Tid Bits of Wisdom

From the Wonderful Word Publishers

NOVEMBER 2012 VOL. 6 NO. 11

TEN COMMANDMENTS (Continued)

Last month we covered the first four commandments which have to do with our relationship with God and this month we cover the last six, which has to do with our relationship with man. In the New Testament when Jesus was asked about the commandments He said, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matt. 22:36-40) Jesus condensed the ten commandments into two, the first dealing with worship to God and the second dealing with ministry to mankind.
Deut 5:16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Deut 5:16

Ps 50:14-15 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER.

This is the first commandment with promise. Just how important is it to honour your parents? God says your days will be lengthened and it will go well with you IF you give your parents the honour they are due. What if your parents do not live honorable lives? Many children do not have the privilege of having parents who have good morals or wisdom and they suffer many things at the hands of their parents. Many authorities are not worthy of their positions, but we still must honour the position. Every person who sits in the seat of authority will give an account to God for how they performed their responsibilities. The children will be blessed for respecting their parents position, regardless of who they are and it will be well with the child who will obey God even in very difficult positions. The parents who apply themselves to being good parents should have double honour and their children should never take them for granite Today, home life has greatly deteriorated and good parents are hard to find. Have you ever thanked your parents for their part in your life? How does God feel about children that curse their parents? He makes it clear in the law for Israel (Ex. 21:17; Lev. 20:9). Children that cursed their parents were to be killed!!!! Children that smote their parents were also to be killed!!!! There would sure be a lot of dead children if those laws were being enforced today, or maybe there would be more children giving honour to their parents if that law was enforced today!!!!! God said in Ezekiel that men say, His ways are not equal. God said, Are not my ways equal and your ways are unequal? Our first thought is to protect the children and it seems cruel to kill a child. God said, Even a child is known by his doing. God holds all men accountable for their actions. Let me give you some things to think about. 1. What kind of parent would you be if you thought your child would have to be killed should he curse you?

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING DAY! IN MEMORY OF:

a former member of the Justin Quartet

GUY LEUTY,

Family of Kyle & Merissa Leuty

LOUISE CLARK WHITE

Her interest in memorizing Scripture began when her husband left to serve in World War II and continued throughout her life.

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(Continued from page 1) TEN COMMANDMENTS?

2. What kind of a life would you live if you had to cast the first stone at your child for his action? Jesus said, He that is without sin cast the first stone. 3. What kind of a child do you think you would be if you knew you would be stoned should you curse your parents? 4. How many children do you think would have to be killed before the other children began to obey? Our way leaves the impression that you can do as you please and there are no repercussions. That is not true and we do harm to our loved ones when we leave that impression. The Scripture says, The wages of sin is death. I think our ways are unequal and we lack love for our children by letting them do wrong and think that they will not have to pay for it. No, we do not kill our children, but we had better let them know how God feels about disobedience. Gods laws would encourage us to STRAIGHTEN UP and CLEAN UP our acts. THOU SHALL NOT KILL. We just talked about killing children who curse their parents and now we have the law, Thou shall not kill. Those who are given authority to enforce the law have the right to take lives. They will give an account to God for how justly they enforce the law. But for us to just decide we dont like someone and we decide to kill them, we are worthy of death. We are given the right to kill if it is the only way to protect our lives, but to reach out to kill someone because of hatred or any other vile affection is against Gods commandment and the penalty is death! We live in a day where everyone seems to think that they have the right to take other peoples lives. Every night on the news we hear of families killing each other, of mothers having abortions, of workers killing employers, or lovers killing each other. These are people who grew up thinking they could curse their parents and get away with it. Did we do them a favor by not dealing with them as children? I think not! Our ways encourage people to go deeper and deeper in sin . THOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. How much adultery do we see in our day and time? How much has been found in the church of God? In the law they were stoned, just like the children who cursed their parents. Adultery is the sexual breaking of the vows of marriage. While most people do not pay attention to what they have spoken in the vows, they all know they have sinned when they have sex outside of marriage. We live in such a permissive day. Many husbands and wives permit their mates to sleep with others, but God does not! If we understood what marriage was a picture of, we would never take our actions lightly. Marriage represents the godhead. The vows represent the promises of God. The union represents the unity of the godhead. Do you realize just what you promised your mate at the altar and just how those vows represent the godhead? The godhead works as ONE and they never do damage to the other ones. Everything they do is in harmony and unity. When we commit adultery, we break our word (vows). When our word is no longer good, we are no longer a picture of God. When we commit adultery we are no longer faithful to our mate. When

we are not known as faithful, we are no longer a picture of God. We teach our children that adultery is sin and then we commit adultery, teaching our children that we do not live what we say we believe (say one thing and live another). In America today, no one expects people to keep their word, remain faithful and live what they say they believe. We just say, Well, thats just the way it is today. Thats not how God sees it. God sees it as an act worthy of death!!!!
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.

Satan is the thief and he comes to do damage to us. Someone who would steal behind your back, is a person who does the work of Satan. Nothing makes you feel more violated than to have someone steal what you have worked hard to obtain. There will be no thefts in heaven. This is what Jesus had to say concerning thieves. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matt 6:19-21)

Unless we see a great change in America all these savings that people have been putting away for retirement will be stolen by a fallen government. No treasure is safe unless it is in heaven. Im afraid we are a little slow sending our treasures upward!
THOU SHALL NOT bear false witness against thy neighbour. Are you sure that what you say

is true and not just hearsay? You may have heard some gossip and thought you were telling the truth, yet what you heard was not true. Be careful with your witness. Once words have been spoken they cannot be taken back. My wife and I experienced some false witness against our character a few years back and many people got a false opinion of who we were and what we believed. We spent many hours trying to clean up the false witness, but somewhere there is someone who never heard the truth and they go on thinking bad thoughts about us. Those who spread the false witness were not necessarily thinking of us and what those words would do to us. Those who spoke falsely only wanted the position we had been put in and they were hoping to remove us so they could go forward with their plans. Jesus said from the cross, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. I think that was the case with those speaking against us. I dont think they were aware of what they were doing to us at that time. Someone spoke it and they took it to be truth. Im sure we have been guilty of the same thing at one time or another. God help us to stop and make sure we are speaking truth before we speak. THOU SHALL NOT covet thy neighbours house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbours. What do you do when someone is blessed with someone or something that you have craved for. Are you grateful for their blessing. Do you covet their blessing? To covet is to desire what they have, not one like they have. To covet is to wish they didnt have it and you did. I remember some years ago that we were praying and asking the Lord to give us a motor home. We really felt we needed it. We had prayed for one about 2 years when a friend

It is hard to believe that we are coming so close to the end of the year. As usual this year has been filled with blessings and testings. We have had some very nostalgic times this year. Thank God for the gift of memory. We really appreciate your prayers for this ministry. It seems there has been a struggle to give attention to the work and a great fight to find a quite time to think and write. You will notice that this month is very late, BUT it is done! Many of you have given special gifts to the paper this year and we appreciate it very much. While money has not been a burden (thank you), getting the message out has been a spiritual fight. Bro. Bob & Betty Sue Smith would appreciate your prayers as Betty Sue recovers from open heart surgery. Her report has been very good but she has some days of recovery left. She and Bro. Bob are in their 80s and still serving faithfully. We learned today that our dear friend Lucile Dowdy went to be with the Lord yesterday. Our prayers are with her family. We received a letter and a gift telling us they could only name eight of the commandments. How about you? How many did you remember? Not any that we asked could name all ten! Very interesting. Letter: Dear Jerry & Gloria, The paper is always a blessing. The teaching on the Ten Commandments was helpful and George Mullers wisdom is always good to read. We would like to give this gift in memory of Louise White who went to be with the Lord October 6, 2012 at age 100 years. She loved the Lord, His Word, missionaries and people and finished her course while keeping the faith. Bill & Linda R. Remember, send your gifts to Tid Bits of Wisdom, 1801 Old Hickory Trail, DeSoto, Texas 75115. All gifts are tax deductible. Our phone number is 214-293-5252. Our web site is tidbitswww.com and our email is tidbitswww@ aol.com. called and asked us if we could drive them out of town to pick up a motor home that had been given to them. My wife said, Not only has the Lord not given us one, but now He wants us to take these people to pick up their blessing that we had prayed for. Maybe God was trying us. These people had not prayed for one and did not know they were going to need one. About three months later they understood their need for one. My wife and I thanked God for what He had done for them and believed that if we truly needed one, God would provide. We would still like one, but only in Gods time. To covet is to wish loss to the one who possesses what you desire. A Christian is to bless others, not wish them loss. Rejoice with them like you would want them to rejoice with you. I must say, a person who covets another persons mate is a person who has never learned to be content with what God has put in their life. It is a person who thinks that the grass is always greener on the other side. If only my mate were like their mate!!! A person who dreams of having someone elses mate is a person who is not facing reality. God help us to look at these commandments and take them to heart. -----Editor

