Peace that surpasses all understanding!

WOW what a month this past month has been.  Talk about stretching and growing.  I am sooooo very thankful that we do NOT see what God has in store for us before we are in the middle of it or I know for me at least, I don't think I would be able to walk into it.  I am so thankful to God that I walk by faith and not by sight and that He is with me every step of the way.  It isn't until I look back and say WOW!  GO GOD and THANK YOU!

As most of you know I went back home on the 19th of December to be with two very precious friends.  When the flight was booked the plans were for me to come help sit with Roy while Jodi was at work, but before I could get there 3 days later, God completely changed our plans.  Roy ended up in the emergency room and later sent home on hospice. Instead of going home to hang out with Roy, I went home to be with Jodi and Roy as he completed his final days with us and who is now in Glory singing praises to our Lord.

I realize that everyone that reads this blog doesn't necessarily know me, so let me just tell you this...I don't do sick people, hospitals, or any variation of sick people and hospitals.  BUT GOD saw fit for me to be by their side.  God is amazing at what He does. He alone gave me the ability to be there with them.  I was not only humbled, but honored and blessed by the privilege to be with my friends, my brother and sister in Christ.

Having never faced death so intimately, I had no idea what I was in for.  As we walked this path, God made Himself known to each of us at the times we needed Him.  I think we encountered many of his attributes at one point or the other.   Our Comforter, our Provider, our Deliverer, El Shaddai - God Almighty, El Roi - God who sees, Our Father, Our Yahweh - LORD, the Great I AM.  Yes, this road was so extremely hard but makes me love my Lord even more.  HE WAS WITH US!  His peace and comfort was with us in this whole process.  Ha, that reminds me of a very sweet time with God that Jodi and I had one morning.

I kept praying for God to give us the peace that passes all understanding.  We hear that all the time, it fit, so I kept saying it and praying it.  This specific morning, I looked at Jodi and asked her if she knew where it was in the Bible. I wanted to read the actual scripture.  We both got our Bibles and began searching, which lead to both of us spending a good 30 to 45 minutes reading scriptures back and forth to each other.  As we did, we would  say, "Oh that's a good one"  "Oh, thank you Jesus for showing us this" "Oh great reminder" just the pleasure of spending time in God's Word reading over His promises, it was exactly what we needed.  We eventually found the passage, Philippians 4:7  "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  So it is the peace of GOD that surpasses all understanding not just peace, and the peace of GOD is what will GUARD our hearts and minds IN Christ Jesus.  As I sat there and thought about it in context, only those who KNOW GOD can KNOW PEACE.  GOD alone does that for those hearts and minds that are IN Christ Jesus.  So those that are IN Christ are guarded from fear, anxiety, doubt, distress, whatever by GOD's peace!  Wow - how awesome is that.?  So not only were we praying for peace during this time, but look at the promise God gave us when we went to His Word....We were able to confidentially pray for peace and KNOW that God was guarding our hearts and minds with HIS peace.  Can I get an AMEN?

Now the other really cool part was that as we started reading that passage we continued through the chapter, and WOW, so many great verses to cling to in Philippians 4 that God brought to us.  We both were in tears with the sweet time together with God and His promises.  So we shared the chapter with our other two friends and decided that it would be our chapter as we walked with God through this and that it would be our life scriptures to cling to throughout this coming year.  When you have a few minutes, please take the time to read Philippians 4, it will be worth your effort.

And speaking of our other two friends, well, the three of us were brought together by Jodi.  She sent out an email to the three of us when Roy was first diagnosed. We all agreed and

Team Jodi

promised to walk with her through this, NO MATTER WHAT!  We nicknamed ourselves Team Jodi.  Little did I know, but God was up to so much more that just bringing us together to support Jodi, but He was truly bringing US TOGETHER!  I can only speak for myself, but I learned so much through this with these three ladies.  We have a bond now that no one or nothing can separate.  We shared fears, tears and lots of laughs.  My heart was broken with these ladies and I pray that each of our lives will bring God glory as well as the friendship we share.  

