Hope-Filled Declarations

March 25, 2020 — Craig T. Owens

Whether it’s a doctor’s diagnosis of cancer, or a rapidly-spreading virus, or a painful relationship, Lynn Eib helps us keep these unexpected things in perspective. These may have taken us by surprise, but nothing takes God by surprise. No diagnosis nor prognostication can limit God’s power and love. 

As David learned in his painful time: “God has spoken once, twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God. Also to You, O Lord, belong mercy and loving-kindness” (Psalm 62:11-12). He is All-Powerful and All-Loving. 

Let these declarations Lynn made when receiving her cancer diagnosis help put things in perspective for you—

I refuse to believe my diagnosis is a death sentence.

I believe God is on the side of my healing because His unbreakable Word says so.

I believe treatment is effective against this illness, especially the skillful efforts of scientific medicine with my strategies for replacing lying thoughts with truth.

I believe my hormones and immune system are on the side of my healing and are even now working to overcome this illness.

I believe I am personally responsible for my treatment and for managing it.

I believe hope is a choice. I choose hope, not hopelessness.

My major aim is to have a mind fully submitted to the Spirit of God and His truth, not just to see better lab results or improvement in physical symptoms.

I believe I am on earth to share Christ, hope, and joy with others. I am here only to love others, regardless of my physical condition.

I believe that God’s will is good. 

I believe that He loves me and wants only the best for me—whatever He is allowing me to experience right now.

I can recover from this illness and live a rich, productive life of service. But whether I recover or not, I am going to leave this life someday regardless. Until then I can live a full life of service every day for as long as I am given. 

—Lynn Eib, in Peace In The Face Of Cancer 

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

The Power Of Laughter

June 14, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

“Laughter increases the number and activity of some white blood cells called ‘T’ and ‘B’ cells, natural killers that fight viral infections and some types of cancer cells. It multiplies the antibody IgA, which fights upper respiratory tract infections. A hearty chuckle builds up gamma interferon, which stimulates the various components of the immune system.

“Laughing speeds up our heart rate, and some have likened this to ‘internal jogging.’ It’s an aerobic activity that works the diaphragm and increases the body’s ability to use oxygen. That’s why after a big laugh you often feel the need to sigh and take a big breath of air. It sure beats thirty minutes on the treadmill.

“As we laughed, our blood pressure temporarily is elevated; however, that is followed by a prolonged, mild decrease in blood pressure. Laughter also lowers various hormone levels—the kind associated with the fight-or-flight response—and makes us feel less stressed, more relaxed. That’s why people say things like ‘I laughed so hard I couldn’t get up’ or ‘I laughed so hard I fell over.’

“Science is figuring out that laughter is good for the body, something the Bible told us long ago—Proverbs 15:30; Proverbs 17:22.” —Lynn Eib, in Peace In The Face Of Cancer

To read other quotes from this exceptional book, click here and here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

The Great Physician

September 2, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

The Christian's Secret“If our Father permits a trial to come, it must be because the trial is the sweetest and best thing that could happen to us, and we must accept it with thanks from His dear hand.

“… A very good illustration of this may be found in the familiar fact of a mother giving medicine to her dearly loved child. The bottle holds the medicine, but the mother gives it; and the bottle is not responsible, but the mother. No matter how full her closet may be of bottles of medicine, the mother will not allow one drop to be given to the child unless she believes it will be good for it; but when she does believe it will be good for her darling, the very depth of her love compels her to force it on the child, no matter how bitter may be its taste. The human beings around us are often the bottles that hold our medicine, but it is our Father’s hand of love that pours out the medicine, and compels us to drink it. The human bottle is the ‘second cause’ of our trial; but it has no real agency in it, for the medicine that these human ‘bottles’ hold is prescribed for us and given to us by the Great Physician of our souls, who is seeking thereby to heal all our spiritual diseases.” —Hannah Whitall Smith, The Christian’s Secret Of A Happy Life

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

July 28, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

link quote

Some good reading (and watching) from today…

This year will mark the centennial celebration of the Assemblies of God fellowship. I am so blessed to have this as not only my heritage, but my current affiliation as well. This video was made at the 50th anniversary … what a rich history!

