August 17, 2011
My Bible Swallowed Up My Food Journal! :D
This post is about applying the Bible to real-life problems. Here’s how I did it this week…
My G.I. psychologist gave me some homework last time I saw him, which was our first meeting. He wanted me to start yet another food journal. But the journal he wanted had some different questions to answer each day than the normal journal that I am used to using for tracking the food I eat and what symptoms I have. This one asks me what I ate when having GI symtpoms, what I was doing, what I was thinking about and how much I believed the thoughts (on a scale from 0 to 10), a description of my symptoms (again, with a scale of 0 to 10), and a description of how I felt (and 0 to 10).
Being me, and having large handwriting, there is absolutely no way that I was going to fit all of that on the one piece of paper he gave me, so I added it to my pH notebook. Like any journal I start, I have been painfully honest when I write. For several days, I literally felt like poop (but I used a more colorful word for it). On the days when I was so exhausted that I felt like I might pass out, my mood was about equally bad, and I had several days where I just wanted the day to be over – make it go away! On Sunday I have a pity party, and again God was not in the picture. On Monday I did get a few things done around my home, but my mind was wrapped up around food food food food food.
I tend to see food is the enemy rather than recognizing that Satan and my own flesh is my enemy, though they may take every opportunity to whisper to me that it is actually the food and not them against which I wage this battle. Sounds like deception’s clarion voice to me. It’s time for me to bring the Bible into the most frustrating parts of my life, not only the most painful. Perhaps my Bible will eat up my food journal like Moses’ snake ate the Egyptian’s serpents? …maybe?…
Please forgive the lack of formatting to differentiate Bible verses from my babble in between. In my personal journal on my computer it’s color coded, but WordPress wouldn’t allow me to copy and paste any text formatting. Go figure.
Psalm 139:1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
In light of my distrust of verses 13-16, this takes on more meaning – cleanse me of my anxious thoughts, my fears, expose my ways and thoughts because they are already known to You. There’s an interesting use of tense here. The psalmist says that God HAS ALREADY searched him and known him – in the PAST. But by the end of the psalm, you can see the psalmist ASKING for God to search him and know him in the present, and to reveal such things to him for his growth in spiritual maturity.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You know when I stay in bed too long, when I wear out and have to rest, when I rise and how I use my limited energy for YOU (not just me).
you discern my thoughts from afar.
My thoughts matter to You. They either glorify or dishonor You.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Because You know all my ways, all my habits, all my thoughts, all my fears…and You know all things in my life (past, present, future) and how they will work out in the end (Rom 8:28), You are in the unique position of guiding me.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You know the full measure of my words both spoken and silenced.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Even when I feel sick, Your hand is upon me; even when I’m worn out, You are behind and before me, protecting me and guiding me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
But it is the glory of kings to seek out a matter (Prov 25), and I’m honored to be able to try to understand even a part of these truths.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I am sick in bed, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
If I am lonely and alone, unable even to be around other people for weariness…
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
You can find me there – it’s not dark to You, so I’m not lost – You still see me even when I cannot see anything and I’m blinded by weariness and/or depression.
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
Am I to be angry at You for how you made me? Is the clay to complain to the potter because the potter didn’t give it a long handle? Is not some for honorable and other for dishonorable use? What should my response be to knowing that God Himself made me for His glory, even when it hurts? I will praise Him…
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
And when my soul doesn’t know it very well, that’s where faith comes in and trusts.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
I imagine You smiling as You carefully, “intricately,” form one You love, as you enjoy the secrecy of it, the inability of man to imitate Your works which You have kept for Yourself.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
That’s the days of pain, joy, sorrow, gratitude, a time for every season under the sun. You already knew them and how my life would play out before I was born.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
If He thinks so many thoughts that I cannot fathom, how likely is it that He’s worked out all these things (written about my life) so that they will glorify Him even when I don’t understand HOW – the He DOES comprehend what I see as a mystery? Very likely!
I awake, and I am still with you. ….