Something else I will cherish is hearing all of the stories and memories that people shared with Jodi as they came by.  One constant that everyone seemed to bring up was his hat.  You see, Roy had this hat with a beautiful bead hat band which Roy himself designed and created on his bead loom.  When you saw this hat band, it would make you comment on it.  It was beautiful.   Roy used that to share his favorite story, the Gospel story.  If you commented on his hat band, he would ask you if you can share the gospel story in 35 seconds or less, which the person would say no.  So that my friend was an open door for Roy to share.  It was a definite gift he had, oh and if you didn't comment on the hat band, he would point it out to you and ask you if you wanted to hear a story.  Either way, you were going to hear the story.  The other common thread that was in with all the memories and stories about Roy was his smile and ability to make people laugh.  I very very rarely saw Roy without a smile.  Even in the hardest of times at the house, he was still smiling and making us girls laugh.  Between his love for Jesus and his love for Jodi, I'm thinking thats why he had a smile on his face whenever you saw him.  Roy dearly loved Jodi. They had a special love.  If you knew them, you know what I am talking about.  She said it was like they were still in their honeymoon phase, nine years later.  God gave them a really special love, and everyone saw it. 

Jodi and her K(Ch)risti(y)'s

Roy's girls, Tracy and Kelly

Something else I will cherish are the new friendships that were created while I was there.  I was fortunate enough to be with them the week of Christmas and Roy's birthday.  His two daughters were there as well.  Roy talked about them all the time and I was so excited to finally meet them and get to know them.  I also got to meet Jodi's other sister Christy. (great name huh?!?!?  hehehe)  When you commit to do life with a friend, you get to know their family too, so the awesome part is ... I got new friends!  I was also able to spend time with some of Roy's nieces/cousins.  I guess I look at these meetings as divine friendships because I believe that God brings every person into our life for a reason, and we must be faithful to connect.  So thank you Jesus and thank you Roy, because I never would have got to meet my new friends without either of you.

One last but certainly not least thankful is to be able to worship with my faith family!  OH how I have missed them.  It was wonderful getting to hear MY PREACHER PREACH!  (Just sayin...)  I know now that when I feel homesick it isn't necessarily for HOME it is homesick for my faith community that is back home.  When you have been doing life with these folks for 5 years, it hurts at times when you are apart.  But what sweet fellowship when reunited.  I was also able to get in visits with my family, precious girls I do life with and an old friend.  Hate there wasn't more time, but I am so truly grateful for the time I did have. 

I guess my overall take away from my trip back home, is that I must be faithful, I must be obedient, and I must be in God's Word for HIS peace that surpasses all understanding to guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.   Roy said many times throughout his fight with cancer, that he just wanted to bring God glory through it all. You did my friend, you did.  

Now, back to the hat band for a moment.  Just in case you did not know Roy, I can not let the opportunity pass.  In my friends honor, I will share his story...

The bright start in the East -

That the wise men followed -

To where Jesus was -

He was a son of a carpenter -

A fisher of men -

He had twelve disciples -

That passed on His Word -

And on a dark day - 

He was crucified -

And shed His blood - 

To purify us of our sins - 

He went to heaven to sit on the right hand side of God -

And He did this so we could have everlasting life!

Every time I left church or food distribution I would say good bye and he would shake is head and say, "Nope Kiddo, good byes are too long, so just say see ya"  to which I would reply "that's right, OK old man....See Ya." we would laugh and go our separate ways.

So this ones for you Roy...

                   Until we meet again, good byes are too long, so today we will say... See Ya! 

Roy R. McLellan

12-23-1948 - 1-1-2015

Beloved Husband

Father and Son

A man who was loved by many, but most importantly, a man who was KNOWN by God!

Redeemed was one of Roy's favorite songs.  He was redeemed, are you?  

If you have any questions, about anything you have read in this blog or questions about your life, maybe God is working in you and you are tired of running.  Maybe you are ready to surrender, please let me know and we can talk.  A great place to start is to begin reading scripture, try 1st John.  It shows us that God is light, love and life.  If I can't answer your questions, I will get someone who can.  If not me, then someone. 

Our life is but a vapor and we are not promised tomorrow.  

  

My personal email address is RVn4Jesus@gmail.com