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Take Two {Day 1}
{A few months before my diagnosis in 1998, I rested while my hubby and his parents walked around the Miami Zoo.) Well, as I posted devotionals weekly for about 6 months or so, thinking my subscribers were receiving my blogs, it turns out maybe 3 sweet friends were the recipients. Ha. I’ve since updated my subscriber list to include all my favorite people who have asked to be included. Can you do me a favor? If you were receiving my blogs in the past, can you comment below and let me know? This way I’ll know if I need to make further adjustments. Because of my snafu, I’m posting my…
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Pausing {Day 30}
{Photo credit: Ben White via Unsplash} {Day 30} “Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” ~ Psalm 27:13&14 NLT God is good. He is perfect. This world, my friend, is not. Maybe this is why I’ve dreamed of discovering that elusive genie who supposedly grants three unbelievable wishes, because my first request would be to wipe away every disease from this planet. But you know what? This dream of mine will one day come true, but it won’t be from this…
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You Can Do Anything {Day 21}
Perfect Peace {Day 15}
Pure Joy is an Option {Day 16}
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Sickness Brings Freedom? {Day 26}
{Day 26} “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” ~ Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT In my mid-forties, I grew a goose-egg sized knot out of the center of my chest. (You guys, I can’t make these medical oddities up.) But here it was, protruding inches below my neck for all to see. And of course, I wasted time imagining this growth was another tumor, since it was directly above where my first growth had mushroomed back in 1998. The good news is that after another CT scan,…
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Believe With Me {Day 24}
{Day 24} “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” ~ Proverbs 16:24 NASB “I’m believing God is healing you!” That’s what a sweet friend of mine said multiple times as I battled my countless illnesses. She was my encourager. My rock. My messenger from God to cheer my weary soul. Each time I talked with her, she shared some Scripture that always filled my heart with hope. I needed this. I just wanted someone to believe with me that I would beat whatever sickness I faced. And she wasn’t the only one. My husband was right there, cheering me on day after…
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Set Your Spirit Free {Day 23}
{Day 23} “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and sound mind.” ~ 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV I don’t want to worry anymore. Especially about my health. Or money. Or my kids acting like kids. Everywhere I turn there is something I could fret over. Like at the time of this writing (2018), we had mold mushrooming in the corner of our bathroom closet next to our AC unit. With my husband pretty much fatigued day and night, this led my mind down another rabbit trail. Could mold be the reason for his failing health? I’ve cried out for help, and…
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Sling a Sucker-Punch {Day 22}
{Day 22} “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” ~Proverbs 17:22 NLT We were still in a scary season of my husband’s unexplainable health issues, where we hopped from doctor to doctor, practically begging someone to find out why he felt like falling asleep each time his sat to rest. Emotionally, we were spent. It wasn’t until many months into his slow healing process that I was reminded of this beautiful truth of how God created a built-in medicinal aid that releases endorphins when we do one simple thing: Laugh. Do you want to sling a sucker-punch to the gut of your…
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Words Have Power {Day 19}
{Come on. This middle school picture of me is hilarious. ; ) } {Day 19} “And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.” ~ James 3:4&5 NLT (emphasis added) & “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” ~ Deuteronomy 31:8 NLT I used to call myself a dumb blonde. I know. Not the…
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Stay Alert! {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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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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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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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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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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Opinions Needed
One of the things I’m often asked is if I speak at churches or events. And I do. So I finally stopped dragging my feet and found a way to share clips of me speaking. This required lots of sleuthing and then pretty much begging the hubs to teach me a thing or two about video editing, however I think I only want to post one snippet for viewers to see. Any chance you can help me decide? If you have a minute or two, take a look at the YouTube videos below and let me know what you think. Which video would you choose to feature on my *Speaking*…