Doesn’t matter if I’m awake or asleep. Night terrors can’t separate us.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
Do I really want Him to “try me”? Sure feels like that’s what He has been doing lately. I feel stretched thin in so many directions. The psalmist is actually ASKING for this, so that He might know God more and Honor Him more and be Lead in the way everlasting – it’s an exercise of growth for the psalmist and me too. *Wink to self.*
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
God’s way is the only everlasting way, the only way that will have a glorious eternity.
Romans 8: 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, When I am thinking about my challenges, I’m thinking about the flesh, about things that will end and pass away, and I am not looking to spiritual realities but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit I need to trust God for His purposes and seek to glorify Him through my attitude about suffering in light of the cross and the suffering Jesus bore for me. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace Life and peace sounds better to me and definitely a better gift to others!. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God I don’t want to be hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you Yay!. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him L. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness Whose righteousness? Christ’s Righteousness!. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you The ability, through the Spirit, to do what in the body (mind included) is impossible due to weakness and the flesh.
8:23b we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons It drives me to the cross and the Word of God, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Am I being patient and exercising faith and trust in the promise? Am I claiming the promise as my own? Am I seeing this suffering as temporary and God’s glorification through my attitude as eternal? 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. Thank Goodness! For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Thank You, God, for praying for me.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? If God is for me, what disease can be against me? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?…35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Do I doubt the love of God when the list below is dished out in my life? I have no Biblical reason to, yet there have been many times that I’ve accused God of not loving me BECAUSE He allowed the following. I often forget about verses 37-39. Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, or weariness, or depression, or fear, or sickness, or difficult relationships, or lack of finances, or malnutrition, or hunger…? 36 As it is written,37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. I am a conqueror BECAUSE He loved (and loves) me. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, (not ONLY all the things in the previous list (verse 35), but also all the other things listed here!…can separate me from the love of God) nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It Hurts, But He Has Not Forgotten.
May 26, 2011
I Think I’m Trippin’ Y’all!
December 6, 2010
Prayers In The Night – a prayer poem for a friend
Prayers In The Night
written for a friend
Friday, 5.29.09, 2:15am
Our prayers are that this night
you will receive peace and rest,
and wake in the morning fully refreshed
by the incomprehensible power of God.
The Lord goes before you
and you are not alone.
Your Heavenly Father adores you;
His child He will not give a stone.
Through all these days, years, months, and miles,
He has walked you through every fiery trial
For His own glory and your eternal good.
The Sovereign Lord who created the galaxies
Condescended to become human flesh.
Tempted and tried, hung on a cross to die,
Knowing all manner of grief and pain.
Yet three days later He rose again!
And we are granted life through His resurrection.
The power of God that raised Christ will raise us too
so that in this Christian life, we will be made new.
Turn to Him now and look upon His face,
and the world will grow dim in the light of His grace.
Hear your Savior interceding for you with perfect prayers,
pointing to His wounds, how He bought you fair and square.
No evil may touch you, no pain and no harm,
but that which the Lord allows; so do not be alarmed.
“Fear Not!” the Lord said to fearful disciples many a time;
“I control the wind and waves; they obey my voice and are mine.”
We obey Your voice and come to You right now;
before Your throne we humbly bow,
seeking Your face and the light of Your grace
to fill us with increased faith.
How grateful we are to have a high priest
Who knows that we are frail and weak,
who remembers that we are but dust
and loves us still; and so we trust His sovereign will.
Amen!
Sarah M. Bosse
February 15, 2010
Diagnosis Dependency
This has been an interesting week. I’ve seen a few doctors, had my blood drawn and a few x-rays taken, and continued to push through each exhausting day by the grace of God. I received the diagnosis of Celiac Disease this week. I wasn’t surprised – I have been on a gluten-free diet since July 28, 2009 – about six months – because I strongly suspected either gluten intolerance or Celiac Sprue.
There are two ways to react to a diagnosis that I think are common among people who have been SEARCHING for the right diagnosis for a long time (i.e. years). First, there is relief. Relief in the fact that a few of the unknowns are now known and there is a potential plan (depending on the diagnosis) for what one can do to improve his/her quality of life. Then the second response is sadness. Sadness because, while it’s nice to have answers, a person must still live with his/her diagnosis on a daily basis. And these two feelings alternate and intermingle. I feel both relief and sadness, often at the same time.
