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Pure Joy is an Option {Day 16}
{Day 16} “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” ~ James 1:2-4 NLT Full confession. I used to crinkle my nose at this verse when things weren’t going my way. How can the comparison between two conflicting adjectives like “trials” and “joy” even be in the same sentence when we face cancer? Or heart failure? Or some other debilitating disease? During the darker days of my illnesses, I needed further explanation to help me wrap my head…
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Perfect Peace {Day 15}
{Day 15} “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” ~ Isaiah 26:3 NLT “Dabney…how much money is two quarters and a dime,” my cardiologist asked me each day he visited my hospital room after my open-heart surgery. Eyes wide, I stared at my husband, silently begging him for the answer, then slowly shrugged. “How old are your kids?” I shot another look to Jason, my brain searching for the answer. Another shrug. “Dabney, what year is it?” Excited, I said,“1995!” The doctor crossed his arms, then walked Jason out of the room like he had done so many days before. Of…
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Fix Your Eyes {Day 14}
{Picture from 2010. They grow up so fast!} {Day 14} “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:17&18 (italics added) {Modified blog post before my heart surgery in 2015} I have to believe that in this situation I’m walking through right now that God wants to give me the desires of my heart. Unlike a broken house, I’m afraid this broken body has a healthy fear of…
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Ack. And, {Day 13}.
Back in November, each blog (well, devotional) I posted no longer magically appeared in your inbox. Ack. Somehow I accidently did something that deleted this handy-dandy feature. Well. I think I’m back. And I will be posting (again) my devos to bring you up to speed. My prayer is that these messages are helping someone. God bless you guys! Warmly, Dabney ~~~ Jesus Did What? {Day 13}
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Stay Alert! {Day 18}
{Day 18} “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” ~ 1 Peter 5:8 NLT It started with a whisper. Do you feel that? That pinch in your upper chest, near your heart. My hand tapped the area. There it was again. If felt like someone had threaded my vein with a needle and left the pointy metal lodged inside. A couple of years prior, a stent, or small tube was placed in my Superior Vena Cava (SVC), and I had read that sometimes stents slide and need to be sutured back in place. Many…
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Everything? {Day 17}
{Day 17} “Do everything without complaining and arguing,” ~ Philippians 2:14 NLT It turns out, my breathing problems, extreme fatigue, and upper body swelling after open-heart surgery were caused by a blocked vein called the Superior Vena Cava (SVC). Basically, my blood flow was restricted from my heart to the rest of my body from scar tissue where my port (internal IV connected to main artery) was placed 14 years prior from my chemotherapy treatment. This type of scar tissue is not normal, and typically does not affect other patients. Yet, we had hit another hiccup, one that drove me into a rather laughable despair considering the crazy medical journey…
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Pure Joy Is An Option {Day 16}
{Day 16} “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” ~ James 1:2-4 NLT Full confession. I used to crinkle my nose at this verse when things weren’t going my way. How can the comparison between two conflicting adjectives like “trials” and “joy” even be in the same sentence when we face cancer? Or heart failure? Or some other debilitating disease? During the darker days of my illnesses, I needed further explanation to help me wrap my head…
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Perfect Peace {Day 15}
{Day 15} “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” ~ Isaiah 26:3 NLT “Dabney…how much money is two quarters and a dime,” my cardiologist asked me each day he visited my hospital room after my open-heart surgery. Eyes wide, I stared at my husband, silently begging him for the answer, then slowly shrugged. “How old are your kids?” I shot another look to Jason, my brain searching for the answer. Another shrug. “Dabney, what year is it?” Excited, I said,“1995!” The doctor crossed his arms, then walked Jason out of the room like he had done so many days before.…
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Fix Your Eyes {Day 14}
{Day 14} “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:17&18 (italics added) {Modified blog post before my heart surgery in 2015} I have to believe that in this situation I’m walking through right now that God wants to give me the desires of my heart. Unlike a broken house, I’m afraid this broken body has a healthy fear of the operating table. And since my organs don’t always like…
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Jesus Did What? {Day 13}
“He…knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.’ Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.” ~ Luke 22:41-44 NLT It happened during my morning jog. Gripping my cell phone, I headed out the door in my best attempt to exercise. I used to run regularly, albeit I was super slow. Knowing the benefits of my routine often pushed me to keep up the habit, especially…
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Then {Day 12}
“Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. ~ Psalm 107:6 KJV I remember the day Erin Brockovich, the well-known environmental activist, visited our town in 2009 and alleged what our community had feared: We were living in a cancer-cluster and water contamination was to blame. Each bath, hand-washed dish, or dip in our above-ground pool my family of six encountered meant cancer-causing elements were slowly absorbing into our system. Given my pervious cancer battles, never before had we wanted to move so quickly, yet with this unsettling news the housing prices in our area had plummeted. As a result, we owed…
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Where Are You Focusing? {Day 11}
{Day 11} “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” ~ Matthew 14:29-31 NLT (emphasis added) I love how the Bible showcases Peter’s boldness in one sentence, yet highlights his fear in the next. These two teeny, tiny verses starkly contradict one another. Can we just pause and praise God for this type of transparency written in His Word? Because you know what…
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(Am I crazy for posting this? And help, please.) {Day 10}
{Day 10} “A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. ‘If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,’ he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be healed!’ Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.” ~ Mark 1:40-42 NLT I remember the season I struggled with depression. Yep. You read that right. Me…the girl who God saved a few times from death is human. And broken. And sometimes has to admit that waves of dark days loomed over her while caring for 3 little kids. Silently, I suffered because…
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{Day 9} Bad to Worse?
{Day 9} Bad to Worse? “Again, I tell you truly that if two of you on the earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. For where two or three gather together in My name, there I am with them.” ~ Matthew 18:19&20 NLT Four years after my stem cell transplant, we struggled with infertility because all of the chemotherapy had thrown my body into premature menopause. The good news is that my closed womb opened our hearts toward adopting a precious baby girl from China right after my 31st birthday. Overjoyed with our newest addition, I now felt…
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{Day 8}
{Day 8} “Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.” ~ Proverbs 30:5 NLT I clutched my red journal a sweet friend had given me before I started my stem cell transplant. Each time Scripture spoke to my soul, I jotted the words down along the hand-pressed pages like they were my personal shield that stopped Satan’s arrows from penetrating my heart. I’ve kept this notebook all these years later and flip through these reminders from time to time. Interestingly, what I recall most about this season of my life was how God spoke to me during my darkest moments,…
