HOW ARE YOU?

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen…”  (2 Corinthians 4:16–18 NIV) 

"How are you?"

That familiar question makes me smile as I consider the possibility of giving a totally honest answer after living with cancer for the last two years.

Many times the question comes from a stranger, such as the waiter who introduces himself at our table in a restaurant. The answer is more about making him feel comfortable than about my current health. So I automatically say, "Fine, thanks," even when I'm not so fine.

When a good friend or family member like my son-in-law asks, "How are you?" I sometimes go for the obvious, smart-alecky answer. "I have cancer," I say with a grin, "but otherwise, I'm great." To that, my son-in-law rolls his eyes and vows never to ask me that question again.

Many times the question comes from well-meaning people who care but don't need a lengthy description or a boring tale of woe. Last week at church, soon after I got home from yet another hospital stay, several people asked, "How are you?"

This is when the question challenges me the most. How do I give a current, appropriately honest answer? After all, when cancer enters a person's life, it changes how she is. I liken it to living within a picture frame with a persistent dark cloud on the horizon. But cancer also brings the odd gift of making today's sunshine preciously important, so that day I answered the question this way: "I'm good for today… and today that's good enough for me."

Next week or next month, the appropriately honest answer might be different, so I ask God's help in seeking the right words.

Father, I want the answer to "How are you?" to point back to You. Please give me the words that reflect my faith. 

-- Carol Kuykendall in “Daily Guideposts 2009”

#6360 

Editor’s Note: For a follow-up to this post, go to https://guideposts.org/positive-living/health-and-wellness/living-longer-living-better/the-amazing-way-this-couple-beat-cancer-together/

THE QUESTION OF SUFFERING – Part 1 of 3

Q. Why does God allow tragedy and suffering?

A. You see it all over the news: wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes -- as well as senseless shootings, acts of terror and wars. In addition, there is the everyday pain in individual lives: illness, abuse, broken relationships, betrayal, sorrow, injuries, heartache, crime and death.

People are suffering all around us. And many ask, “Why? Why did God allow this?”

Jesus predicted these things would happen in our sin-stained world. Unlike some religious leaders who wrote off evil and suffering as mere illusions, Jesus dealt with reality. He said in John 16:33, “You will have suffering in this world.”

But, again, why? I cannot stand in the shoes of God and give a complete answer, but we can understand some things.

To illustrate, Leslie and I were driving from Chicago to Door County, Wisconsin. It was dark when it started raining heavily, and then we hit dense fog. I could barely see the line on the edge of the highway, and didn’t know what to do. Then a truck went by us, traveling at a confident and deliberate pace. We could see his taillights through the fog, and realized that if we could just follow those lights, we'd be headed in the right direction.

It is similar with tragedy and suffering. We may not be able to make out all the peripheral details of why, but there are some biblical truths that can illuminate some helpful points of light for us. And if we’ll follow those lights, they will lead us toward conclusions I believe can satisfy our hearts and souls.

-- Lee Strobel in “The Case for Christianity Answer Book” 

#6163

CRIES TO GOD FOR DELIVERANCE

“Save me, O God,
    for the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in the miry depths,

    where there is no foothold.

I have come into the deep waters;

    the floods engulf me.

I am worn out calling for help;

    my throat is parched….

But I pray to You, LORD,

    in the time of Your favor;

in Your great love, O God,

    answer me with Your sure salvation.

Rescue me from the mire,

    do not let me sink;

    deliver me… from the deep waters.

Do not let the floodwaters engulf me

    or the depths swallow me up

    or the pit close its mouth over me.

Answer me, LORD, out of the goodness of Your love;

    in Your great mercy turn to me.

Do not hide Your face from Your servant;

    answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.”  (Psalm 69: 1-3, 13-17 NIV)

We usually think of Jesus in the upper room as calmly and patiently preparing His disciples for their coming crisis; only in the garden are we shown His deep anguish over what lies ahead for Himself.  But if this verse -- "They hated me without a cause." (Psalm 69:4) -- occurred to Jesus as describing His enemies, surely He was also identifying with the rest of [Psalm 69] with its vivid description of overwhelming troubles and importune cries to God for deliverance.  What in the upper room was still under the surface was openly expressed in the garden.

-- John R. Cogdell in "The Humanity of Jesus Christ, as Revealed in Certain Psalms" 

#4817

THE SHEPHERD’S PRESENCE

"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."  (Psalm 23:4 NIV)

When life caves in, you do not need reasons, you need comfort. You do not need some answers, you need someone. And Jesus does not come to us with an explanation... He comes to us with His presence.

-- Bob Benson


#4637

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

“Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, ‘What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him!’”  (Matthew 8:24-27 NIV)

Answers create more questions than they eliminate. Every discovery opens the door to new possibilities. The crest of every hill reveals new twists and turns in the road ahead.

Take the Wright brothers, for example. Their primitive contraption lifted off the ground at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, and flew for a grand total of 120 feet in twelve seconds. During the twelve-second period, many questions were answered. But for every one that was answered, ten more were created. That’s why, after a brief celebration, the brothers went scurrying back to their bicycle shop. They knew their research was just getting started.

Likewise, the disciples learned something important about Jesus when He calmed the waters. But that information opened the door to a thousand new possibilities, and some of them were truly frightening. They knew that someone who possessed that kind of power could do anything at any time…

If your faith reserves have been depleted, maybe you need the kind of jolt the disciples got that day on the Sea of Galilee. Maybe you need to be reminded of our Lord’s awesome power.

-- Mark Atteberry in “Free Refill: Coming Back for More of Jesus”


#4506

MADE FOR ANOTHER WORLD

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were sojourners and aliens on the earth.”  (Hebrews 11:13)

God does not always provide and care for us in ways we might expect in this life. The Bible does not promise this. Peter, James, John, and Paul gave their very lives for the gospel. They viewed the gospel as a treasure not to be lost at any cost. They suffered gladly because they had something in the gospel that had far more worth.

This life is fleeting. This life is fragile. This life is but a vapor’s breath. The next life, the age to come, is where all God’s provision and care for us will ultimately make sense and come together as a whole.

We may not receive healing in this life, but we will receive perfect healing in eternity. We may not see answers to our greatest prayers in this life, but we will receive fully in eternity. Some days God’s provision and care may seem distant, but it will be ever-present in eternity. We long for our world to stop raging and be at peace, but ultimate peace will only come in eternity.

Our hearts ache under the pressures of this life, but it is only because we were made for another world. We are sojourners and aliens on this earth.

-- Matt Brown in an article entitled “Four Truths About God’s Provision"

#4260

THE GREAT BUSINESS OF PRAYER

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”  (Ephesians 3:20 NLT)

Our Heavenly Father has enlisted us, His children, to join Him in the great business of prayer. Failure to understand either side of this partnership will not only influence the effectiveness of our prayer, it will also change the destiny of the world. The cause of Christ moves at a slow and halting pace when God’s people do not pray. It is extremely important that we understand not only God’s willingness to answer but also our responsibility in asking.

-- William Carr Peel

#4054

MISSING THE POINT

Jesus did not give easy answers. His prodding questions and original answers were designed to wake up the minds of both His followers and His adversaries, to stretch the boundaries of their consciousness. On more than one occasion, He had cause to say, "You have missed the point again" (Matthew 22:29).

-- from "Jesus, His Life & Teachings" Daily Calendar

#3749

ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED

“The moment you began praying, a command was given.”  (Daniel 9:23)


This one revelation has the power to change your perspective on prayer.  It will inspire you to dream big, pray hard, and think long.  The answer is given long before it is revealed.  It’s not unlike the Jericho miracle when God said He had already given them the city, past tense.  Do you realize that the victory has already been won?  We’re still waiting for its future tense revelation, but the victory has already been won by means of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is finished.  This isn’t just when God made good on grace; it is when God made good on every promise.  Every single one is yes in Christ.  Past tense.  Present tense.  Future tense.  The full revelation won’t happen until His return, the return that Daniel prophesied, but the victory has already been won, once and for all, for all time.


-- Mark Batterson in The Circle Maker




#3682

SUMMONING GOD'S GRACE

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed fervently for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. “God, how could you do this to me?” he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. “How did you know I was here?” asked the weary man of his rescuers. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied.
It is easy to get discouraged when things are going badly. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering.

Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground; it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

-- Source Unknown


#3543

THE POWER TO CARRY ON

Sometimes the power of prayer is the power to carry on.  It doesn’t always change your circumstances, but it gives you the strength to walk through them.  When you pray through, the burden is taken off of your shoulders and put on the shoulders of Him who carried the cross to Calvary.

-- Mark Batterson in The Circle Maker


#3539

WELL-DEFINED PRAYERS

Jesus is on His way out of Jericho when two blind men hail Him like a taxi:  "Lord, son of David, have mercy on us!"  The disciples see it as a human interruption.  Jesus sees it as a divine appointment.  So He stops and responds with a pointed question:  "What do you want me to do for you?"

Seriously?  Is that question even necessary?  Isn't it obvious what they want?  They're blind.  Yet Jesus forced them to define exactly what they wanted from Him.  Jesus made them verbalize their desire.  He made them spell it out, but it wasn't because Jesus didn't know what they wanted.  He wanted to make sure they knew what they wanted.  And that is where drawing prayer circles begins: knowing what to circle.

What if Jesus were to ask you this very same question:  What do you want me to do for you?  Would you be able to spell out the promises, miracles, and dreams God has put in your heart?  I'm afraid many of us would be dumbfounded.  We have no idea what we want God to do for us.  And the great irony, of course, is that if we can't answer this question, then we're as blind spiritually as these blind men were physically.

So while God is for us, most of us have no idea what we want God to do for us.  And that's why our prayers aren't just boring to us; they are uninspiring to God.  If faith is being sure of what we hope for, then being unsure of what we hope for is the antithesis of faith, isn't it?  Well-developed faith results in well-defined prayers, and well-defined prayers result in a well-lived life.

-- Mark Batterson in The Circle Maker


#3536

THREE PRAYER CONCLUSIONS

First of all, I came to the humble conclusion that our prayers are often misguided simply because we're not omniscient.  I'll be the first to admit that I've drawn some prayer circles around the wrong things for the wrong reasons, and God didn't answer those prayers the way I wanted Him to!  If we were absolutely honest, we would have to admit that most of our prayers have as their main objective personal comfort rather than God's glory.  If God answered those selfish prayers, they would actually short-circuit the purposes of God in our lives.  We would fail to learn the lessons God is trying to teach us or cultivate the character God is trying to shape in us.

A second lesson learned is that no doesn't always mean no; sometimes no means not yet.  We're too quick to give up on God when He doesn't answer our prayers when we want or how we want.  Maybe your deadline doesn't fit God's timeline.  Maybe no simply means not yet.  Maybe it's a divine delay.

Finally, I learned that we shouldn't seek answers as much as we should seek God.  We get overanxious.  We try to microwave our own answers instead of trusting God's timing.  But here's an important reminder:  If you seek answers you won't find them, but if you seek God, the answers will find you.  There comes a point after you have prayed through that you need to let go and let God.  How?  By resisting the temptation to manufacture your own answer to your own prayer.

-- Mark Batterson in The Circle Maker


#3449

GOD ANSWERS PRAYER

Now here's the good news:  If you do pray, all bets are off.  You can live with holy anticipation because you never know how or when or where God is going to answer, but I promise you this:  He will answer.  And His answers are not limited by your requests.  We pray out of our ignorance, but God answers out of His omniscience.  We pray out of our impotence, but God answers out of His omnipotence.  God has the ability to answer the prayers we should have prayed but lacked the knowledge or ability to even ask.

-- Mark Batterson in The Circle Maker


#3258