Tag: Fear

A Night With Dementia and Parkinson’s

Good morning! I pray everyone is sleeping and will see this after a great night sleep.

I can tell tonight’s going to be one of the nights. I wrote the following to share what those sleepless, hallucination filled nights are like. I wrote the following to give you a glimpse into my life with Dementia and Parkinson’s on most nights. ~OC

A Night With Dementia and Parkinson’s:

When it gets deep in the night

Where time seems to stand still

I can hear my heart beat and my thoughts screaming and that’s not always a good thing

It’s going to be one of those nights

Where sleep is a distant dream

Sometimes the voices get loud

And the hallucinations seem so real, I have to remind myself they’re not legit, just a short circuit in my brain

But through it all, I stand tall

Not allowing all those voices and thoughts to become real

I will keep standing tall

Lifting up my prayers

to the One who created it all

I will keep fighting, refusing to fall

choosing to embrace faith over it all

I will focus on the prize

Not all the junk, this disease

tries to steal from my mind

I keep fighting, gettin off the canvas

I keep running towards the One who

clears the cobwebs and reminds me

I am His precious child

I will keep standing tall

Lifting up my prayers

to the One who created it all

I will keep fighting, refusing to fall

choosing to embrace faith over it all

I will continue to fight through the

night, all the negative thoughts

that keep me from counting sheep

and getting a good night sleep

I will keep standing tall

Lifting up my prayers

to the One who created it all

I will keep fighting, refusing to fall

choosing to embrace faith over it all

The giants who try to bring me

down at night, are no match for

the One who used a boy named David to bring down one of the biggest

giants of all

I will keep standing tall

Lifting up my prayers

to the One who created it all

I will keep fighting, refusing to fall

choosing to embrace faith over it all

It’s time to be Brave

It’s time to keep Overcoming

It’s time to be Fearless

I am ready to Battle

Refusing to back down

I will keep standing tall

Lifting up my prayers

to the One who created it all

I will keep fighting, refusing to fall

choosing to embrace faith over it all

I am focused on the mission

Not going to backdown

Not going to run away

Going to walk with the King

I will keep standing tall

Lifting up my prayers

to the One who created it all

I will keep fighting, refusing to fall

choosing to embrace faith over it all

As the night slowly creeps on

I will press into the promises

of my King, thankful they get me

through another night, time to be

fearless and pray through it all

I will keep standing tall

Lifting up my prayers

to the One who created it all

I will keep fighting, refusing to fall

choosing to embrace faith over it all

As the night moves on and

My thoughts begin to wonder

the adrenaline starts flowing

and God’s angels get moving

the morning light will soon come shining

So, I will keep standing tall

Lifting up my prayers

to the One who created it all

I will keep fighting, refusing to fall

choosing to embrace faith over it all

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Experiencing Peace

Today’s a new day! Along this journey called life, we all deal with fear. Fear can hit us during what we thought would be a routine doctors appointment. Fear can hit us when test result comes back with more questions than answers. Fear can hit us when we watch the news or scroll through social media. We have all experienced fear in our lives.

Back in 2003, one of my doctors called me early one morning and shared he needed to see me right away. Then he made the comment “Oh and make sure you bring your wife.” A little fear hit me at that moment. Later when the doctor shared I had a tumor, the fear grew a little deeper. Fear, worry and anxiety. My wife and I experienced all those feelings sitting in that doctor’s office.

A few weeks later a biopsy revealed the tumor was the size of golfball and was cancerous. Once again, fear, worry and anxiety smacked me in the face. Things seemed overwhelming at that point.

Then something amazing happened. As I laid in ICU hooked up to several machines, God took away the fear, worry and anxiety. Those feelings were replaced by peace, calmness and even joy. Yes, joy. What changed?

God reminded me of the week long fast I had done a year earlier during a missions trip. He revealed the reason I had fasted was to prepare me for this very moment. Peace flooded my room and heart at that moment. In that moment, I completely turned my health situation over to Jesus and trusted Him to walk me through my unknown future.

Even though I had been filled with fear, anxiety and worry, Jesus was right there with me. He shared hope, love and peace even as I was overwhelmed with so many different emotions. God never abandoned me in my time of need.

During that moment, I still had to deal with life as a cancer patient. But that unknown did not overwhelm me anymore. Jesus reminded me that He was bigger than any health issue I would ever face. I am thankful, I did not know my future would be full of more health issues, test, multiple doctors appointments and hospital stays. No, at that moment I was just filled with peace. A peace that has never left me.

Here I am in 2024, after overcoming so much, but still dealing with so many health issues. Fear and worry try to overwhelm me at times, but I am still experiencing that same peace and joy I experienced in that ICU room so many years ago. Knowing that Jesus is still bigger than anything life throws at me. Still living life with a thankful heart. ~OC

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Keep Soaring

Today’s a new day! I write this as another hurricane comes through Florida. A good majority of the state is still recovering from another hurricane that hit us just a few weeks ago. These back-to-back hurricanes got me to thinking.

