Sandy's Journey of Faith: God's Word is Never Outdated

Friday, January 17, 2014

God's Word is Never Outdated

“ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16

If you have never read the Bible, or even portions of the Bible, you might be tempted to think that the Bible is outdated and could not possibly pertain to the fast paced, computer world of today. Nothing could be further from the truth! The Bible is an exciting book filled with God's wisdom to equip us to live in a healthy and purposeful way.

The following writing is by Pastor Jon at Hacienda Heights Baptist Church (my beloved church I grew up in). Thanks to Pastor Jon's encouragement, Jon (my husband) and I are reading through the New Testament this year. It is not too late to start!

A TV star got himself in big trouble by quoting the Bible accurately last month. It seems that people don’t want to hear what God has to say to them anymore. The Bible actually predicted that this would happen in 2 Timothy 4:3-4. “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” We now have a nation full of itching ears that will only listen to what they agree with. If you disagree with them, you are intolerant and a “hater.”

The problem is that God has given us the Bible to help us live our lives successfully, both in this world and the world to come. Although it was written as much as 3000 years ago, the Bible is just as relevant to us today as it was to people back then. All who read the Bible regularly will discover that the verse in Hebrews 4:13 is true: “For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” It is amazing to me that this continues to be true for me, even though I read passages in the Bible 50 times or more. Do you wonder what it would be like to have God speak directly to you? God speaks directly to us through His Word all the time!

Most Christians would agree that reading the Bible is important, but a recent survey by LifeWay discovered that less than 20% of church-going Christians read their Bible regularly on their own. People who do not know what the Word of God says are likely to believe whatever they are told in our society. They are also ripe to be drawn into a cult by people who pick and choose verses that say what they want and don’t give the whole meaning of the Bible.

To try to change this trend, at least in our church, we are declaring this to be the year of the Bible in our church. There are already some of the youth that have decided to read the entire Bible this year. That is awesome, but I know that many who start in Genesis often lose their excitement in Leviticus. I am going to give you a challenge that I think everyone in our church should be able to do. Read the 260 chapters of the New Testament this year. To make it as easy as possible, I am willing to send you a chapter each day to your email. You can email me at Pastordad@juno.com and say “sign me up!” I will start this on Monday, January 13^th. Come on people, let’s spend some time in God’s Word this year! Pastor Jon

I am so blessed that the creator of the universe has written His thoughts and will for me in the Bible. I write my Blog because of Him, and I publish my Blog in a book each year for my daughters to have. My reason for publishing my Blog as a gift to my daughters is the same reason God published His book; I want my daughters to know my deepest desires for them so they too can live purpose filled lives. Life on earth is never easy. There are joyful times, but adversity is always knocking. God has written a book for you to know Him better, and to live a life that will count for Him.

Read!
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.