TID BITS OF WISDOM MONTHLY REPORT

CHURCH SIGN! If youre not thankful, you must be a turkey!

F E M A L E INSPIRATIONS

By Gloria Brewster

And AdAm cAlled his wifes nAme eve; becAuse she wAs the mother of All living.
gen 3:20
How would you like to be held responsible for all living people. Eve is the mother of us all! Eve is an important person, but how many lessons have you heard or read about mother Eve? How much can we say about Eve outside of the fact she was the first person deceived by Satan and she was the first to transgress (II Cor. 11:14). Actually, Eve is a very interesting lady. Lets start with what we do not know about her. We do not know if she was tall or short, dark complexion or light, vibrant or shy, little or big (Now I dont believe she was created fat. I am out of proportion and I dont think God would do that to us! We get the credit for excess weight.), and we do not know what personality trait she was. In other words she could have been just like us, whoever we are. So lets look at her as if she where us and lets walk in her shoes for a moment. Adam and Eve represented the flesh. God lets us know how He created them, why He created them and what they did that influenced all of our lives, but God does not want us to know details of their personalities. He wants us to understand we are just like them. He didnt want us to be able to say, Well, Im not like them! We have the same flesh they had and we are under the curse they brought upon us in the beginning of creation. This curse that we are born under is the curse of vanity. (Rom. 8:20) We did not receive this curse willingly, but this was the penalty of Adams sin and it came through his seed. Now, we are subjected to hope and we receive this hope of eternal life by willingly receiving the work of the Lord Jesus Christ (the second Adam) by faith. While our father Adam gave us vanity, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gives us life (righteousness). Until we have willingly received this life, we are living under the curse of vanity and vanity brings death. We must be born again!!!!! Eve had it made before the transgression. She lived in a garden! Not just any garden, but a garden God had made for her and Adam. Ladies, she didnt have to keep house! Adam was given the order to dress and keep the garden, therefore Adam was the first house keeper. Eve was living in Adams domain, because he was to work the outdoors. As I was reading about the garden, I thought about some of the sayings that men use when it comes to their wives. Have you ever heard the saying, I never promised you the moon! Well, I was remembering an old song that said, I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden! Well, Adam and Eve lived in a rose garden! She had it made.

Eve didnt have to cook or sew or wash clothes before her transgression. Do you ever feel like there is just no end to a days work in the house? Well you can thank Eve for that. One other thing, Adam was the first man to be a seamstress. He and Eve sewed the first fig leaves and made aprons! So, Adam was the first man to wear an apron! How about that. Though it does not say it, I suppose that Eve helped him dress and keep the garden, seeing she was created an Help meet. Actually, they did everything together because there was no sin to divide them. I remember when Jerry and I first married, we did everything together. When the Bible said they were to be one, Jerry took that literally. He didnt want me out of his sight. He helped me in the house and I held the flashlight for him while he worked on the car. We were married over six months before I went anywhere without him. Now, as the honeymoon wore off, we did go places without one another, but Jerry never liked me out of his sight. One Thanksgiving, my mother drug me into the bedroom and shut the door. I asked her what was she doing? She said, Ill give him five minutes. I said, What do you mean? She said, In five minutes or less Jerry will be knocking on the door, because he cannot stand for you to be out of his sight. I thought she was wrong. Three minutes later Jerry is knocking on the bedroom door saying, What are you all doing in there? Mother said smiling, I rest my case. While we have had

