JOY!

I haven't had much time to give my blog the attention I would like to give it so I'm sharing a card which was posted on the Flickr gallery but not here until now.

I used a Collage stamp from Hero Arts for the background. Cut out some branches using a Stampin' Up stamp and the bird is from Inkadinkado. None of them are Christmas Stamps, but woven together with a bit of red glitter and green ink, it will pass for one.

Another thing that gives me joy is that God is so faithful! I have waited six weeks before sharing this testimony. As you know I started radio therapy six weeks ago and I had written down a promise from God, which is in the Old Testament from Jer.43:1-3, which I carried with me in my bag which I took to the hospital every day.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name; you are Mine!

 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,

Nor will the flame burn you.

3 “For I am the LORD your God,

The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

It was all about the verse underlined as I well knew that radiation can cause burns. At the beginning of the treatment I visited doctors and spoke to many patients. The alarming thing was that even the professionals would tell me about a 'prayer' I could consider, which meant going to the local Fire Brigade, ask them to lay hands on me and pray as a means to 'stop the fire', which is called 'l'arrêt du feu' in French. Apparently, the fire escapes via the feet.... This is an old Pagan tradition, and not the first one I had heard about.
As a Christian I have the Bible and I would rather direct my prayer to the God who created the Universe! The Bible says in Psalm 146: Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of man, in whom there is no help. 
I prayed and sang the above verse in Jes.43 every day in the morning, before and after treatment.
I was a little bit discouraged last Friday as I was very red and had a small burn on my lower neck. At the hospital on Tuesday they told me that I only had ONE more treatment to go that directs radiation to all three areas that were tattooed, and after that just eight more treatments only to the scar on my breast, which is 10 seconds each time which is nothing compared to the full treatment I was getting!
When the doctor took a look at me, she said - what are you complaining about, it looks fantastic compared to other cases I have seen! They didn't even think a bandage was necessary for the wound - that would clear up with a cream!
Can you imagine how thankful I was to God for helping me, for giving me faith and hope to trust in Him at all times, even when it doesn't look good, just to go that extra mile with Him and say - I trust You!!

I also want to pass on a link to this blog and this message, called The Surprise - I think it really describes how we think and who God is. I think its wonderful!