There are some days I feel that I could just embrace Adversity with open arms - just trying to control it with God's strength, but other days I just want to kick it in its rear, but I know without those experiences I would not be the strong person I am today. Know that Adversity/Suffering is what gives you character, and character gives you hope...hope. (John 16:33)
This blog was hand written by Tina about 4 months ago, back on August 12, 2012 but it is just now being posted on this blog for the first time. This is the very last blog entry that Tina wrote in her journal.
Written by Tina and typed by Aaron
Update: As I am typing this blog for my beautiful wife, tears are streaming down my face not because I am sad but because I am so, so proud of Tina. This blog (although it was written almost 4 months ago) came at just the right time for me. My loving Father God and Savior Jesus Christ knew that I needed to read these exact words this morning. This has been the hardest week so far for so many reasons. This has been a week overflowing with adversity and suffering...and yet, it has also been a week full of hope and joy as I can feel my Lord drawing closer and closer to my side. I will give more specific details next week in the blog but until then please keep us in your prayers. We pour out our Father's love to you.
aaron
Friday, November 30, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Our Donkey
Lord, I ask that you prepare Your words for me. Holy Spirit, speak into me the works and words that lay ahead.
Hear me as I pray, O LORD. Be merciful and answer me! My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “LORD, I am coming.” Do not turn your back on me. Do not reject your servant in anger. You have always been my helper. Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me, O God of my salvation! Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close. (Psalm 27:7-10)
It seems it is always an uphill battle for the person with faith, while those who decide not to seek this life of struggles stay in the valley of satisfying themselves. I have learned that as a true believer I must walk in FAITH through ALL my struggles and learn to cry, fight my fleshly self and scream as I take 4 steps backwards and 3 steps forward! Ugh. Some days I just want to dismount myself off the donkey God provided for me; however, I know that it was and is a blessing to our family for we are able to be marketing advertisers for Christ from our donkey.
I pray that you too can see the blessing even when your faith doesn’t seem strong enough – know that God will never abandon you. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak and prepare your words and works for others to receive them.
This blog was hand written by Tina about 3 months ago, back on August 3, 2012 but it is just now being posted on this blog for the first time.
Written by Tina and typed by Aaron
Update: This week, as in weeks past, has continued to be a roller coaster of ups and downs. Have you ever noticed that life seems to be that way? Just when everything is going "great", you get that phone call or something happens at work or in your family and then you are left wondering "what happened?" And then, just as quickly as the difficult times come, you turn around and life seems to go back to "normal" and all seems to be "well again." Well, this past week Tina has really been struggling both physically, cognitively and with bouts of pain. And yet...in the midst of all that we were able to truly give thanks yesterday for all of the amazing blessings in our life that God has given us. I pray that you too can look for and see all of the amazing blessings in your life that God has given you and that you will hold on tight to Him through all of the ups and downs in this life.
aaron
Hear me as I pray, O LORD. Be merciful and answer me! My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “LORD, I am coming.” Do not turn your back on me. Do not reject your servant in anger. You have always been my helper. Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me, O God of my salvation! Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close. (Psalm 27:7-10)
It seems it is always an uphill battle for the person with faith, while those who decide not to seek this life of struggles stay in the valley of satisfying themselves. I have learned that as a true believer I must walk in FAITH through ALL my struggles and learn to cry, fight my fleshly self and scream as I take 4 steps backwards and 3 steps forward! Ugh. Some days I just want to dismount myself off the donkey God provided for me; however, I know that it was and is a blessing to our family for we are able to be marketing advertisers for Christ from our donkey.
I pray that you too can see the blessing even when your faith doesn’t seem strong enough – know that God will never abandon you. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak and prepare your words and works for others to receive them.
This blog was hand written by Tina about 3 months ago, back on August 3, 2012 but it is just now being posted on this blog for the first time.