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you finished the race in your own time. 1. Anna, the first one to die, we laughed so hard together and we were both new in our journey so we compared notes. We were laughing because we found ourselves running into walls sometimes or being unsteady on our feet and we knew it was from the chemo. I remember the night she wrote and begged me to get to my doctor to get a CT scan. Her cancer, the same as mine, had crossed to her brain. I saw my doctor and he did a test on me in the office and immediately scheduled a CT scan. My scan came out clear and it turned out my symptoms were side effects of chemo. Anna died and I remember thinking how did this just happen? We knew each other 3 months. What just happened? 2. Beth, had two daughters. Little ones. Beth and I butted heads a lot. She didnt understand how I could have a sense of humor and see life through rose colored glasses she would say. What she didnt see is that this Warrior was a child. I was running to my Father and dropping my sword at His feet and climbing into His arms for some rest and rejuvenation. She had no Father to run to. Her only thoughts were about her daughters and how she wasnt going to see them get married and her anger at everyone was hard to take. I never denied her the opportunity to yell at me for I knew this was her way of coping and that she had family who loved her. I learned a lot about allowing others to make decisions about how they were going to handle this journey and to be accepting of their decisions, whether that was to fight with anger, fight with love, fight with humor or even choose not to fight. What was harder to take was watching women making decisions and their family wanting them to do what the family wanted them to do. Even seeing families threaten to walk away and no longer support the woman unless she tried this treatment or that treatment. One dear sweet girls parents walked away and went home and were not there during hospice and refused to attend her funeral. I cannot comprehend that even to this day. 3. Carol was from another country, like Anna and both talked many times about not being able to get looked at right away as they had health systems different from ours and had to wait their turn. Carol was so incredibly educated and loved to travel so she would constantly be online telling someone to ask about this test or this cancer treatment and then telling us about her travels. Her death left a huge hole because she loved research and she was always sharing her knowledge. 4. Diane was also from overseas and very educated. She too would offer advice to try different

This article is about the journey of a cancer patient who is a very dear friend of ours. This is a very humbling article for her and we felt that our readers would benefit by reading her confession. How many people have we let walk pass and never shared with them the gift of Eternal Life? I believe we will all be touched by her honesty. She has asked that we not print her name. We would like to thank her for allowing us to share her journey. The print is very small and we apologizes, but felt we should include the whole story.
I have not written in so long because cancer is behind me and life has moved on. So I thought. Though there are a few new names on this list that I have added because I hold them close in my heart, many, many of you prayed this journey for me as I journeyed through the minefield in 2006. It didnt occur to me then that I would need to look back through the years, but as each woman, who I had grown close to through posts, emails, phone calls, sending of gifts or receiving gifts, died.....I had to look back. There were 12 of us that started our cancer journeys close to each other and we became a close knit group on and off the cancer web site. So many nights we would be writing or talking in the middle of the night, 2-4 in the morning, as we couldnt sleep or we had to rush to the bathroom or we were just trying to breathe to live. I used yall as my sounding board telling each of you my struggles of crossing over to the dark side after each chemo, radiation or the infections..... yet praising my Father for the opportunity to go through this journey. I tried to keep the smile on my face and the laughter pouring out of my heart and so many of yall stepped in and sent me jokes to make me laugh and sent words of encouragement. But the greatest gift from each of you were the prayers. The last of the 11 other women has died today. Though I was made aware a few weeks ago, I guess I put it away thinking surely she would pull out of it as she had before. I found out last week she was rushed to the hospital and it seems this particular one has emotionally taken me on a roller coaster ride which I have been unable to get off. So much so that I have not returned phone calls, emails, voice messages or taken care of the mail. So I want to throw out my thoughts as I once did. Im not looking for sympathy, though if you see me a hug would absolutely be accepted (as most of yall know by now). Im not looking to stay in this place of darkness, for my Jesus is light and this place is not fun to be in. I would have never thought I would cross over to the dark side again, but it seems emotionally I have. My Father knew me before I was born, he knew my inward parts as I was forming and He, thankfully, gave me to two parents who loved Him and served Him and so I was extremely blessed to be raised in a Christian home. I asked God to be the God of my life when I was nine years old. I knew I wanted Him in my life and that my life would be better because He would always be with me. I knew I didnt deserve Him but that He gave his only Son (something I could and would never do with my son) as a sacrifice, a gift that even now can bring tears to my eyes. I was the reason Jesus had to go through so much pain and anguish. I can never repay Him for the cost He bore for my sinful heart. How I wish there was something I could do to repay Him. Though I pour out love, laughter, cards, letters and gifts to others there is not one single thing I can give to Him that would even be worthy of His eyes looking on, to thank Him for what He did for me (and you). So I look today at the picture and try to see what He was painting back in 2006. He started the picture then and it was just a dab of color here and there and as I walked the journey with Him, He added more parts to the picture. I didnt know He was painting then, I was just trying to breathe each day and let people know I was alive. I was still on this earth. Funny isnt it, how important that was then, but looking back I see how now I will go the minute He calls and will not look back. I sit now and think of each woman: To all of you beautiful women: I failed you and I sit here now with tears running down my face and breaking into sobs. I told yall that I would run next to you as you ran your race and tell you how beautiful you looked in sweat, lol and that you glowed with someone who now understood the precious gift of life. I told you that I would stand behind you so you wouldnt fall, and if you did fall backward I would be that soft landing for you. I told you that I was a farmer and my shoulders were big enough to hold you up when you tired and if you just needed to rest your head on my shoulders I was there. I told you that I was yelling your name the loudest as I saw you running toward the finish line, that nobody looked more radiant than you as you crossed the line, that it didnt matter how you placed but that you finished with dignity, grace and