My doctor thinks there may still be more behind my ills than simply Celiac Disease. So while it’s nice to have a diagnosis that I can do something about (The way to control Celiac Sprue is to avoid all gluten-containing foods…easier said than done, but possible.), we don’t have all the answers. Is my fibromyalgia caused by Celiac Disease and the resulting nutritional deficiencies? Is it caused by something else – some other autoimmune disorder? There are still many more questions than answers.
So I called a friend earlier this week to discuss my thoughts and frustrations. We talked for a while about how we were each “searching for the right diagnosis”. She had sought a diagnosis for more than 10 years and finally been diagnosed. But then, this year, her new doctor wasn’t convinced of her diagnosis and she’s back at square one, being told that her doctors “don’t know what she has”. Ouch. I’ve been told it was everything from IBS to a problem “in [my] head,” and now it’s Celiac Disease. The diagnosis keeps changing, and probably will continue to change as the years march on.
It is easy to get caught in the trap of seeking worldly wisdom or knowledge. There’s a certain level of false comfort one can receive from believing that he/she now has been correctly diagnosed and that doctors know what to do about the problem.
There are several reasons for why this is a FALSE comfort:
* We may put our faith in doctors (people…some of them are at least…), rather than in the Great Physician – God. Everyone but God may fail us, but God remains true to His Word.
* A diagnosis may change over time; God doesn’t change.
* Being so focused on having a diagnosis may lead us to value comfort in this life (so-called “quality of life”?) over living for God’s purposes (which, by the way, don’t frequently take personal comfort into account).
* Our thoughts may be taken up with thinking too much of ourselves and “our problems” rather than with asking God what He wants us to do with the brief time He’s put us on earth. We meditate on ourselves rather than on God, and therefore do not love the Lord with our minds.
Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and do not lean on your own understanding.6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
There are some real promises here in Proverbs 3. If we trust the Lord, depending on Him rather than on a diagnosis, and we let go of our conceptions of “wisdom” and seek spiritual wisdom from His Spirit, submitting our meditations and worries to His care, thereby turning away from evil…God says that this will be healing for our flesh and refreshment to our bones. There’s a real physical and spiritual gain to be had here by adopting God Dependency and forsaking Diagnosis Dependency.
Trusting God means we don’t get dejected. We will still have emotions – we are human; not robots…and even God has emotions. But our joy doesn’t ride on the back of a diagnosis – it soars on the wings of Love, over and above everything that a diagnosis does or does not mean during our short lives. That “healing to your flesh” and “refreshment to your bones” might well come from NOT WORRYING.
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The “burden” we have when we concern ourselves with the things of God is lighter than the burden we carry when we concern ourselves with matters that should be God’s to handle in the first place. He gives us fewer to take on than we choose or try to take on ourselves. And so we worry about things we cannot change.
James MacDonald assembles these ideas succinctly:
“Rest is best understood as “peace without resolution”….I have been poring over Psalm 37, praying for understanding as to how that promised rest (Matthew 11:28-30) is experienced. My study and meditation on Psalm 37 has yielded this single insight which has been incredibly impacting for me.
Trust without Waiting = Striving. I have done too much of that. Proverbs 20:3, “It is good that a man should stop striving.”
Waiting without Trusting = Worrying. I have done too much of that. Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life.”
Trusting + Waiting = Rest. I trust that God will work for my good. I have done what I know to do, and now I must wait for Him. I am at rest! I have peace without resolution, and it is a wonderful experience for which I thank the Lord.”
God, please help me to adopt God Dependency and forsake my sinful Diagnosis Dependency. Help me to trust you, stop worrying and striving, and take up the rest and healing you promise to give. I don’t need to know all the answers – YOU are my Answer, Lord. Thank You for Your faithfulness and steadfast love.