Written by Tina and typed by Aaron
Update: This week, as in weeks past, has continued to be a roller coaster of ups and downs. Have you ever noticed that life seems to be that way? Just when everything is going "great", you get that phone call or something happens at work or in your family and then you are left wondering "what happened?" And then, just as quickly as the difficult times come, you turn around and life seems to go back to "normal" and all seems to be "well again." Well, this past week Tina has really been struggling both physically, cognitively and with bouts of pain. And yet...in the midst of all that we were able to truly give thanks yesterday for all of the amazing blessings in our life that God has given us. I pray that you too can look for and see all of the amazing blessings in your life that God has given you and that you will hold on tight to Him through all of the ups and downs in this life.
aaron
Thursday, November 15, 2012
I'm in love with your Boss!
That would be with your Heavenly Father. 1 John 4:8 "But anyone who does not love, does not know God, for God is love." Love is one of God's attributes, but Love (in and of itself) is not God.
Long ago the Lord said to Israel "I have loved you my people with an everlasting love. With an unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself." (Jeremiah 31:3)
Real Agape love is a God like quality that never refers to romantic feelings or sexual love. Only if we have God in our hearts can we have Agape love.
Someone once said "Love is selfless, humble, a service to meet the needs of another person, no matter how lowly or menial that service may seem and no matter how undeserving the recipient is of that love." As a matter of fact, in John 13:35 Jesus said "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples."
I'm all smiles and filled with such joy to be able to say that I am in love with the boss of those who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. Your boss's love just baffles me most days. For no matter what I do, He continues to love me and not only does He love me, but He forgives me and has told me and shown me the deepness of Agape love He has towards us. A love from deep within. One that is indescribable. A total love that goes beyond the depths of simple kindness or worldy love!
1 Corinthians 13:13 says that there are three things that will endure: faith, hope and love - and the greatest of these is Love.
Remember to show others your Agape love as Jesus would - no matter how menial the task or how undeserving the person seems. It is showing them how much you love their Creator and Boss. Whether it be pouring them a bowl of cereal, helping them get dressed, lying them in bed to sleep or putting on their shoes in the morning no matter how exhausted you seem to be. Now that's Agape love.
In Romans 5:5 there are all three members of the Trinity. The Father sent His Son to bridge the gap between us, and the Father and Son sent the Holy Spirit to fill our life with love and to enable us to live by His power. See also Acts 1:8
God has given us His precious and bountiful gift of Love! How can we even consider giving Him less than our best?
We have to remember that God is the Creator of all human beings and that means that we were created by Him but there is a difference between being created by Him and being born into a Family.
As Christians we should have an Agape love for our Creator and the only way to understand what that means is to deeply and most intimately seek His Word and His face on a daily basis. Be sure to prepare your heart to receive the opportunities that God will lay in front of you and be open to them.
We should have an overwhelming respect for our Father God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
Our teaching pastor described fear of God as having a reverence, awe and respect to our Boss. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways (Psalms 128:1-6).
This blog was hand written by Tina about 4 months ago, back on July 17, 2012 but it is just now being posted on this blog for the first time.
Composed by Tina and typed by Aaron
Update: Recently my mom came into town to help out Tina, Katie and me and it has been a real blessing. Tina and I have now had more time lately to enjoy each other's company and I am loving it. Tina is continuing to struggle both physically and cognitively but as I stare deep into her eyes I am still able to see the same woman I fell in love with so many years ago.
People have asked me at times how they can help out and I always tell them that the best thing they can do is to pray and we are so thankful to have some many prayers covering our lives. In addition to prayer, I have included a hyperlink below to a Care Calendar that was setup for Tina by our friends at church. There are some practical things on there such as bringing meals and sitting with Tina. If you are interested check out the following link: http://www.takethemameal.com/meals.php?t=YCQY0988
Praying that you experience the amazing Love of our Father that Tina wrote about, Aaron
Long ago the Lord said to Israel "I have loved you my people with an everlasting love. With an unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself." (Jeremiah 31:3)
Real Agape love is a God like quality that never refers to romantic feelings or sexual love. Only if we have God in our hearts can we have Agape love.
Someone once said "Love is selfless, humble, a service to meet the needs of another person, no matter how lowly or menial that service may seem and no matter how undeserving the recipient is of that love." As a matter of fact, in John 13:35 Jesus said "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples."