“The part of wisdom is to accept our Christian brothers and sisters for what they are rather than for what they should be. … An old Italian proverb says, ‘He that will have none but a perfect brother must resign himself to remain brotherless.’ However earnestly we may desire that our Christian brother go on toward perfection, we must accept him as he is and learn to get along with him. To treat an imperfect brother impatiently is to advertise our own imperfections.” —A.W. Tozer

“The wise man does nothing but what can be done openly and without falseness, nor does he do anything whereby he may involve himself in any wrong-doing, even where he may escape notice. For he is guilty in his own eyes before being so in the eyes of others; and the publicity of his crime does not bring him more shame than his own consciousness of it.” —Ambrose

Mark Atteberry says he is hopelessly uncool. I pray I am too!

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards is so out of touch! And to think, our taxes dollars fund this sort of nonsense!

When I read this article about dinosaur extinction, all I could think of was: “If ifs and buts were candies and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas!”

“The Centre for the Study of Global Christianity in the United States estimates that 100,000 Christians now die every year, targeted because of their faith—that is 11 every hour. The Pew Research Center says that hostility to religion reached a new high in 2012, when Christians faced some form of discrimination in 139 countries, almost three-quarters of the world’s nations.” Read more of this eye-opening article.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

March 20, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

link quote

These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting today.

[INFOGRAPHIC] I love the resources from uknowkids.com. Check out this one on Online Identity Theft.

So you thought you were learning something during your all-night cramming session? Oops! Pulling All-Nighters Can Kill Brain Cells.

[INFOGRAPHIC] The New Testament church loved being together! Check out all the “one another” statements.

“Jesus Himself says, ‘Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 7:21). Sadly, multitudes of Christians are not troubled at all by their sin; their besetting habit does not bother them in the least. They have convinced themselves that God is so merciful and full of grace, He will pardon them even if they stubbornly continue in sin.” —David Wilkerson. Read more of his post Only By Faith.

Over the last 2000 years, look The Christian Contribution To Medicine.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Raising The Dead (book review)

December 20, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I know, I know, the title of this book sort of sounds like a horror movie, doesn’t it? But Dr. Chauncey Crandall IV’s book Raising The Dead is anything but horrific. In fact, it’s actually more like a love story.

The book opens with Dr. Crandall’s firsthand experience of praying for a patient who has been pronounced dead, and seeing with his own eyes that patient returned to life. This sets the stage for the life journey on which Dr. Crandall and his family are about to embark.

Raising The Dead traces the Crandall family’s journey of spiritual discovery as they battle cancer in the life of one of their twin sons. Throughout this story you will ride the highs as miracles appear for this family, and you will feel the heartbreak as opportunities slip away. Through it all, the Crandall family learns how to draw closer to each other, and – most importantly – closer to God. I know I joked earlier about the book’s title evoking thoughts of a movie, but in actuality this story would make an incredibly moving film.

If you are praying for a miracle in your life, if you work with people in desperate places, or if you would simply enjoy a moving account of a family seeking so fervently after God, you will enjoy Raising The Dead.

I am a Faith Words book reviewer.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

The Immunization Of Tears

July 16, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

The Israelites had such a predictable pattern —

Loving God

↓

Slipping away from Him

↓

Sin

↓

Oppressed by an enemy

↓

Remorse & repentance

↓

God’s deliverance

↓

Return to loving God

↓

Repeat

 

In the book of Judges there is a repeated phrase: But when they cried out to the Lord, He raised up for them a deliverer.

Perhaps is they cried in God’s presence more often, they cycle could have been broken.

It’s the same for us — instead of using tears as a cure, how about using them as an immunization? How about crying in God’s presence before sin has cruelly oppressed us?

I think if I shed tears over my “little” sins more frequently, it would keep me from much deeper hurts.

The Bible says, “A broken and contrite heart, O Lord, You will not ignore.” Holy Spirit, break my heart over the smallest of sins so I may quickly repent and return before I am enslaved by my sins.

I believe tears call God to our help, but how much better if they are used to immunize us against sin!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , . 2 Comments »
%d bloggers like this: