Born Again Christians Thread-No Bashing please

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luvthatduke said:
Hope everyone had a pleasant Thanksgiving, ours was quiet but nice.
Prayers on the way for everyone...
Thanks so much for your prayers for my DSis and Mikey.
DSis is not doing well, and little Mikey is doing much worse.
It is so sad.
He turns around all the time, thinking he heard his dad.
And he goes and sits where he used to with his dad while
they watched their TV shows (his dad couldn't do much most days
because of the cancer), and sometimes he piles his blankies
in the space his dad used to sit in.
They live in N. California and it's begun to snow heavily there today,
so the 2 of them are trapped inside.
When DSis put on her boots to go out to get the mail,
Mikey got extremely distraught thinking they were going to
go get his Daddy at chemo and finding out they weren't.
I can't imagine how confused and sad that little boy must be...
Oh this just broke my heart. I lost my dad to cancer when I was 11 and at that age it was difficult to understand and accept. I can't imagine being this little guy and going through that. :( You and your family will be in my prayers.
 
Your prayers mean so much to me,
and I know that my sister and Mikey will feel the results soon.
It is a good fellowship we have here!
Blessings to all of you~

Albertan Mom I know how it is to fly sick,
make sure everyone drinks constantly (no kidding!)
and we'll all be looking forward to your trip report when you back.

Aidensmom, PM'd you back - thanks!
 
luvthatduck, I agree with you for good results soon. The Bible says the prayers of the righteous availeth much. :grouphug:
 

Hi guys!

Have you ever noticed that when I have a run in with certain folks on the DIS, I come back to you guys to say "hi" from time to time?

Well, the reason is that I have to be reminded that the vast majority of Christians don't sit back in judgement, hatred or disgust of fellow human beings. And those on this thread that I've gotten to know, I've never seen you do that.

Just wanted to say "Hi" and "thanks!"
 
Hi everyone! Just checking in. luvthatduke, I am sorry your little nephew is having such a hard time. Prayers for wisdom for your sister. How hard to deal with her own grief and try to explain this to her little guy at the same time.

I was wondering what ideas you all have to bring focus to the busy holiday season? I recently attended an activity at church based on the book Redeeming the Season. I have now created an "advent box" or prophecy box for our family. You take 25 prophecy scriptures from the OT and pair them with the NT scripture in which that prophecy is fullfilled (He would be born in Bethlehem/Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem, etc) You then open each envelope each day the month of Dec and read the scripture. If you have kids you are also supposed to put in some little treat each day for them to have. You tell them in the morning that you will be opening the envelope in the evening so you introduce the idea of prophecy to them that way. I am really looking forward to doing this with the kids and having the focus.

Another thing we are doing also sort of from the book, at least to give me specific ideas is a special gift on Christmas day. Every year on Christmas eve, we have a cake and sing happy birthday to Jesus. My kids really look forward to that and were talking about it the other day. The 5 yo said, Christmas eve is for Jesus and Christmas is for presents. I was okay with that but wanted to find a way to bring Jesus into the day celebration as well. So, I thought of a gift from God and Jesus. The book helped me to firm that up and gave ideas for gifts to represent fruits of the spirit or gifts that Jesus gave. This year our box will have in it a nail, a match (fire of the Holy Spirit) and a little baby doll. Maybe a couple of other things too. It is going to be addressed to "All who choose to believe."

So, what do you do?
 
Thanks for your prayers, Julie.
I love the Prophecy Box idea, I'm going to start
that one next year!

eta: Hi Rick! Sorry to hear of some let-downs,
I haven't been on too frequently this week so I'm out of the loop.
Blessings~
 
luvthatduke said:
Thanks for your prayers, Julie.
I love the Prophecy Box idea, I'm going to start
that one next year!

eta: Hi Rick! Sorry to hear of some let-downs,
I haven't been on too frequently this week so I'm out of the loop.
Blessings~

Any updates on your nephew? I can't stop thinking about him.
 
Thanks, Aidensmom.
Yes, my mom just talked do Dsis yesterday.
She hasn't left the house at all, I think,
since her DH died last Monday.
Today she had to go to the pharmacy
and when she took little Mikey out to the car
he just kept looking all around expecting to see
his dad sitting there waiting to go to chemo.
He couldn't understand why he wasn't in the car.
He also got extremely upset in the pharmacy,
and he usually doesn't throw tantrums we're told.
I called my sister yesterday and left a message suggesting
that she give little Mikey some clothing or blankets that
had not been washed, so he could smell his dad around him.
I also suggested that if she could part with it maybe she
could put his dad's pillow into his bed,
(I'd heard that from others who went through this with children).