One thing about the storms of life is they do not last forever. They come and go. It is the size of our faith in God that determines how we will make it through each storm we face. Overcoming the storms of life can be overwhelming at times. When going through the storms of life, our faith and focus should be on God, the author and the finisher of our faith, not our problems. Sometimes that is easier said than done. It is during the storms of life when our faith is tested.

The only way to overcome the storm is to face and confront it. Overcomers cannot afford to play hide and seek with challenges, but instead must choose to face and deal with them head on. The challenges we are facing are just for a short time. We can never allow them to rob us of our destiny. We can never give up on life, on our faith, on our family/friends, and on the important things in life. We must face the storms of life and trust God for a brighter future. God did not bring us this far to leave us. He has a purpose for our lives. The word of God says- 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. ~Isaiah 43:31. I do not know about you, but that gives me hope.

While all the other birds fly away from the storm with fear, an eagle spreads its mighty wings and uses the current to soar to greater heights. An eagle doesn’t run for safety during the storms, but rather, it takes advantage of it to soar to some higher spot. Storms need somebody who will not give up no matter how hard it is. During the storms, take advantage to pray harder and worship like never before. There are times when the storms of life hit us so hard, when the storms threaten to sweep away all that we have. I am talking about times when the storms take away our loved ones, when the storms take away our possessions. Those are the very times we need to stand up and face the storms head on. God is bigger than any storm we will ever face in life. To overcome the storms of life, we have to have faith which is bigger than the storms. Our life is not over until God says it is.

If we are going to overcome the storms of life, we must let go of certain things surrounding our lives. We have to let go of some people who are holding us back. We have to let go of all of our fears and doubts. We have to let go of everything that is weighing us down and soar to a higher spot. Leave gossipers to gossip, leave haters to hate. Overcomers do not have time to confront everyone who speaks against them. Those living without purpose have limited vision, but overcomers see beyond the storms. Your storm will not last forever. Keep soaring! ~OC

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Hope

Today’s a new day! There is a four-letter word that is woven into the fabric of our souls, and that word is HOPE. Having a purpose in life encourages self-determination. It all starts with a belief, an idea that can create a powerful purpose filled life.

The seed of hope is planted deep within each of us. If we water those seeds, amazing and beautiful things will be created. Hope creates motion, motion creates action, action creates results, results create achievement, achievement creates self-confidence, and self-confidence creates the mindset that we can and will achieve everything God desires for us.

Through hope, we can conquer our fears and turn a life of trials into a life of triumph, a mess into a message, fear into faith, and a test into a testimony. There are times our hope button can get stuck. Here is how I believe we can activate our stuck hope button.

We have to decide to change our mindset from selfish to selfless, from “poor me” to helping someone else who is walking through a major trial. Our selfless time engaged in someone else’s life battle could help kick-start hope within them and start a chain of of hope dealers. Hope is contagious!

How awesome would it be if we each lived a life of Helping One Person Everyday. Helping others succeed brings so much hope and meaning into our lives. How beautiful it is when we give of ourselves. It fills us up as well and provides us with the strength to conquer life’s challenges.

We all have the ability to share hope with those around us. It could be a smile, kind word, listening, or lending a helping hand.

It is never too late to start living a life of Hope. You never know the difference you can make in a person’s life. So today be bold, compassionate and loving. Share Hope. Help one person today. ~OC

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A Big Question

Today’s a new day! What is keeping you from living the complete life? I know that is a big question, with many potential answers. But God designed each of us to live a complete whole life.

Here are a few things, I believe can help us live out the life God created for each of us.

A New Chapter. Too many of us are living in the past. We continue to relive past disappointments. Past failures. Or sometimes we live in past successes. We all know someone, who is eager to tell us about winning the 5th grade all county championship forty years ago. Don’t get me wrong, we should celebrate past successes. We should also learn from past mistakes. But we cannot live in the past. The great thing is, we have the opportunity to start a new chapter each morning. So close the chapter on your past and start writing a new one.

Worthy. Has anyone told you lately you are worthy? That you are important. No matter your past, God finds you worthy. He sent his Son down from heaven to die for us. I think that proves how worthy we are in God’s eyes.

Comfort Zone. I believe to live the whole life that God created for us, we have to step out of our comfort zones. We have to be willing to take some chances in life. God designed us to be creative. To be adventurous. We cannot truly experience life, if we choose to stay in our nice easy comfortable zones.

Labels. Stop wearing the labels the world puts on us. How many people continue to wear the labels put on them as a child? Not smart enough. Too short. Too weird. Too heavy. Too tall. Your from the wrong side of the tracks. So many people continue to wear these labels into adulthood. Today, I encourage you to take those labels off. Trash them. You are more than a label. You were created by a loving God to live an incredible life. To Dream. To Succeed. To Thrive.

Courage. It will take courage to start feeling Worthy. It will take courage to step out of your Comfort Zone. It will take courage to take off the Labels you have been wearing for years. But I promise you it will be worth it.

