Because of technical difficulties (urgh!)...
I couldn't post pictures of some of the gifts that we received on Valentine's Day from friends from Grove City College. So....you can visit my Facebook page (kristie.rush@facebook.com) and see a few pictures if you're interested!
Sorry.
Trust me; It's a good thing I don't have much hair because it all would have been pulled out!
(Is that funny? I think it's funny!)
K.
Hello Kristie,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Ryan and I'm a pastor from England. Don't worry this isn't one of those emails where I ask you to send us a donation!
Your blog was forwarded to me by my aunt(-in-law), Charlotte Glick as she knew that it would be of interest to me. I believe you are related to her.
I was married to Charlotte Glick's niece, Annie, from August 2001 until March 2013, when she was taken home to be with the Lord after a long battle with cancer which began in 2007. During that time we felt convicted to keep a blog - initially to update family and friends far and wide. We kept a small blog during her chemo in 2007-2008 called 'annieandchemo' and then in 2011 - when she was given a terminal diagnosis - we kept a much more comprehensive journal of the reality of daily life with cancer and with Christ. The blog was called 'Broken Chariots' after a verse the Lord gave us during the terminal diagnosis (Psalm 20:7). We desired to testify as it unfolded and not just retrospectively. I also kept the blog during the period I had as a widower.
In Matthew 24:14 Jesus talks about the gospel being preached 'as a testimony'. That word testimony finds its roots in the word 'martyr'.
Annie and I learned that a testimony is more than a story about how we became Christians; and we learned that proclaiming the gospel was more than an objective message detached from real life on earth. We learned that the gospel is proclaimed powerfully as we speak of the greatness and reality of Christ Jesus in the midst of suffering, hardship and pain. We learned that there was a more mysterious and deep meaning to the word 'blessing' which could not be contained to mere 'prosperity'. We learned that a blessing was that which draws one nearer to Christ; that which makes us cling to Him more.
In our experience, prosperity had moments of drawing us near to Christ but it was more likely to distract us from Him also. In our experience, it was adversity, cancer, pain, hardship, that drew us nearer into a richer experience of Christ Jesus like we'd never experienced before.
Annie had often said:
“If God was to offer me the last six years of my life back, without cancer, I wouldn’t accept it. My experience of Him has been so much more real through suffering that this would be the only offer I would refuse from my Lord!”
Reading your blog has been another affirmation and confirmation of that reality of God through the valley of cancer. Thank you for sharing your story and testimony.
We live in an age where academia is deemed to be the platform on which to convince and convert seekers and skeptics, but I have found that a testimony in the midst of suffering is a powerful and unmatched gospel instrument in the hands of our God.
May the Lord continue to bless you with His Presence and make His Presence a blessing to others through you.
I will be lifting you up to our God from this side of the watery divide we call the ocean! Praying for your family and a continued and growing experience of the power, love, grace, hope, strength, protection, joy and Presence of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
In His Arms,
Ryan