at 02/09/12 9:02PM
BOSTON CHILDREN'S GENDER MANAGEMENT CLINIC STARTING AT 9 OR 10 YEARS OLD. I just saw this most disturbing piece of news and I'm heartsick, sick to my stomach and so sad for these children and wanted to let you know how sinful and disgusting America is getting. Boston Children's Hospital (Harvard) is the #1 pediatric hospital in the U.S. They now have a transgender clinic for children. If the parents believe their girl is a boy and vice versa and if the child agrees they can begin their children's sex change at 10 years old or as soon as the first sign of puberty. The Dr. will give drugs to delay puberty and at 16 years old will begin hormone treatment which is NOT reversible and will cause infertility for the rest of their lives. CHILDREN ARE DECIDING if they want their body medicinally mutilated, along with their parent's influence. THERE ARE SOME LEGITIMATE PHYSICAL DEFECTS BABIES CAN BE BORN WITH WHERE A DECISION HAS TO BE MADE IN REGARDS TO SEX AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT. Killing our babies is bad enough and now we mutilate our children, but I suppose that's one way eugenisists and the elitist can help control the population. Anger, hurt, and sadness is pressing on my heart.
You can check this out on the Boston Children's Hospital site.
at 02/02/12 10:30AM
Hello friends. It's been a while since I've been on here. I just haven't had the mindset and lacked the will due to fatigue. Just after Xmas my son got very ill and ended up in the ICU. He was so ill the doctor told me to tell my husband to come. It was an intense time but, thanks be to God, he overcame the crisis and is now stable. All the adreneline and stress left me weak and when that happens my brain seems to take a vacation as well. So, I'm back and my son is on the 1a list for a heart so we wait. Speaking of waiting...
WAITING ON THE LORD
As my son waits for a new heart and I wait with him there’s nothing I can do to speed things up, however, the wait time is not altogether passive. My job is to supply food to help strengthen my son’s body and to keep our spirits up as we are away from home for such a long time. The most important job I have in this waiting time is to pray for my son’s future and I know that in doing so I am “waiting on the Lord.”
Waiting on the Lord with a faithful, trusting heart seems to be a passive thing to do; if we have complete faith then don’t we pray for help and then dismiss it from our mind KNOWING we will receive an answer? While this kind of trust is good, God tells us that waiting on Him is, in fact, a very active process. Let’s look at the actions that are coupled with our wait.
=FIRST OF ALL WAITING MEANS A CONFIDENT EXPECTATION: Psa 62:5 My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.
=WE ARE TO HAVE COURAGE: Psa 27:14 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
=WE ARE TO TRUST, DO GOOD, AND FEED ON GOD'S FAITHFULNESS: Psa 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
=WE ARE TO DELIGHT IN THE LORD: Psa 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
=WE ARE TO COMMIT OUR WAYS TO HIM: Psa 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
=WE ARE TO REST IN HIM AND WAIT PATIENTLY: Psa 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;
=WE ARE TO GET RID OF ANGER AND NOT FRET: Psa 37:8-9 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth.
=WE ARE TO KEEP THE LORD'S WAY: Psa 37:34 Wait on the LORD, And keep His way.
=WE ARE TO WAIT WITH THE LORD'S SAINTS AS WE PRAISE GOD WITH THEM IN WORSHIP: Psa 52:9 I will praise You forever, Because You have done it; And in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good.
=WE ARE WAIT WITH CALMNESS IN OUR SOUL AND NOT BE MOVED TO DESPAIR OR DISTRUST: Psa 62:1-2 Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.
= WE ARE TO WAIT STANDING ON THE FIRM FOUNDATION THAT OUR LORD IS THE ONLY ROCK OF OUR SALVATION, OUR DEFENSE, OUR STRENGTH, AND OUR REFUGE AND NOT BE MOVED OFF OF THAT ROCK: PSA 62:6-7 He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, And my refuge, is in God.
=WE ARE TO ALWAYS TRUST HIM...ALWAYS...NOT JUST WHEN WE HAVE HOPE BUT WHEN EVERYTHING LOOKS HOPELESS TO US: Psa 62:8 Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
=WE ARE TO POUR OUR HEARTS OUT TO GOD, NOT JUST APATHETICALLY AND ROBOTICALLY THROW IN OUR WISH: Psa 62:8 Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
=WE ARE TO HOPE IN HIM: Isa 8:17 And I will wait on the LORD, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; And I will hope in Him.
=WE ARE TO SEEK THE LORD, WAIT QUIETLY FOR HIS RESPONSE IN HIS TIME: Lam 3:25-26 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.
=WE ARE TO HOPE IN HIS WORD: Psa 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope.
=WE ARE TO REMEMBER GOD'S CHARACTERISTICS AS WE READ ABOUT HIM IN HIS WORD AND GAIN STRENGTH FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS STRENGTH, HIS GREATNESS, HIS POWER, HIS UNTIRING ABILITY AND WILLINGNESS TO HELP, AND HIS UNSEARCHABLE UNDERSTANDING. Isa 40:25-31 "To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: "My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God"? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
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The blessing of actively waiting on the Lord builds our faith, trust, and even knowledge in Him; actively waiting influences others for good, gives praise to God, keeps us from falling into worry and despair, gives us calmness and confidence in our expection of an answered prayer within the Lord's time. And, finally, waiting on the Lord gives us the desires of our heart trusting we have received an answered prayer according to our righteous, merciful, loving, all wise, and all knowing God.
