Sandy's Journey of Faith: Sunday School Teacher

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sunday School Teacher

Today I helped out in the Sunday School room for 3rd-5th grade. The last time I taught Sunday School was April 22, 2007. The reason why that is so memorable is because I had found out I had something seriously wrong two days before. The Sunday School lesson I taught that weekend (which was in many ways a blur) was titled "God is at His Best When Life is at it's Worst." Even today as I write this, I get choked up just thinking about how God spoke to me in the very moment I looked at that Sunday School lesson, and how those words came to life ever since. God knew I had a tender spot in my heart for kids and teaching Sunday School, and of all the ways He could have spoken to me, He decided that a children's lesson would be the best way. I love that!

One of the ways I hope I am remembered for when I leave this earth is being a Sunday School Teacher. I started teaching Sunday School when I was old enough to be a helper at Hacienda Heights Baptist Church. I have been teaching Sunday School at Glenkirk since Rachel was two. I remember the good old days of felt boards and hokey crafts. Then the Veggie Tale era was ushered in. I loved those songs (Oh Where is My Hair Brush) and stories. Now the Sunday School lesson is even more high tech. Our youth are so used to video images, even the church has to get smart and use what they can to hold the kid's attention.

One things that has not changed over the years is God's word and the dynamic stories that we all learned as children and take with us into adulthood. Moses parting the Red Sea, David and Goliath, and Noah's Ark. These are amazing stories, but they are not just outlandish stories that we teach our kids for them to say "Wow." We were never meant to out grow these stories. These are true accounts of what happened which have been documented for our history books. These true stories were handed down generation to generation because they were stories that filled the storyteller with awe and reverence at the magnitude of God's love.

I hope that in some way I can show these kids that I believe these stories, and that my God can not only part the Red Sea, but He can perform miracles in our life today. I don't limit what God can do. Nobody should. God can heal a marriage that seems like a lost cause. God can change a life dependant on alcohol or drugs. I believe that God can heal cancer. Most of all, I believe that God can come to earth as a human and conquer death on my behalf.

Jesus said we need to come to God as a child and have child like faith. I truly hope you have put your faith in the story that is still be written and is for all generations.

Love,
Sandy

One thing that will never change is the

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.