This is just tearing all of us up, as you can imagine.
We're hoping that my sister decides to come back here
for a while, if not to live than to have some down-time.
Otherwise, she has to make a decision immediately on what
to do with her condo, how she'll work, who will take care of Mikey, etc.

Thanks again for your prayers, your tears, your friendship.
I pray that Jesus will reveal Himself to Mikey now and in the days ahead,
that Mikey will know what His arms feel like, and what He smells like...
 
luvthatduke said:
Thanks, Aidensmom.
Yes, my mom just talked do Dsis yesterday.
She hasn't left the house at all, I think,
since her DH died last Monday.
Today she had to go to the pharmacy
and when she took little Mikey out to the car
he just kept looking all around expecting to see
his dad sitting there waiting to go to chemo.
He couldn't understand why he wasn't in the car.
He also got extremely upset in the pharmacy,
and he usually doesn't throw tantrums we're told.
I called my sister yesterday and left a message suggesting
that she give little Mikey some clothing or blankets that
had not been washed, so he could smell his dad around him.
I also suggested that if she could part with it maybe she
could put his dad's pillow into his bed,
(I'd heard that from others who went through this with children).

This is just tearing all of us up, as you can imagine.
We're hoping that my sister decides to come back here
for a while, if not to live than to have some down-time.
Otherwise, she has to make a decision immediately on what
to do with her condo, how she'll work, who will take care of Mikey, etc.

Thanks again for your prayers, your tears, your friendship.
I pray that Jesus will reveal Himself to Mikey now and in the days ahead,
that Mikey will know what His arms feel like, and what He smells like...

I think those were some great suggestions you made to your sister, those things should give Mikey some comfort. I am praying that your sister decides to come stay with you all awhile to help everyone get through this.
 
:wave: Hi everyone! Hope that you all are doing well. It has been really busy here at work so I haven't posted a lot in the last week or so. Have been checking in briefly to read posts and keep up with everything going on.

lovethatduke - your nephew and sister continue to be in my prayers as does yourself and family as you try to encourage her from afar.

Prayers for all those others who have family going through illnesses and trials.

We still haven't had any resolution to our situation from the accident we were in but God is teaching me to be patient and just deal with the circumstances. I know His will and His timing are perfect.

Rick - Good to see you here! Don't be a stranger!
 
Thanks so much for all the prayers, it really means a lot...
Little Mikey turns 3 tomorrow (Sunday),
I'm pretty certain it will be "just another day" in his life, unfortunately.

Cristy, I'm sorry to hear of the non-movement
with the accident situation, that can be so frustrating!
Patience is definitely a virtue, and sometimes the only
good I can find in it is to simply repeat the scripture,
"Be still and know that I am God."
I try to use it as a personal reminder that even if that's "only"
what I learn from whatever experience I'm going through,
than it will have been worth it.
I do pray that the aftermath of the accident will work itself out quickly,
(and by the way how are all of you doing physically and mentally)?

Blessings to everyone~
 
Hi everyone :wave2:
It's Wednesday and the week is half over! This is definitely a good thing, although we'll be extremely busy again this weekend. Serving 3 churches is a lot all year long but in December, it just gets a little insane! Not just 1 Christmas party, Children's Christmas party, Cantada, etc... Hopefully someday, we'll have 1 church and not have to "ride the circuit" anymore. This past Monday I told my friend I was glad the weekend was over and I got the most confused look from her! lol
I have finally gotten some good news about my uncle Joe. Seemed like the entire month of November, everytime we thought he was doing better, he would have another setback. He is finally doing much better and should be able to leave the hospital at the end of this week. He'll have to be in rehabilitation for a while, but they're hoping that will be much closer to home. He was close to an hour away while he was in the hospital.
My MIL, Judy, will get her CAT scan report back this Friday. She doesn't want to be on chemo through the holidays...so we're hoping that the growth she has is minimal. We thought that she should get treatments ASAP to stop the growth, but she convinced her dr. to wait a month and see how much it has grown. :confused3
I hope you all are having a peaceful time preparing for the birth of Jesus. We're going a little nutsy, but we'll recover! Planning on taking a day during the week off of school to spend a night in a motel with a swimming pool and jaccuzzi...plus turning our cell phones off (or at least on "meeting") ;)
God bless you all!
 
