Summer Love: A devotional about storms, survival, and The Holy Bible

Barbara Survives Her Storm
A devotional written by Barbara M. Britton

For many years, I taught chapel at an elementary school. What a blessing it was to be able to lead worship and sing with energetic students. One of my favorites songs referred to Matthew 7:24-27, a Bible story about the wise and foolish builder. The kids and I would stand tall with our peaked-hand homes built on the rock and then fall to the ground when the song referred to the house built on the sand. The kids knew Jesus was the “Rock” and the best and firmest foundation to build a life upon. I knew this too. But I looked at the scripture a bit closer when I went through the storm of breast cancer.

Breast cancer rocked my world (no pun intended). Long story short, I had two surgeries to remove the cancer. Eventually, I had both my breasts removed. I live as a breast-free woman in today’s world. I discovered I carried a genetic mutation called the BRCA-1. Essentially, I have an open door in my genetic code that ushers in several cancers. When I had my breasts removed, I had my ovaries removed as well. Nothing like instant menopause. Because Jesus is my Savior, and I have an amazing family, and church family, I weathered this storm. My house stood firm on the Rock.

But, after life got back to post-surgery normal, I realized that the storm of cancer left some residual storm damage. I had to wear prosthetics which led to wardrobe issues. My body temperature was out of whack due to menopause, so I didn’t sleep at night. My energy level lagged after radiation. It was then that I looked at Matthew 7 differently. I noticed that the winds that blew and beat against the house built on sand, and leveled it, were the same winds that beat against the house on the rock. The home built on Jesus stood, but that didn’t mean it didn’t have some minor storm damage--a possible shattered window or crumpled siding.

God had saved my life, but it was never going to be the same—until Glory.

Through my cancer treatments came an awareness that people going through the traumas of life sometimes carry some storm damage with them after the strongest winds have died down. The chaos in my life came from cancer, but others deal with chronic illness, or the loss of loved ones, or mental illness, or divorce. The list carries on. We all face our unique “storm” damage.

My novel “Building Benjamin” comes from Judges 19-21 where storm damage abounds. Naomi has lost two brothers in war with the Benjamites. Eliab has lost his mother, brother, and sisters during the same war—but he’s a Benjamite. Can Naomi and Eliab overcome their anger and grief and fall in love? God must heal their hearts and repair the damage of betrayal before they can have their happily-ever-after.

Philippians 4:13 states: “I can do everything through him (Christ) who gives me strength.” 

God will give us the strength to keep on living life after a major storm, but Christians can help repair some of the damage. What can we do as the body of Christ?

Here's a short list:

~Pray for someone who is going through a storm. Send them a card or call to let them know that you are praying for them.

~Bring them a meal or take them out to lunch.

~Listen with understanding. Some storm damage may linger a long time, or may not be made whole until Heaven

~Accept someone’s new limitations. Ask how they are doing.

~Be aware of storm damage.

~Praise the Lord if you don’t have any storm damage!

I am truly grateful that God brought me through my cancer. I have had family members that were not blessed with a cure, but they have the hope of eternal life with Jesus. I thank God that he has given me His strength, and a sense of humor, to deal with my “storm damage.” With my cancer, came a renewed awareness that every day is a gift from God.

What has helped you weather the storms of life? Let’s add to my list on how we can help others with storm damage.

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Author Bio: 

Barbara M. Britton lives in Wisconsin and writes Christian Fiction for teens and adults. 

She has a nutrition degree from Baylor University but loves to dip healthy strawberries in chocolate. 

Barb brings little-known Bible characters to light in her Tribes of Israel series. 

You can find out about Barb’s books on her website, or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

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Book blurb for Building Benjamin: Love Grows Where God Grafts the Tender Shoot. 

Naomi desires to dance well enough to catch the eye of a wealthy landowner. Her father needs a substantial bride price due to the deaths of her brothers at the hands of the tribe of Benjamin. But when Benjamites raid the Ephraimite feast and capture young girls, Naomi is bound and carried from her home by Eliab, a troubled shepherd who needs a wife.

As Naomi awaits rescue, she finds Eliab has a strong faith in God and a just reason for abducting her. A reason that affects all the tribes of Israel. The future of the tribe of Benjamin hangs in the balance, but if Naomi follows her heart and stays with Eliab to rebuild his lineage, she must forfeit her family and become a traitor to her tribe.

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Buy Barbara's book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

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Words of Faith: Christine's story on kids and discipline

Leaving Our Kids to God's Discipline

A Words of Faith story by Christine Lindsay

As a Christian mom I knew I was supposed to pray and leave my worries about my children to my Heavenly Father. After all, according to His word, He loves them even more than I do. But back in 2006 I was praying hard for Lana, and feeling pretty desperate that maybe God wasn't hearing my prayers for my daughter.

At the time I'd been struggling with whether or not I trusted God to fix my kid’s life or was there something I could fix. Lana was making all the wrong choices as a young adult at university, and paying for those choices in painful ways that have left physical scars to this day. Everything her dad and I had taught her about obeying the Lord’s will, she did the opposite.

Let’s face it, life can be hard, and when our kids hurt, we hurt.

One day as I was cleaning our den I found a box of old photographs, old degree diplomas, and came across a faded blue airmail letter that I'd received back in 1980. It was a letter from my grandmother upon my engagement.

In that letter she wrote how thankful she was to the Lord that I had found a good partner in life, that her prayers for me were answered, that I was living the joyful things that God had planned for me.

For most of my life my grandmother and I were separated by the Atlantic Ocean. With her still in Ireland and me living in Canada, she didn’t have much opportunity to do things for me, other than pray and write letters. She certainly didn’t have the opportunity to “fix” things for me if I messed up my life which I certainly did until I turned around and started obeying God.

My grandmother died in 1984, but many years later in 2006 as I re-read her letter, and I was the mom of an adult daughter, I felt the Lord’s comfort. Behind my grandmother's writing was the Lord's voice right when I needed it, and His gentle reminder to trust Him with Lana.

I resisted the urge to “fix” everything in Lana’s life. It wasn’t a matter of letting her suffer the consequences and to learn from that. We had to by faith put her into God’s hands, to trust that He would open her eyes. It was hard at first to stand back in faith and let God work. But then we saw the Lord start to work in her life. We saw our prayers for Lana answered. In 2010 the Lord brought her back to Himself, and her faith was all the stronger for it, because it was her own faith in Christ, and not just that of her parents.

As much as we want to, we cannot save the ones we love. Only Christ can do that. Give your loved ones over to God. Trust Him to save them, because ultimately seeing Him save my child reaffirmed in my soul that He had saved me.

Seeing our kids desperate need of God underlined for me that I too desperately need the Lord for everything, my heartbeat, my breath, my salvation. There is not one single thing that we can do to “fix” anything in life. It’s a matter of stepping back and letting God do the saving.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved."~Acts 4:12 (NIV)

And even though at the time I was praying so hard for my daughter she was an adult, in my heart she was still my little girl. And Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. ~Matthew 19:14-15 (NIV)

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Author bio: 

Christine Lindsay is the author of multi-award-winning Christian fiction. She is currently writing her 8th novel. Aside from being a busy writer and speaker, Christine is the happy wife of David for 35 years, a mom and a grandma. 

She makes her home on the west coast of Canada, and in Aug. 2016 she will see her long-awaited non-fiction book released, Finding Sarah, Finding Me: A Birth Mother’s Story. 

Please visit Christine’s website www.ChristineLindsay.org or follow her on Amazon or Twitter. Subscribe to her quarterly newsletter, and be her friend on Pinterest, Facebook, and Goodreads.