Harder Family

Harder Family

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Borrowed Time

James 4:13-14 "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

On Tuesday night, Wayne discovered that a young man named Andrew Garwood, who Wayne had done rehab with at RIC, died. Andrew was only 22. He had GBM, brain cancer, like Wayne and he only lived 16 months. Wayne said that if anyone should be able to beat/survive this cancer, it would have been him. He was young and stronger then Wayne and yet he is gone. It was a sobering night for both of us as we thought about just how blessed we have been so far with Wayne's clear MRIs and his health. Wayne was in therapy with two people who had brain cancer and they both are dead...one after a six month battle and the other 16 months, one older woman and one a young man. That same day we also heard about the death of a little boy, 5, for whom we had been praying. Wayne said it feels like at times he is living on borrowed time. Too many stories of lives cut short by brain cancer. In those dark moments of feeling despair, we have to cling to God's promises that He numbers our days and we cannot worry.

I came across this quote by George Muller: "The Christian should never worry about tomorrow or give sparingly because of a possible future need. Only the present moment is ours to serve the Lord, and tomorrow may never come...Life is worth as much as it is spent for the Lord's service."

The world around is us always saying, "We are to live as there is no tomorrow." When in actuality, we are to live like we will stand before Jesus Christ TODAY and not as the world would, throwing caution to the wind and living in the moment, but living each moment for the glory of God. We were created to bring Him glory. I've been pondering what that should look like in my life. Everything should be and can be done for His glory...doing the dishes and laundry, teaching my children, talking to neighbors, etc. I have been asking God to show me how I can better show Him my love and appreciation for what He has done in my life and the great mercy He's given me.

Tragedy, trials, and loss give us perspective. Tuesday night brought us perspective once again...we are all living on borrowed time. Car accidents, heart attacks, cancer, and health issues are some of the things that can unexpectedly take our lives. I heard part of a sermon by John McArthur about borrowed time. I loved how he explained it:

"The real question is what kind of God lets us live. We're all living on borrowed time. It's time we don't deserve, we should be dead...The answer is because God is gracious and He's merciful and He's compassionate towards sinners and it causes Him to hold back what we deserve. I believe that the most universal gift, the most universal blessing that comes from God's common grace to humanity is time. Time to repent, time to believe, time granted by God's patience, God's patience. He is patient because He is merciful. Listen to God's own declaration in Exodus Chapter 34, verse 6. "The Lord passed by in front of Moses and said the Lord, the Lord God compassionate and gracious slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth," or faithfulness. Compassionate, gracious, slow to anger." John McArthur

I am so thankful that God is gracious and merciful to me. He has a plan for my life, for Wayne's life, and for your life. God is always working. I saw this devotional on shereadstruth.com by Missy Fuller and it resonated with my heart.

"Like Romans 8:28 says, our God is always working.
When things feel helpless and desperate, God has a plan.
When we’re convinced our story is over, God is at work.
When we’re exhausted and confused, God is sovereign.
When one more horrible, unexplainable thing happens, God has a purpose.
When we’ve truly lost all hope, God is bringing about His will."

God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. He is constantly at work in us, we just have to submit to Him and allow Him to work in us. It is my prayer that each day I live fully for the Lord as though today might be my last. What would you do differently if you knew that today would be your last day on earth?

*********************************
Catching up:

Micaela and Joella have been working hard in school. We've learned the letter "D" and "O". This week we are working on "W".



Dinosaur eggs and toast


Dinosaur hand prints and playdoh






The older girls worked on making a replica of the temple



"O" shaped donuts and jelly rolls




Sophia working hard at cooking class learning how to make jelly rolls


We learned about the Olmecs and made molded heads




Micaela eating octopus hot dogs for lunch and the letter "O"

No comments:

Post a Comment