October 26, 2009
He Uses Broken Things
I wrote this poem today. It’s half-poem, half-song. I enjoy singing it full heartedly. The point is hopefully simple and clear. God uses broken things and redeems them. Doing so is very much a part of who He is and a reflection of His character and attributes.
He Uses Broken Things
He told the paralized man to take up his bed and walk
He uses the paralized and makes them to leap and run
He is the All-Powerful One
He told the storm to be still and a stiller stillness was never known
He uses the storms in our souls to increase our dependence and faith
He is the Ruler of Everything
He told the fever to depart; Peter’s mother-in-law rose to do her part
He uses the sick to show His compassion and healing
He is the Great Physician
He took splintered wood from trees and formed it into useful things
He uses what is and makes it what it was not, for His glory
He is the Craftsman of Galilee
He chose the weak to make known His matchless, sufficient grace
He uses human weakness to make His power more fully known
He is Our Help And Strength
He loved the sacrifice of an alabaster box and feet washed with tears and locks
He uses the broken dreams to show the value of the Christ and everlasting life
He is the Redeemer
He allowed Lazarus to die and wept bitterly, but brought him back to life for his family to see
He uses the dead to proclaim that He is the only source of life and breath
He is the Life-Giver
He gave Paul a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble before God
He uses thorns in our lives to keep our focus up above
He is the One Who Bore The Nails and Thorns
He answered the thief upon the cross, “Today you will join me in paradise”
He uses the plans of Satan to accomplish His own purposes
He is the One Who Died In Love
He is the All-Powerful One
The Ruler of Everything
The Great Physician
The Craftsman of Galilee
He is Our Help And Strength
He is The Redeemer
The Life-Giver
The One Who Bore The Nails and Thorns on the Cross
And the One Who Died In Love
He uses the storms, the thorns, the sick, the weak
He takes what is nothing and makes it beautiful
He uses broken dreams to redeem
He takes away death and brings new life
Let us rejoice in the character of God
For He has been faithful in all that He has done
Let us reach out in dependence and faith
Let us sing to Him our praise
He is the All-Powerful One
The Ruler of Everything
The Great Physician
The Craftsman of Galilee
He is Our Help And Strength
He is The Redeemer
The Life-Giver
The One Who Bore The Nails and Thorns on the Cross
And the One Who Died In Love
The One Who Died In Love
Copyright Sarah M. Bosse 10/26/2009
October 5, 2009
God Chose What Is Foolish In The World To Shame The Wise
1 Cor 1:17-31
17 [Christ sent me] to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
July 21, 2009
Life Is Hard But God Is Good – Joni Eareckson Tada, ParkStreet Church Boston 2009
I was unable to attend Joni’s series (Life Is Hard But God Is Good) at ParkStreet Church in Boston this summer, but I was able, courtesy of a friend, to watch and listen to her speak almost in real-time! For a limited time, you can download the MP3 of her lecture for free at ParkStreet Church’s website. The MP3’s of her lecture are filed under July 12th 2009. I hope that, if either you or someone you know or love or wish to minister to has been affected by disability, suffering, or hardships in life, you will listen to Joni’s message.
The whole message was good, but there were a few points that really stood out to me. I’ll try to capture them in a nutshell here and allow you to discover the rest on your own by listening to her lecture for yourself! You can also find other lectures by Joni on my blog – just type her name into the search box on the right-hand side and you should find several references to other lectures she’s given in the past.
During her lecture, Joni pointed out that (in my own words)…
Even if God gave us answers, we wouldn’t be satisfied. His answers would be like pouring the ocean into a kiddie pail – we couldn’t begin to comprehend how, from the beginning of all time, God had ordained these things in our lives for His glory and how every day and second of our lives was planned by Him before one of them came to be. Instead of answers, we just really want Him to wrap His Fatherly arms around us and tell us, “I am here; it will be okay, and I will work this out for your good and My glory!”
What Joni said is a lot to process. As she made her point, I said in my mind, “Yes, that’s true. Even if I had answers to the suffering, I wouldn’t be satisfied. She’s right; I really do just want God’s arms around me and his whisper telling me He’s here and it will be okay.” How true!