I'm all smiles and filled with such joy to be able to say that I am in love with the boss of those who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. Your boss's love just baffles me most days. For no matter what I do, He continues to love me and not only does He love me, but He forgives me and has told me and shown me the deepness of Agape love He has towards us. A love from deep within. One that is indescribable. A total love that goes beyond the depths of simple kindness or worldy love!
1 Corinthians 13:13 says that there are three things that will endure: faith, hope and love - and the greatest of these is Love.
Remember to show others your Agape love as Jesus would - no matter how menial the task or how undeserving the person seems. It is showing them how much you love their Creator and Boss. Whether it be pouring them a bowl of cereal, helping them get dressed, lying them in bed to sleep or putting on their shoes in the morning no matter how exhausted you seem to be. Now that's Agape love.
In Romans 5:5 there are all three members of the Trinity. The Father sent His Son to bridge the gap between us, and the Father and Son sent the Holy Spirit to fill our life with love and to enable us to live by His power. See also Acts 1:8
God has given us His precious and bountiful gift of Love! How can we even consider giving Him less than our best?
We have to remember that God is the Creator of all human beings and that means that we were created by Him but there is a difference between being created by Him and being born into a Family.
As Christians we should have an Agape love for our Creator and the only way to understand what that means is to deeply and most intimately seek His Word and His face on a daily basis. Be sure to prepare your heart to receive the opportunities that God will lay in front of you and be open to them.
We should have an overwhelming respect for our Father God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
Our teaching pastor described fear of God as having a reverence, awe and respect to our Boss. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways (Psalms 128:1-6).
This blog was hand written by Tina about 4 months ago, back on July 17, 2012 but it is just now being posted on this blog for the first time.
Composed by Tina and typed by Aaron
Update: Recently my mom came into town to help out Tina, Katie and me and it has been a real blessing. Tina and I have now had more time lately to enjoy each other's company and I am loving it. Tina is continuing to struggle both physically and cognitively but as I stare deep into her eyes I am still able to see the same woman I fell in love with so many years ago.
People have asked me at times how they can help out and I always tell them that the best thing they can do is to pray and we are so thankful to have some many prayers covering our lives. In addition to prayer, I have included a hyperlink below to a Care Calendar that was setup for Tina by our friends at church. There are some practical things on there such as bringing meals and sitting with Tina. If you are interested check out the following link: http://www.takethemameal.com/meals.php?t=YCQY0988
Praying that you experience the amazing Love of our Father that Tina wrote about, Aaron
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Conquering the Promised Land
The blog below was written by Tina about 4 months ago, back on July 10, 2012 but it is just now being posted for the first time.
God called Joshua to lead his people to lead the nation across the Jordan River to possess the land He had already given Israel. We too need to cross that land and have the faith that Joshua and the people of Israel had. We need to leave our old lives. We need to leave our old lives and have faith that God will continue to fulfill all that He has promised.
God will deliver us from our difficult burdens and we must be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:6-7). If we will only obey all the laws of Moses and do not turn away from them, then you will be successful in everything you do.
Composed by Tina and typed by Aaron
Update: It's been a pretty good week overall so far. Although Tina is still struggling both physically and cognitively her resolve to keep pressing forward inspires me. I am so blessed to call her my beautiful bride and like I told her, I would marry her all over again even knowing all of the struggles and trials that would lie ahead. I love you always Tee xoxo - Aaron
God called Joshua to lead his people to lead the nation across the Jordan River to possess the land He had already given Israel. We too need to cross that land and have the faith that Joshua and the people of Israel had. We need to leave our old lives. We need to leave our old lives and have faith that God will continue to fulfill all that He has promised.
God will deliver us from our difficult burdens and we must be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:6-7). If we will only obey all the laws of Moses and do not turn away from them, then you will be successful in everything you do.
Composed by Tina and typed by Aaron
Update: It's been a pretty good week overall so far. Although Tina is still struggling both physically and cognitively her resolve to keep pressing forward inspires me. I am so blessed to call her my beautiful bride and like I told her, I would marry her all over again even knowing all of the struggles and trials that would lie ahead. I love you always Tee xoxo - Aaron
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