Good evening everyone!

Deb, I am so glad to hear that your uncle Joe is improving and will be coming home soon. I'm sure he'll be happy to be home during Christmas. My prayers are with your MIL that the CAT scan will show good results. I know what you mean about the crazy holiday schedule--I've been running around like crazy trying to get it all done before our trip to WDW. This weekend is our church choir's Christmas concerts (1 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday), so it will be a busy one. After that it's full-force preparing for our trip. :)

Cristy, I'm sorry to hear that the accident situation hasn't been resolved yet. Sometimes waiting can be so very difficult. :hug:

luvthatduke, I hope Mikey's birthday was special for him, though I know he is feeling so sad right now. My heart just breaks for him. May the love of his Heavenly Father surround him and keep him in comfort.
 
OH MY gosh was it wonderful! :hyper2: It gave me chills, and lots of "AMEN, thank you Lord" statements. And a lot of crying. I think I was crying more seeing this, than I did The Passion.
And it was awesome when Aslan first appeared on the screen, couldn't help but cry, just because I was seeing him, as Jesus. :goodvibes Can't explain it in words! LOL
It was cool to have my son see a lot of the Truths! And the ending sentence----well you have to see it, but you too will say AMEN. Praying that others will allow the Truth to set them Free! :hug:
I can't wait till we can buy this on DVD!
I must say, If you have young ones that have night mares with scary things, this could cause a little fear, at least at night time. As an adult I can see this and say, ya know it's just putting a "face" on sin. Although little ones will just see ugliness.
But go see this! Even if you have to make it a date night! ;)
:bitelip:
 
Kerlynne, thanks for the recommendation. I plan on seeing it with dh and ds, but dd is just too young. I remember reading this with my ds, but it's been a few years ago.

I want to thank you all for the prayers recently. Our family has gone through some tough times recently with illnesses and it has been difficult. My uncle continues to improve and passed the swallow test the other day so they put him on a soft diet. After about a month of not swallowing anything, it's still pretty tough, but he was so thankful to have even a popsicle!
My MIL is going to start her chemo in January. The CAT scan showed that her cancer is not growing very quickly and she is very thankful not to be on treatments through the holidays.
We made it through today (10:00-11:00 practice/2:00-5:00 children's community Christmas party 1st church/5:00 Christmas party @ 2nd church/7:00 puppet show & ice cream social @ 3rd church!) and tomorrow is sure to be busy again...but God will strengthen us and give us what we need to glorify Him!
good night all
God bless!
Deb
 
Deb, I am really glad to hear of improvements/good news
with your family - even when it's not what we consider "healing"
it can be so good to get a reprieve.
I will continue to pray...

An update on my DSis & little Mikey:
I can't go into too many details, but the service that came to transport
Mikey's dad's body has turned out to be a shady outfit that
takes advantage of people who did not make prior arrangements.
My DSis was "encouraged" to use this service by the hospice nurse,
whom now will not return her calls and has never even called to see
how she and little Mikey are doing (she is required by contract to do this).
Long story short, they have his body, they were supposed to cremate
him immediately, they have not done that, they refuse to tell my DSis
where his body is in storage, and her paperwork only has 2 phone #'s,
no addresses or complete business names.
eta: The service is now demanding big bucks, which was not
requested or specified on the paperwork or at time of transport.

Our understanding is that this outfit is known to a local funeral home,
and it took the county coroner getting involved with the last 2 families
to retrieve their loved one's body.
My DSis has nothing left to give, there's no "fight" in her at all,
which is certainly understandable.
The attorneys in our family have tried to offer help but
she has not been able or willing to get law enforcement involved or
to call the coroner's office (once she found out they were involved before).
So, we wait each day wondering if she'll call with new information,
and we pray and pray - we know that God knows where the body is,
and that it is, in fact, just a shell, but it's difficult to be here and not
be able to help my DSis.
Even if we were nearby she wouldn't let anyone help *sigh*.

Then, the other day the oxygen delivery service came to the door
- the hospice nurse never notified them, which was another part of her job -
and little Mikey just completely lost it.
He thought his dad must be around somewhere,
because why would the oxygen tanks be coming to the door again?
I just wish I could hold him and love him in person!

Thanks again for the prayers and concern, you are all a blessing...