The LORD upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works. The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. (Psa 145:14-19)
at 12/06/11 8:42AM
Is there any piece of clothing more humbling than a hospital gown?! I was watching a big, burly man taking his walk around the ward wearing two gowns (one as a robe). As I saw his bare legs and slippered feet coming out from the bottom of the gown I couldn't help but smile inside thinking how humbling hospital wards are. People dress, talk, and function in ways they would never dream about outside those walls. All of us who have experienced being a patient in a hospital know we are willing to cooperate and do whatever it takes, no matter how demoralizing, in order to get well.
Now, if we willingly debase ourselves as we timidly slip into our hospital gown, why is it we so often refuse to put on the clothing of humility when we need help in our spiritual weakness? We want to be healed but slipping into the clothing of humility is just too much for our egos to handle. What if we used this same mindset in the hospital? What if we said, "I refuse to have surgery if I have to put on that flimsy gown!" No healing would take place. All that would be left is a broken body and a whole lot of needless pride.
1Pe 5:5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
Will we put on clothing of humility if it means we have to admit wrong... or do something we don't want to do... or not to do something we want to do?
Will we put on spiritual clothing that makes us fade into the background in order to help someone else shine for their encouragement?
Will we wear the garment of Christ that may open us to criticism and ridicule because we won't go along with the lies of the world?
Will we be willing to wear humility and not have the last word in order to try and win an argument, but rather close our mouth at the proper time in order to have peace in which to gain a brother (or husband)?
Sometimes, putting on the clothing of humility is just as difficult as snapping up those hospital gowns, but surely if can submit ourselves to all the vulnerability in the prodding, poking, and inadequate clothing in a hospital ward, we can change our spiritual wardrobe in order to have the strength we need to fight the epidemic of sin.
Rom 13:14 But put on [to be clothed with] the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
at 11/21/11 8:07AM
As I was leaving Walmart the other day I took my bags out of the basket and left the cart near the "greeter" who was sitting on a stool. This was an older Walmart and the carts are located further down near the entrance. Sometimes I don't like to mess with taking the cart outside and I also think of saving the Walmart workers from having to take it back in. Normally I put carts in their spot but this store isn't set up to do that. Besides, there was a Walmart worker right there who would take care of it.
As soon as I left the cart this Walmart greeter yelled, "Ma'am! Ma'am! You aren't going to leave that there are you?" He said it so loudly the people at the registers all looked up. I said, "Aren't you customer service?" He was a very tall, big man and he puffed his chest out, pointed to his name tag and loudly proclaimed, "I am a Greeter!"
I was thinking how caught up we can get in our own titles and our own self to where we give ourselves excuses that we don't have time to look beyond our own station in life in order to serve others with the abilities we have. Afterall, we have our own titles as a wife, mother, and daughter, and we just don't have time for the needs of the church, friends, or even strangers. Do we look as ridiculous to God as that man did to me? Probably more so.
"For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. (Rom 12:3-5)
at 11/18/11 9:59AM
It's official. My son is now on the UNOS heart transplant list. Due to several complications in his body it may be a long wait as certain criteria has to be met before he can receive a heart and the donor heart has to match him in several ways. Not just any heart will do. So we wait.
We wait for one to die, the right one to die, so that my son can live. It is a sobering thought. Out of someone else's tragedy, we can have hope. Out of sorrow, comes joy. Because of someone's unselfishness, my son can receive a rare and precious gift. He will have a transplanted heart that is functional and normal, something he has never had in his life. He will be transformed.
The transplant coordinator told us, after all the years she has been doing this, she is still amazed when she sees the difference in a child before and after the transplant. She calls it a miracle.
With all the knowledge, unselfishness, and humble gratitude with everyone involved (medical professionals, donors, and recipients), all of it pales in significance when we realize if it wasn't for the spiritual heart transplantation provided by our Savior, none of the above would matter. Our Lord is the donor of the most precious gift of all - the opportunity for all mankind to receive a new heart, free from the disease of sin. We can be the recipient of a heart that is as healthy and fresh as a small child, free from all the filth of the world and the damage we afflicted upon ourselves, for we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).
All of us, who have put on our Lord in baptism (Gal. 3:27), have received a transplanted heart. It was a gift free of defects, a perfect fit for all, and the only way it can be rejected is if we turn away from God. We didn't have to wait for our new heart, for Jesus called us to Him to receive it. Rather than OUR suffering, our Savior suffered for us. His shed blood fits all blood types. No testing involved, except our humble obedience to the call of the gospel.
Out of His death, comes our life.
Out of tragedy comes our hope.
Out of sorrow, our joy.
Out of unselfish love, our free gift.
Our new heart did not come from someone's accidental death, but from a purposeful self-sacrifice in order that we may live. Will we be grateful to our Donor and cherish our new life, protecting it from the filth of the world and spiritual diseases of the heart? Spiritual transplantation is a true miracle that our sins have been washed away and newness of life begins, even into eternity.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2Pe 1:10-11
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:3-4)
I would like to ask for your prayers though on another matter. A friend of a friend gave birth Mon to a beautiful baby boy who sadly was born with an enlarged heart. Andrew needs a transplant within 2 weeks or is not expected to live. I know this is an issue close to you so I ask you and all those who read Our Hope will pray for this little soul.
Concerning your post - I just don't know what to say.