Tag Archives: Trusting God

COPING WITH ADVERSITY

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Psalm 91:2

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him will I trust.

 

My newest release-DEADLY COMMUNICATIONS-features Maven Morris. At the beginning of the story, Maven is depressed! Clinically depressed or just reeling from several life-changing events? I’ll leave that up to the reader to decide, but either way she’s having trouble coping. Her coping mechanism seems to be to stay in bed–a lot!

Maven’s not the only one who has to find a way to cope with adversity. All of us at one time or another will have to. The adversity might be a loss of a loved one; loss of a job; serious health issues; or….the list could go on and on. The point is that life can be tough. As Christians, we need to cope with adversity in a godly way.

In my own life, I’ve been dealing with brain tumors; the effects of the tumors; and the side effects of the treatments for more than two years. Trust me when I say that’s a long time! I have a long list of “issues” these days. Some are permanent, like my balance issues and my hearing loss, unless God chooses to give me a miracle. Others are temporary or at least I’m praying for that.

It hasn’t been easy, but by keeping my eyes on Jesus I’m managing. Actually, I’m more than managing. Just to toot my own horn for a moment, during the time I’ve been ill I’ve written 3 full length novels and 3 novellas as well as done the editing and revisions to get them ready for publication. I can’t say that I’m never depressed or cranky, but I can say that most of the time God’s peace and joy gets me through the day with a smile on my face.

As I started to suffer the side effects of my treatments, I had to make a decision: Was I going to be a fair-weather Christian or was I going to trust God? And there will come a time in each of our lives or more likely many times when we will be tempted to give up or to get angry at God, that’s the time we need to trust God the most.

It may not be easy but it will be worth it!

To celebrate the release of Deadly Communications, I’m having a contest. Leave a comment here and you’ll be entered to win a free copy of DEADLY COMMUNICATIONS.

UNTIL NEXT TIME…GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

 

 

Bell’s Palsy–A Blessing?

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Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve written a blog. Ive been a bit busy. I developed Bell’s Palsy on April 1 (yeah, great April Fool’s Day prank). And to make it even more funny, I’m a speech pathologist. So, I’m a speech pathologist whose mouth isn’t working at the moment!

If you don’t know what Bell’s Palsy is—it is facial paralysis. It usually occurs only on one side but it can affect both. Thankfully, in my case it only affected one side. According to my doctors and websites I’ve visited, it is usually caused by a virus attacking the 7th cranial nerve but it’s not always caused by a virus. Anyway, recovery can happen quickly or slowly, even up to six months.

So, one of my doctors insisted I have an MRI—just to be sure. I thought it was unnecessary but I did it. And turns out they found something else—of course! They found schwannomas—which are a type of tumor—on both sides of my brain.

Here’s the interesting thing, my neurosurgeon isn’t sure that the schwannomas are the cause of the Bell’s Palsy. According to him, it might be or it might not be. They are very, very tiny and the larger one is on the side not having Bell’s Palsy. On the other hand, it seems too coincidental that I have Bell’s Palsy and the schwannomas. At least he thinks so.

 Me—I don’t think it’s coincidental at all. God has His ways of getting things done. Catching the tumors in their early stages is a blessing and that means the Bell’s Palsy is a blessing!

 So, what experience have you had that seemed awful at the time but turned out to be a blessing?