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some fun times with it, I love working along side my husband. I will be very honest with you, the years he has pastored have been the hardest years for me. I love the work that God has given both me and Jerry. His is pastoring and mine is teaching ladies. He doesnt tell me how to do my work and I do not try to help him pastor. We do work together in the church, but our ministries are separate. It is the only thing that we have done separately in our marriage. I have seen many women destroy their husbands in the ministry because they tried to tell him how to do it. I pray I never try to get between Jerry and the Lord when it comes to the church. They dont need my help! Jerry and I did family conferences before he began pastoring and we worked together on our lessons and I loved that. Our lives often pull us apart, but we need to keep as much togetherness as possible. Adam and Eve did not go to work in two different directions, they worked together. The farmers and their families all worked together. Not so today and we have divorce after divorce. Find some way to think and work together with your mate and that will hold your home together. Adam and Eve had it made in the garden. You might say they threw us all out of the garden into the thorns and thistles. Now back to Eve. Why did Satan go after Eve and not Adam? Satan is not afraid of the seed of man, but he was and is afraid of the womb of woman. If Eve died, there would never have been a womb to birth the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan knew that God had already determined to send His Son to give eternal life to all who would by faith trust Him. Scripture says that it was settled before creation that Jesus would die for our sins. Satan cares nothing for man, be it male or female. We are not Satans interest, we are his servants when we sin and we are the weapons he uses against God. He longs to be God, but he never will be. He knows Gods love for us and in destroying us he destroys the love and work of God. No, it was Eves womb that Satan was after. Satan was very confident that he could persuade Eve to eat of the fruit, because he knew that woman was easily deceived and that she was the weaker vessel of the two. (I Tim. 2:14;I Pet. 3:7) Does it bother you to have the Bible speak of our weakness? You better be thankful it does speak of our weakness. It helps us to know where we should be watchful. These are not derogatory statements. He is not condemning us in these statements, He is pointing out our needs. Why are we easily deceived? Our greatest work is with the present. We must plan meals, house cleaning, getting the children to and from events, making sure everyone has their needs met TODAY! Our mind is on the present tense. Our husbands are thinking on the end results of their work. Will there be enough money to pay the bills, can I keep this car running for years. Most of their thinking is on the finished product and when you look to the end of any matter you see more clearly. Woman works in the present tense and makes many decisions without thinking about the end results. The Scripture says that as we raise our children in faith, charity, holiness and sobriety, this will save us from deception. It will help us see more clearly. As for the weaker vessel, this is referring to the flesh, NOT the mind. I have laughingly told Jerry that the reason God made woman the weaker vessel was that had He made her as strong as the man, the woman would have beat him to death! Also, by being the weaker vessel he should understand his need to protect the woman. A good man will give his life for his wife, but if she were bigger and had more muscles than him, he would not feel the need to protect her.