In a Joni and Friends newsletter I received earlier this year, I read the following: “Rather than answers, I believe God wants you to see Jesus as the Answer. He’s the One who holds all the reasons in His hand. And having His hand to hold onto through this difficult time is enough!” – Joni Eareckson Tada. I pinned the letter to the cork board on my bedroom wall as a reminder. That thought has remained with me and lodged itself in my heart. He has all the answers. I don’t need the answers; I just need Him.
I hope you’re now interested in hearing what this wise woman, Joni, has to say. I watched her speak during the evening service via streaming videocam. She arrived late because of a medical issue caused by her spinal cord injury. And she looked pretty worn out, pale, and was having trouble breathing. During her lecture that evening, I saw something in Joni that I had not seen before. And it touched my heart. She had given this lecture and other similar messages many times before. This is nothing new for her. She is used to saying the same things about suffering over and over again, and she’s used to affirming God’s character repeatedly. But on this evening, there was a war being waged; a spiritual war against discouragement, fear, and the Enemy.
Joni has been suffering intensely with pain for more than a year now, resulting from decades of using her neck and the few muscles she CAN use to compensate for all the ones she cannot. Years of compensation wears down the joints, bones, ligaments and tendons because the body isn’t designed to use just one part – all parts are to work together for the benefit of the whole, as Christ designed His church and our individual bodies. The body cannot be healthy when its parts do not work together. Joni’s spirit is strong, but her body is worn out. Just breathing requires everything she has got as her working muscles go into “overdrive” to give her better breath support.
So the fight was on and Joni knew it. As she lectured, with a little less description and fewer words in this evening lecture than she had given in the morning lecture, due to breathlessness, the necessary message came out. Joni was cutting it down the the essentials. She was preaching to herself. She wasn’t lecturing to others alone; she was speaking the TRUTH to herself, reminding herself of God’s character and His plan in suffering, commanding her soul with the psalmist in Psalm 42 to “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” despite circumstances. She was in the midst of circumstances causing her very significant pain; that kind of chronic pain and suffering that can play with your mind, taunting you with, “Where is your God now? Why won’t He deliver you from this suffering? Do you really think He loves you now, after all of this? Perhaps you’re all wrong about God!” Like the psalmist, however, I watched as Joni fought back – she was fighting for hope (Psalm 42:5,11); she was fighting against her emotions and, with the witnesses and powers of all of heaven backing her up, she was fighting to praise God, affirm His sovereign love, seek Him in this place, and preach to her own soul.
While I was sorry to see her suffering, I was also encouraged. It’s unlikely that I was the only person encouraged as we watched Joni painfully struggle through her lecture and simultaneously fight, with God on her side, for “hope in God“. Joni’s suffering and godly response that night gave us just a small glimpse of the larger picture of suffering and how we praise God – by faithfully coming to Him again and again with empty cups waiting to be filled with more of Him. Sometimes it isn’t the “strong Christians” that encourage us, but the “weak ones,” who are strong only in the power of Christ. Joni was an example, that night, of one who is supernaturally strong in Christ alone. It’s easy to think of dear Joni as a woman who knows all about this suffering thing and is an “expert sufferer,” as if time makes the suffering something of a wimpy “casual spiritual battle”. But she will very quickly tell you that’s not true; suffering rocks us to our core continually. To be privileged to watch a Christian “suffer well” by fighting for hope in God can cause you to realize that you’re standing on holy ground and the spiritual battle is real; it is in the “here and now,” it is intense, it’s part of our daily lives, our thoughts, responses, prayers. It is the Lord’s battle, and He will ultimately win the victory, but we are His warriors and we must fight with God-given courage! We must continue, as Joni has done for so many years, to proclaim and claim the Promises of God. He is worthy of our devotion, trust, and praise.
To Joni and all the saints who have “suffered well” as examples of Children of God who put their Hope in God, I say “Thank You!” Please take some time to listen to Joni’s lecture, “Life Is Hard But God Is Good,” and to pray for Joni, her husband Ken, and Joni and Friends Ministries.
Sarah M. Bosse
Truly God's Grace 