Friday, February 8, 2013

Anniversary

It is very hard to write something for the blog this month.  This month is the anniversary of the start of this new path in life that the Lord has given me.  February 17 is the first anniversary, this is the first day last year that I started having symptoms, February 24 is the next anniversary, it is the day that my life changed forever.  February 24 I was given the diagnosis of having a brain tumor.   With that in mind this month has started out horribly.  I have had some of the same feelings that I had back then already this month.  There have been the panic attacks, and nights where the sun setting has made me cry.  There are times in the morning and coming home from work where I have cried in both directions, listening to the songs that I listened to last year to get me through those times.  These are things I would have never expected to happen this year.  It is just like finding out again.  I can only take this as a reminder that the same God that got me through that dark time, will get me through this one.
                Looking back over this past year, I have had some really great friends to be there for my family and I really appreciate them taking the time to do so.  I have sat down and shared supper with them, I have sat down and have them pray for me, and then just have them come up and hug me and tell me they love me at just the right time.  Thank you so much.  Funny thing is, these are not even the people that I thought would be the ones to do that.   The ones I would have thought would be there were not found.  That has been hard to deal with. 
                The Lord has also given me a view of my life in a way I did not like.  I was a bench sitter for so long in sharing His son with others.  He showed me that and now I take every opportunity I can to share the love of Christ.  As I have said so many times here, I hope that you learn from what He has done in my life to make sure  you are where you are supposed to be in your walk with the Lord, and doing the things for Him that really matter.  We are not placed here to seek things for self for your entire life then die and that is it.  There is so much more to life if you allow the Lord to open your eyes to it.
                Finally, I want to thank each person that has prayed for my family and me.  There are many times that I could literally feel that I was being prayed for.  We recently had a lesson in our community group on praying for others.  Our society will say “I’m praying for you” just like you say “How are you doing?” we need to just not say these things, but follow up with what we say.  We committed to pray for another couple in our community group for at least a month.  This was a verbal commitment to the other couple while looking at them in the eyes and after talking with each other about things that need prayer.   We also were to contact each other over the course of the month and to let them know we are praying for their specific needs.  The reason I shared this is that when we pray for others, especially those that have a terminal illness, we also should contact them and let them know we are praying for them.  Better yet, go to their house and pray with them, or at least do it on the phone.  People need the touch of others, and prayer together is a great way to do this. 
                I want anyone that reads this to know….I love you.  The Lord also loves you.  If I can ever pray with you, please let me know.  If you have questions about the Lord, or what being a Christian is about, I would love to talk to you about this.  I can tell you this…..if it were not for my faith in the Lord, my life would have ended on February 24, 2012.  Instead, my life amazingly got better.  Yes I have bad days, so does everyone….yes I fail every day at trying to live like Christ…..but so do all Christians.  It is not the works that make us Christians,  being a Christian makes us want to do the works.
You can always contact me at gregelmore1212 at gmail.com.  Let me show you how you can have the hope that I have….even in a hopeless position.