It Can Happen to You!

Have you considered how often we hear instruction or warnings and walk away either not believing it is true, or we just think it will never happen to us?  I remember as a kid my grandparents warning me, it seemed, about everything!  Everything was dangerous or life threatening…I was certain that they simply did not want me to enjoy my life.

Then, there are the statistics we hear, and again, we either think that someone else will be the 1 in a million that is the actual statistic.  I remember when my daughter was born on my 25^th birthday I was so thrilled to receive such a gift, but I was also had a weird feeling because someone else I knew had a child born on their 25^th birthday that was born with cancer – so it bothered me – I was afraid that she could get cancer too.  Then a few years later I read a statistic that 1 in 4 children get cancer…and I looked at my four children and felt a little more worried about the idea that one of my children could get cancer.  I remember talking myself out of it and siting that we already had a child in the family that had cancer and so certainly it wouldn’t happen to more than one child in our extended family!  Then as if that wasn’t enough I found out that one of my cousins, a girl named Kelli, had cancer!  Wow, how in the world many things had to happen to scare me about the idea that my daughter could get cancer?

 Job 3:25 says, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”  A few years later, in 1991, my daughter was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor – cancer of the kidney.  I know that probably sounds like some Twilight Zone moment, but I believe that the Lord was preparing me.  I was not saved when the majority of those “signs” scared me about cancer, but I am thankful that by the time my daughter was diagnosed and had to endure major surgery, radiation, and 18 months of chemo-therapy we had the comfort of the Holy Spirit indwelling us. Glory to God, my daughter (and the other Kelli, my cousin) survived their cancers and are healthy today these 20+ years later.  

This year, this whole year so far, I have had serious health issues.  If anyone asked me about my health on December 20, (the day before I became ill) I would have said that I was very healthy.  I had no clue that my organs were failing, or that my pancreas and liver enzymes were 10,000 times higher than normal.  After I was treated, I found out that 1 in 6 patients develop pseudo cysts.  I was the one.

So, why am I pointing this out?  Because we need to quit thinking that it’s always going to be the other guy.  It can happen to you!  I don’t want to scare you out of having 4 children, or cause you to panic if you get weird vibes because of similarities – BUT, there are things we can prevent!  There are things that don’t have to happen.  There are problems that can be avoided if we would only listen!

I’m talking about receiving and following counsel, listening to instruction, and heeding warnings – because it can happen to you!  My grandparents may have been ridiculously over protective, but they were trying to protect me because they loved me and they didn’t want anything bad to happen to me on their watch!

In the Book of Isaiah, chapter 28:10 – 13 the Bible teaches us about rules and regulations.   “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.  But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”  The intention behind all the rules and regulations is to give you rest, so you don’t have to worry – so you could behave with confidence…but instead they received it as a hindrance, something they felt would hold them back.  They honestly thought that the precepts and lines would trap them!

Sound familiar?  Kids react that way to their parents and authorities that present layers of acceptable behaviors and warnings against danger that will help us grow and mature as Christians.  With each line and precept that we embrace and obey we grow in grace.  I know that a lot of people today don’t like standards – they don’t want someone to tell them what is acceptable or not and they cry “legalism!”  They are just like the people in Isaiah that will not hear and miss out on the rest and refreshment that is intended. 

Will you please heed the warnings?  I have learned – it can happen to you; the good and the bad.  It is my prayer that you’ll receive the rest and refreshment because God’s plan for you is good; He loves you!  

 Have a wonderful day!