And AdAm cAlled his wifes nAme eve

God has made us what we are to accommodate our created responsibilities and to bless us and our work. It was good for us to be this way or God would not have created us this way. He has created us in a way that makes us need one another. We would never come together in marriage if we didnt need one another!!!! Adam was not deceived!!!! That means he deliberately chose to sin. It looks to me like Adam was the worse of the two. He knew what he was doing against God and he did it anyway. I dont know about you, but I had rather be Eve than Adam. Eve thought she was bettering herself. Adam knew he was sinning and he knew the penalty of his sin. Both Adam and Eve failed us and God. Let me give you something to think about. Iniquity is carried through the seed of the man, not through the womb of woman. It is Adams actions that placed us under the curse of death, not Eves actions. Had our iniquities been carried through woman the Lord Jesus Christ would not have been sinless. Our iniquities are carried through the seed of man. Women pass their iniquities through influence, just as Eve influenced Adam. In the flesh we will be failures, but in the Spirit of Christ we can live in righteousness and be overcomers. Who do you want to serve, Adam and Eve (flesh), or the Lord Jesus Christ (Spirit)? Next month we will take one more look at mother Eve.

----Gloria Brewster

If you could give a kick in the pants to the person responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldnt sit for a month.

treatments though she posted sporadically. I remember many posting questions for her, waiting for when she would get on and post answers. She talked like a scientist, lol. 5. Emily.....its hard to talk about Emily. We actually knew each other because we went to the same doctor. We saw each other in the chemo room and that is where we met. She told me she loved my laugh and she asked if I was seeing the same doctor as her. We talked and funny enough we actually saw each other in a couple of restaurants, when we were eating with others. We didnt live close to each other so those moments we talked or saw each other were fun. She was a beautiful woman. She loved that I was brave to not wear anything on my bald head, lol. She always wore a scarf and I dont know how many times she told me she wished she could do that. 6. Faith had a beautiful daughter and husband and posted many, many pictures. Her and her husband made a commitment to do as many things as they could with their daughter just in case something happened to Faith, her daughter would have the memories. As it turned out that is all her daughter has but what incredible memories they made. Pictures galore! I remember one of her final posts wondering how often her husband or daughter thought about how life would be much easier after she died since they would not have to worry about her or cater to her needs. I immediately let her know that her daughter and husband had never entertained that thought. The thoughts running through their heads would be how to make this a less painful day for Faith. How can they meet her needs and why do they fail in meeting her needs? That is how the caregiver feels. How can I do more for you, how can I help you and not make it harder or more painful for you? You are always thinking of them. 7. Gabrielle was a 2nd year resident. She was going to be a doctor and she volunteered in the charity clinic down the road from her hospital. She was 27 years old. She had such a spirit about her and as her journey went on she started thinking she would change her specialty to gynecological oncologist which was going to require more school but she saw the need as she became a patient. For you see there is a breast cancer oncologist on every corner. There are very few gynecological oncologists, so they are swamped. Many patients have to travel far distances to get to their appointments. Some even have to fly or stay the night before so they will be there. I remember she was having a rough spot and I told her I would fly to her and cook and sit with her while she studied. She cried. Though I was 45 years old our conversations never matched our ages. I sobbed when she died. 8. Heather went and started another cancer site for us because we werent supposed to talk about God or use God words on the cancer site I was on most. LOL, some of us just ignored or worked around it. So I joined Heathers site as well. We swapped pictures of where we lived and I had no clue she would die. The cancer didnt kill her, it was the treatment. When you have a gynecological cancer the radiation shoots into your colon, intestines. Many have small bowel obstructions or end up with bowel resections. They kept taking more and more as problems arose. In the end she laid in a hospital bed and bled out and died. 9. Jan.....lived in Oklahoma. She loved to write books and had been working on a book for two years. She was excited about finishing it and seeing if she could get it published. Just like Heather, Jan and I exchanged pictures of where we lived and talked on the phone and many, many emails. When her cancer came back and showed it had metastasized she called and asked me to come up to Oklahoma to see her. I did. We sat on her back porch and she poured her heart out. Her only grandchild came over, a young boy of 11 months of age, and she played and played with him and held him until she was physically exhausted. I sat and watched as she poured love out on that child and drove home crying, knowing he would never know her. She died two weeks later and I went to her funeral and purchased flowers from the rest of us that were still living and took pictures of the flowers and sent them to everyone else. We all loved Jan. 10. Karen....okay her and I shared a great sense of humor! We created funny cancer phrases and she sent me some bed hats (they help keep you warm in bed, cause you get cold when youre bald) that she found which were very, very colorful, lol. She really struggled because her boyfriend of 5 years walked away after her cancer diagnosis and she started treatment. At the time when she needed him most. We would talk and talk and write and write. She was full of constant and funny encouragement. I found out from her mother she had died when I couldnt get her. 11. Finally, Maryanne. Maryanne, you took your last breath today and I sit here thinking, even yet, that I will see an email from you in the near future. We talked about the others and the funny times and sad times we had with them. I told you how much I thought loving them would save them and how incredibly naive I was. You knew farm life and I cant tell you how much I enjoyed hearing stories from you. You made me laugh and Im a sucker for laughter. I was so happy for you and

