Sandy's Journey of Faith: Your Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Your Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet

I usually try to do a post every 4-5 days, but the past week was a busy one. In fact, things have been so busy these past two weeks, I have fallen behind in my reading through the Bible, and I did not get to exercise very much. It is funny how the things that are most important for our overall health often get put on the back burner when time is short.

There is always a point of time where I just need to get back to what I know I have to do, so that I can be good at the rest of the things I have committed my time to. This was our first weekend (in three weeks) without an 8:00 a.m. soccer game! I was able to wake up to a quiet house (the rest of my family sleeps in) and get caught up on my Bible reading. It was such a wonderful time with God, and I got so much more out of what I was reading because I was not rushing myself. It is really the way God wants us to start every day. When we start our day with prayer and reading God's word, we set the tone for whatever comes our way. It is easy to fill our minds with the negative, because we live in a world that is fallen. But if we have our eyes on God, we can let Him be our filter for what is important in life.

Former HHBC minister Pastor Westgate (1967-1974) spoke last weekend about needing to be FAT. I liked the idea that the Bible gave permission to be fat since I work so hard each morning exercising so that I don't get fat! Unfortunately, FAT does not mean I can eat what I want and not exercises. FAT is an acronym for Faithful, Available, Teachable. We need to be faithful to God by prayer and following His laws. We need to be available to others as a helper or a listener. We need to be teachable and always learning how to draw closer to God through His word. We need to get FAT!

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. I have suffered much; preserve my life, O Lord, according to your word. Psalm 119: 105-107

Jesus was FAT. He was faithful to His Father God. He was always available to anyone who was seeking, and offered the way to eternal life with God. He was teachable at a very young age, and grew up to be the ultimate teacher.

They found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. Luke 2:46

I am back on track with my Bible reading and coming down the home stretch to finish by the end of the year. This is my third time in reading the Bible in a year. It has definitely been a blessing, and I learn more than I could ever imagine each time I do this. If you don't know where to start, I always enjoy the Psalms. King David struggled with many of the same issues we have today (anxiety, fear, sinful heart, greed). He also tells of great joy when he is in fellowship with God. I also recommend Romans in the New Testament. There is so much to learn from Paul's writings about how to walk in God's ways.

I hope you get FAT this week!

God Bless,
Sandy

The Salvation Prayer

This prayer is an example of what to say to Jesus when you want Him to come into your heart. It is a humble statement between you and God that recognizes that we all fall short of being good enough to face God on our own. Jesus had to pay the price for our sins so we could come before God pure and blameless. You don't need to clean up your life before you pray this prayer. Jesus will come in and help you draw close to him.

Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

My Journey (Revised 07/12/13)

Romans 8:28 says that in everything, God works for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

This is often a tough verse to swallow. We see our life falling down around us due to finances, broken relationships, or disease, and it becomes difficult to trust that God can work through these trials if we look for His purpose and trust in Him. There are times when it seems impossible for God to work anything for the good because things are so bad.

I was diagnosed with cancer in April 2007 when I had a stiff neck that would not go away. For four months I tried chiropractic care, massages, and stretching to try and loosen the knots that were all over my neck and down into my upper back. The stiff neck made sense to me because we had moved into a new house and I thought I had strained something.

Four months later I could not stand the pain any longer. I went back to my trusted chiropractor and he sent me to have an MRI. It was through that test that he saw something horribly wrong. My C5 vertebrae was gone, and my neck had collapsed! He called my husband and I into his office and told us the news that would change our life. There was some type of disease in my neck. He suspected that it was metastatic breast cancer.

We contacted City of Hope, and they asked me to get a bone scan. My life plunged further into darkness when the test came back showing lesions all over my bones. Several tests later, a small tumor in my breast was found, and I was officially diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. It is incurable.

My family decended into the valley of the shadow of death. It was a dark and painful time, and all of our lives changed forever. However, it was during that time God revealed His purpose for me. I have cherished my relationship with God all of my life. Because I had a spiritual foundation, when the bottom of my world dropped out from under me, I had a loving God to catch me. In many ways I feel that God had prepared me for this battle my entire life.

We shared the news with more family and friends, and the prayer support was amazing. I visualized the "switchboard in heaven" completely lit up with prayers for me. We tried to keep up the communication with everyone via e-mail, but a better solution came to mind.

On the eve of my surgery to repair my neck at City of Hope, I started a Blog, and called it "Sandy's Journey of Faith." Little did I know that this was the gift and ministry that God had been training me for. It started with us giving updates, and then turned into a forum in which I could share my faith as I walked hand in hand with Jesus through this trial. Jon would sometimes be a guest writer, and we were getting lots of interest and encouragement from everyone to keep it up.

I am still in awe that I can continue to write and share the ups and downs of living with cancer in such a powerful way. God uses our technology for His glory. I am just the typist, but God is the true writer of this Blog. There are often times when I wake up in the middle of the night (when it is the most quiet) and just start writing something that God has placed on my heart. It is a humbling journey to know that the God of this Universe cares about my Blog, and can use it.

I am forever thankful for the brilliant, and compassionate doctors at City of Hope. I trust them to do what is necessary to give me a good quality of life. My cancer journey has been a roller coaster of chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries, and on going treatments. I believe that God brings doctors into our lives to help us, but He is the ultimate physician, and I have seen miraculous healing as well.

My journey still involves metastasized cancer. God has His reasons for not healing me, and I have learned that His road for me is better that mine. Through it all, I have grown personally closer to Jesus, and I have seen miracles in the lives of people around me that are better gifts that the healing of cancer. When a loved one comes to know this amazing and loving God that I worship, my cancer journey is worth it.

There are hundreds of promises that God has made to those He calls His own. My favorite promise is from Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave you or forsake you." I can say, without hesitation, that God has never left my side throughout this journey of mine. Sometimes the answers have come slower than I would have liked, and often times not in the way I would have envisioned, but God's love is constant and unconditional.

God has taken a broken vessel (me), and has shown His light through the cracks. I am humbled and thankful that you took time to read this Blog. I pray that it has inspired you to seek out a relationship with the one who went to the cross so that you can be free. Jesus makes promises, and He never breaks them.

-Sandy Boulware

Prayer for Salvation

There is not specific prayer that needs to be prayed word for word. It is just a humble statement between you and Jesus as you recognize all that He did because of His love for you. You don't need to clean up your life before saying this prayer. Jesus will help you find a way, through faith, to draw closer to Him.

Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.