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[Ninny]

I don't know if you remember several months ago I asked for prayer for my brother-in-law who has lung and throat cancer..Well, he went to the doctor this past week and has discovered his cancer has spread...over his lungs and into his liver...the one in his throat is gone..

Here is where I want a heart more like God's...I don't like to say bad things about anyone, but you know in the natural you want to judge and condemn you want to say...."well, look he never stopped smoking..." I am not going to say everything that has gone through my mind...even though God knows what I have thought! My brother-in-law and my sister have NOT lived exemplary lives before God...but have I? NO! I look at my sister and her husband in a different way, now...not like others who are saying, "Well, look how they have lived their lives! No wonder he's suffering look how he has wanted others to suffer..."

Now I feel pity, now I feel like..what a sad and wasted life! What must break God's heart about the way my brother in law lives is the same thing that breaks his heart about me!! I can look at my sister's husband whom I have known most of my life...and think...if God is in control and drags us over the hot coals I pray that the evil will be burned out of me so that I won't judge! I just pray for God's mercy on my brother-in-law...for His gentle Hand to have mercy in whatever lies ahead for him...I think he doesn't have a lot of time left, he looks bad..but I know,too that God is the one who decides when we live and when we die..
So I would ask that you pray for God's mercy in every circumstance for my sister and her family and pray for me that I would have the heart of God to have mercy and kindness for them, too..and that I would have words of comfort and life for them..I don't know if any of this makes sense to you...I just don't know how I'm supposed to act/react to this...but I know in any of it I want to reflect the love that God has for all of his children!  The same kind of love that He has for me!
Thank you, as always, my sweet family of pray-ers...
Kathy

[Deborah-Leigh]

Hi Kathy

Thank you for telling us about this situation you are in. I have to say that I need to go and talk with God about this. I believe our sufferings are not in vain and that they draw us closer to God for the Day He has appointed to reveal to us His Glory. So if we do not suffer now, what will we have in common with Him when He returns? It is better to pray for endurance and strength and wisdom and to keep looking to that Day that we shall meet Him. Reminding one another that the Day of our Salvation is nearer than ever.

It is touching that you see yourself as all the others in the world but I see you as one who is separated from the world and given the Truth. It is our strength and privilege to pray for one another for in so doing we join ourselves before God and cry for His Mercy Pity and Blessing in remembering our brethren who suffer as we do in the very diverse ways that God has appointed to each one of us.

Love to you
Deborah

PS No life is ever wasted for God is the giver of Life!

[arion]

Peace and grace to you Ninny.  I can identify totally with what you are sharing here.  If I had to choose one of Ray's audios that has talked to me more than any other recently it's the one 'Guilty of All' from Nashville in 2005.  Except for the grace and mercy of God I could of been a smoker and heavy drinker or overcome with any other self destructive habit that leads diseases such as this.  And yet there are people who do live a healthy lifestyle and yet they still get cancer.  It's all in God's hands and He knows how to get us where we need to be.  But God has been doing a work of mercy in me and I'm seeing people a lot different than I used to when I was part of the church system of man.  God loves and cares for each of these people who are living a life of self destruction as he does you and me.  The challenge is to love them and not judge them.  I confess that I'm not there yet but I am seeing change and thats what it's all about.  I used to be pretty flippant with the phrase 'except for the grace of God goeth I' but not any more.  I now know that I could of been a Hitler, Stalin, Bundy or any of the rest of them and the beast has received a serious blow.  I pray for your BIL that God's perfect will shall be done and that He will give you wisdom in knowing how to interact with them in the days ahead.

[cjwood]

I believe our sufferings are not in vain and that they draw us closer to God for the Day He has appointed to reveal to us His Glory. So if we do not suffer now, what will we have in common with Him when He returns? It is better to pray for endurance and strength and wisdom and to keep looking to that Day that we shall meet Him.

kathy,
this statement by arc is something that i must confess, i have never even thought about whenever i was/am going through my personal trials and sufferings. i give praise to God and His Holy Spirit for how He works through each of us to uplift another.

claudia

[Ninny]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your prayers and the encouragement! I visited with my sister and brother in law this evening for a couple of hours..I told him that God has given us a number of days to live and He knew the moment we will die from the very beginning.. we had a good visit I didn't know what I was going to say, but God gave me peace and very few words to say! I know that there will be words to say in the future, but for now we just laughed and had a good visit...That was important for all of us! 
Thank you for praying for me! We never know what to do in a situation like this, but I'm glad God was with me tonight!
Kathy