P.S. To any healthcare providers, this in no way is meant as a
slight against you or hospice workers, in particular. Our family has
been blessed with wonderful hospice people on numerous occasions.
It's just unfortunate that this woman, apparently,
is a shady character herself.
But, that is not a reflection on the hospice care industry (I hope!).
 
luvthatduke - That is HORRIBLE! I am so sorry all this is happening. :grouphug: Poor little Mikey, it is so difficult for children that age to realize what death is, and something like that just makes it even harder. I continue to pray for your sister, Mikey, and you and your family. I wish I could do something more.
 
luvthatduke,
I'm so sorry to hear of the horrors that your sister and Mikey are going through. I pray that the issues with the body, etc, will be resolved quickly. I also pray that your sister will open up and allow those who can help her do so...
 
Thank you both for your prayers,
and thank you to anyone else who has prayed, also.

You're not going to believe this, but it got worse (then better, that's later).
The hospice outfit that the nurse worked for sent a man
to her house who posed as their Chaplain!!
Yes, I said posed.
He knocked on DSis' door, told her he was the Chaplain,
she mistakenly thought our mom had called them and so she let him in.
He immediately starts grilling her about her finances,
when did she expect to get any insurance,
exactly what type of medical insurance did they have, etc.
She started shaking, getting very frightened since it became
obvious this man was not who he said he was.
He offered no spiritual help, no Bible was produced, no prayers offered,
he just kept asking questions about her finances.
When she got angry and told him exactly what the hospice nurse had
done/not done, and what the transport person had done
(I just found out that the transport person started harassing
my DSis immediately for $$$, calling her every 2 hours starting the next day,
showing up at her house unannounced - I think 3 times - and to top it off
when they took her DH's body they didn't allow her time to give them
the special blazer she wanted him cremated in, and they took his special
blanket that he had kept around himself through the last days).
Well when she told the "chaplain" all this he told her (quote),
"You need to cool your jets, I want you to wait 24 hours before
contacting anyone. I promise you the hospice will help take care of
the expenses you've been presented with (yeah, right!)."
He left soon after that, leaving my DSis very upset and frightened.
This is beyond the pale, I have so much anger right now and no way
to take action on DSis' behalf, I can only continue to pray that the Lord
will do something to stop them from taking advantage from someone else.

But, now on to the good news:
The director at the local funeral home that informed her that this outfit was known for these shady deals,
has apparently (and thankfully) taken it on himself
to personally contact the coroner and let him know what has happened.
Our understanding is that the coroner has already retrieved the body,
or is planning to, however my DSis has not been told concrete information
and she still has no idea where her DH's body is,
only that it "is in a cardboard box in a drawer somewhere"
(this was told to her by the transport creep in one of his calls to her,
and that's exactly how he said it).
Another good thing is that she has at least one message from this guy on
her message machine tape, and perhaps 1 or 2 more.
It's been 3 weeks, she has no body and no death certificate.
In all honesty, I'm beginning to think not only are they extorting
her for money, but she will not be getting her DH's ashes.
I think this outfit has sold his body as a studen cadaver or something
and she'll be getting someone's dog or cat!

But after all that, God is so amazing, let me tell you what happened next:
The oxygen delivery came, I think, on Thursday (?),
then the so-called chaplain came on Friday (unannounced, BTW).
Yesterday (Saturday) there comes another knock on DSis' door,
and it's the oxygen delivery guy.
He's holding a large, fiber-optic Christmas tree in one hand,
and a big, wrapped present for Mikey in the other!!!!!!!!!
Are you getting a lump in your throat, yet?? *smile*
He says, "I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds, but I felt so badly
for your situation that I wanted to do something for you and your little boy."
God bless him, he was Jesus' hands & feet for sure!
He came in, set up the tree, helped Mikey unwrap his gift
and then he put it together for him and played for a while.
I never did get to find out what that gift was,
as we are all so amazed at God's real gift of that day,
the love that young man showed - may he be blessed twenty-fold!

We were very happy to hear that DSis had managed the day before
to put decorations up around the house for Mikey,
and the tree was the finishing touch.

To anyone reading this, all I can say is that it is true.
Outlandish, but true.
We would never have believed that someone who is placed
to help a family would have such evil intent.
If I could offer more evidence I would,
but this being the internet I cannot do that.
I will ask, though, that if you know anyone going through a similar
end-stage event and they are alone, please offer to be there before
anything is signed, or any decisions are made!
This really is happening to my sister, our mother is physically ill over it,
but there is virtually nothing we can do.
 
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