(Continued from page 5) A CANCER PATIENTS JOURNEY

your husband when you moved into your new community. You were soooooooo excited, lol. I know you enjoyed your new friends clear up to the end. Cause I also know you never saw the end coming. I didnt either Maryanne. If I had, I promise I would have warned you and made the last days even sweeter for you. I told you each that I loved you.....so, so many times. Heres where I failed you and just like I can never repay my Father for his gift to me, I can never change this moment in time. I never talked to each of you about having that relationship with God. I never asked, except for Jan, and she let me know she didnt want any part of God. I failed you. You see I thought it was all about support and love and laughter, but in the end I will stand before my Father and He will show me 11 women he brought into my life and I will sob as I do now, knowing I was given the opportunity, and I didnt take it. I speak of my Father because He has been so good and yet I didnt tell you the most important thing I could have told you. The thing that would have saved your life, YOUR ETERNAL LIFE!! In the end, I could have told you about the One that would have given you more hope than your doctors or I could give you, but I didnt. That picture that my Father was painting as I went through my journey? It is a beautiful portrait of all the friends, 11 of them, that He brought into my life so that I could share Him with them and right there in the middle is me sitting with bent knees because you see I cant run....I dont even walk well yet because my knees arent back to normal. You know the saying: A picture paints a thousand words, what irony that when my Father gave me my healthy legs to run with these women and I did, that I didnt use those healthy legs to run to them with the gift and hope of Salvation. And now, they are all gone and my legs are bent and I cant run. Truly that picture will haunt me. I have showed you the ugly side of me today. It is the greedy soul that didnt want to share her Father with anyone, at least not the plan of Salvation. I can talk of all Hes done for me, but if He only gives me a few minutes (and I had months and years with these women) I need to get the message out faster, better. So my dear prayer warriors, I ask that you pray for me as I try to take this moment and learn from it without it utterly defeating me. I have an appointment with my oncologist tomorrow and I cant tell you that Im not a little fearful. For ever a split second it came to mind that maybe I wont make it either. First time I have ever thought that. I need to reach the place where that picture will motivate me to work harder on my legs and rehab so that I can walk again and not let another soul slip by as they walk/run their journey.

TID BITS of WISDOM from the WONDERFUL WORD Publishers, Inc. 1801 Old Hickory Trail DeSoto, Texas 75115

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Praise Him, Praise Him

Words: Fanny Crosby Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim! Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest archangels in glory; Strength and honor give to His holy Name! Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children, In His arms He carries them all day long: Refrain Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song! Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! For our sins He suffered, and bled, and died. He our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation, Hail Him! hail Him! Jesus the Crucified. Sound His praises! Jesus who bore our sorrows, Love unbounded, wonderful, deep and strong. Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! Heavnly portals loud with hosannas ring! Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever. Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King! Christ is coming! over the world victorious, Powr and glory unto the Lord belong.

Ps 100 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

--Psalms 68:11-Founded December, 1966 WONDERFUL WORD Magazine, now Tid Bits of Wisdom, is the official voice of WONDERFUL WORD PUBLISHERS, a non-profit, religious organization, endeavoring to publish Gospel Literature in the Spanish Language for world-wide distribution, through Bible believing Missionaries at no cost to them. It is published as the Lord enables. It is dedicated to Missionary activity on the fields already white unto harvest, and contending for the verbally inspired Word, exalting the LIVING WORD.

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