and I felt as though I had it all! And what does Job have to do with any of this? Job was devout and when it came to his knowledge of who God was, he didn't compromise in his belief. * Job 1:3 reads that Job was the greatest of the Qedemites, his wealth was measure i...

My Jesus I love Thee, I know thou art mine; for thee all the follies of sin I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou - if ever I loved Thee, my Jesus 'tis now. Being raised in the Church of Christ, I had probably sung that hymn hundreds of times, and yet , six years ago, I found myself on a February Sunday morning with those words that were so bitter in my mouth that I could barely utter them. In 1998, after trying for nine months, my husband and I found out that we were expecting our first child. All of our excitement, hopes and dreams were quickly dashed to the ground when we lost that baby due to a miscarriage at ten weeks. My doctor had diagnosed it as a blighted ovum - our baby had simply stopped developing. But we were told that there was no reason for us to not try again. So we did! It took a year, but eventually we were pregnant again! I had a normal pregnancy, a long and hard labor, and eventually delivered an 11-pound baby boy via c-section. We were i...

...and it scares me out of my mind to tell it. I'm not harboring some deep, dark secret. But it is such a personal journey I have taken, that for me to put it out there makes me feel like I'm standing here naked for the entire world to see, judge, criticize and sympathize. For almost 3 years now, it's been sitting in a binder in my basement, and I didn't really know what I was supposed to do with it. So I offer to whomever is reading this, my story and testimony of healing. Of where I was, and where my ever faithful God has brought me to. We may live a righteous life following God's commands, but we might still face overwhelming struggles. The book of Job reminds us that our suffering is not necessarily evidence of sin in our lives. Rather, it is evidence that, even in our suffering, God is in control and has a purpose. We can trust God to bring good out of our suffering both for ourselves and for those we love.* Can we trust Him enough to claim the words of Psalm 1...

A few years ago, I took a class on the books of Acts & the Apostle Paul's Letters. The entire class was great, but there was one section in particular that always stood out to me as that one defining moment in the class, My "AH-HA" moment, or rather that moment in time when the light bulb finally went on in my head! Ephesians 1:3-12 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalt...