Monday, April 16, 2012

Stable

As a new Christian I was amazed by those in the church who seemed to be able to do everything. I mean they were everywhere. Appearing at the front door, greeting you with a welcoming smile, hug or handshake when you arrived (even if you were late :-/).
Praying in front of the church with others after a service and then taking the lead evangelistic outreaches. 
Walking down the hallway, you would catch a glimpse of them enthusiastically placing colorful fabric disciples on a flannelboard to instruct even the littlest of lambs in God’s flock. Then, rounding the corner there they were again! ( How did they do that?) Opening the door for you to exit, they sent you off into the real world with a pat on the back and a hearty “God bless you!”
These Super-saints had to be cut from a special cloth. I was just sure that they had an giant “S” emblazoned on their undershirts.
During this time I wanted to do everything too! I especially wanted to do street outreach and visit people that had requested someone in the church to come and talk with them about faith in Jesus. Passionately sharing this desire at a small group, another Christian a bit older than me in the Lord said, “zeal without knowledge is not good.” Ouch! What was he saying? That I didn’t KNOW enough?!?!?! I mean I had been already Christian for a month!
Now,... I believe every Christian from the one who has just received Christ yesterday to the one who has walked with Him faithfully for 50 years has a testimony. Because the unshakable reality is that Jesus has saved their lives. If that is all we know, that is enough to help someone else grab hold of the Life vest and get out of the deadly ocean of sin.
But I understand what he was saying to me...”slow down ...grow.. get grounded a bit more ..let your faith be tested and developed before you step out.” 
Good advice.
I began to notice that some of the people that got saved around the same time as me, who those everywhere Christians, suddenly seemed AWOL. I mean, they just kinda disappeared,
When I was considering this phenomenon, a very wise person shared this analogy with me: ”When you look at the night sky, the stars you see have been in place for a very long time. Now, a shooting star will blaze across the darkness and undoubtedly get your attention; but, as quickly as it has appeared on the scene...it is gone and what you will see clearly once again, are the enduring and well established stars.”
That spoke volumes to me.
If I wanted to finish this race of faith strong then I needed to be more concerned with faithfulness than flash. 
Last week I went for my follow up brain MRI and PET Scan. 
My brain is unremarkable. ( they could use a better word, right?) 
But, seriously that is a great report....all is good in there! 
My PET scan came back basically the same as the last one:
No lymph nodes are seen and the mass is only seen as an opacity.
When we met with the doctor to receive the results she said, “this is good. It’s stable.”
Now “stable” may not sound like the most exciting adjective, but take a look at it’s definition:
Relatively unchanging, permanent; firmly fixed or established, consistent, not easily to be moved, changed, unbalanced, destroyed or altered in value.”
Turns out that in terms of health-physically and spiritually, stability is a beautiful thing.
Be a consistent Christian. You burn brightly for Jesus every single day as you faithfully serve and walk with Him through the small and not so small details of your beautiful life.
 “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7


*Thank you saints for praying for me so consistently! He shines through you!..:-) To Him be the glory!

7 comments:

  1. Praising God with you! Thank you Lisa for sharing a bit of you on here, it has been a blessing to me!

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  2. Most excellent news! Our God is so gracious. And you Lisa, despite what your MRI says, are quite remarkable :)

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  3. Cause we like acronyms :)
    Sustaining
    Trusting
    Abiding
    Believing
    Living
    Eternally!

    Who's still happy dancing out there?!!

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  4. I happy dance everyday in my pool for all the answers to prayers that our precious Lord sends our way daily. Wednesday night after returning home from church i received a call from my daughter, who I could tell was having a hard time holding it together. My granddaughters needed to talk to me they had almost all been injured or killed in a car accident around 9 p.m. On Wednesday on interstate 10. God had spoken to me that day while happy dancing in my pool to pray for safety for my family while driving. I will "happy dance" everyday until I can no longer dance for the answer to our prayers for Lisa, God is mightily using her in our midst.

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  5. Praise God for His faithfulness! What an excellent report. I agree "stable" is all good. It is so encouraging to me to see the Lord shine through you in your journey to healing with your being steadfast in Him. Love...Toni

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  6. It is indeed a glorious day! Praying for you and knowing God is doing an amazing work in your life.As always you continue to be an inspiration in my life.How awesome is our God!

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