Today, I encourage each of us to think about these five points. To start living the incredible life, God has created us to live. Will you make a commitment to living wholeheartedly? ~OC

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Faith Over Fear

Today’s a new day! The last few weeks have been a bit overwhelming for me. Dealing with multiple health issues and a new life changing diagnosis. In the midst of all the challenges, it would be easy to get discouraged….or stressed out….or worried….or afraid.

But the Bible has something to say about times like these – and as you might guess, it gives us some tools for overcoming the storms of life.

When life gets discouraging, we can look at the story of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts and hopefully his trial will lift us out of any discouragement or fear that we might be walking through.

Paul knew what it was like to be in a storm – both literally and figuratively. He had been stoned and left for dead, whipped repeatedly for preaching the Gospel, was endlessly persecuted and experienced more than one setback.

One of those setbacks happened in Acts 27, when he was a prisoner being transported to Rome for trial. It was the wrong time of the year weather-wise for this trip, and Paul even prophesied to them, saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives” (Acts 27:10). But the captain of the ship decided to go anyway, and they sailed right into a major storm.

The Bible says they went days and days without seeing the sun or stars. For weeks they were tossed and slammed by the raging seas. Just reading through this story makes me a little queasy. In verse 20, we read that after so many days, all hope – even among these veteran sailors – was lost.

Have you ever been in a position where all hope seemed lost? Where despair and hopelessness got the best of you? That can be a devastating place to be. And the Apostle Paul was there because of the stubbornness of the crew. He had warned them about making the trip, but they went anyway.

But then, Paul stood up in the midst of that dark, hopeless situation and shouts, “Be of good cheer!”Unbelievable!

“Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭27‬:‭22‬-‭25‬ ‭

What a crazy thing to say to people in the midst of a hopeless situation – “cheer up!” But Paul had hope where there was no hope. He knew he belonged to God. He heard the word of the Lord (v. 23) and knew he had the victory.

In the same way, we also have the word of the Lord — we have the Bible. We can do what Paul did in the midst of the storm – look to the word of God and cheer up.

The Apostle Paul chose to believe in the word of God more than he believed in the raging storm. Faith came by hearing, meditating on and remembering the word. We can do that today. For starters, read and meditate on (Mark 9:23, John 10:10, Philippians 4:6, 7).

When we do what the Apostle Paul did – focus in on God’s word in the midst of the storm, then faith comes, and we can see beyond the storm. We can imagine life beyond the dark clouds. We can use our storms of life to encourage everyone around us.

Today, I want to encourage you as you walk through the storms of life, do like the Apostle Paul – declare Faith over Fear. Today, be of good cheer! God wants us to be healed, have our needs met, to overcome the world and have peace. All things are possible to them that believe. Lean on those promises.

Today, as you walk through the storms of life, I pray Romans 15:13 over you: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Amen. ~OC
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Someday….

Today’s a new day!

Someday when the kids are grown…
Someday when I’m financially stable…
Someday when my life isn’t so crazy…
Someday when I feel like my family/ friends approve…

Someday when (fill in the blank with your reasons), I’ll follow this big dream that God has given me.

Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of what’s to come and we need to wait on His timing. We may have lessons to learn first. Or maybe there are things that need to be put in place before it’s time.

BUT..
When God says, “Do this…”, our only response should be to pray for guidance and obey.


Let me tell you a bit of my story…

I had been on my crazy beautiful health journey for several years when I began to feel very strongly that God had something more than just being a patient. That God could use me to pray for and encourage other patients walking through their own journey. I did not have the full picture at the time, but I knew that God had a beautiful plan for this journey.

As I spent more and more time in the hospital, doctor appointments and treatments, I began to see God using me and my story to reach other patients who were being overwhelmed by the day to day struggles of their health journey. Fellow patients were reaching out to me to share their stories and I was blessed to pray for them.

Over the past twenty-two years, I have been blessed to walk with many patients. I have watched some experience healing from their medical battle and I have seen some experience the ultimate healing by walking into the presence of God.

This amazing journey started with me looking past “Someday.” Someday when my health improves. Someday when I have all the answers. Someday when I am more qualified.

When God called me to walk with and help others walking through the medical world, I was not qualified, but I was willing. I did not have all the pieces to the puzzle, but I knew the One who did. All God wanted from me was a “Yes.”

“Yes” because God was so clear about my next step (He confirmed it in multiple ways) that I knew this was His will for me.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalms 119:105

I do not know what God is calling you to, but I encourage you to trust in Him with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 

When God says, “Go!” You need to go. Even when it’s scary or doesn’t make sense to the world.

Being in step with God’s plan should always be our goal. It will not always be easy or seem “perfect” to us but we need to trust that He knows what He’s doing. Just keep leaning in and say yes. ~OC

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Dear Hate,

Today’s a new day!

Dear Hate, I trust this letter finds you well. Actually, from what I see on tv and social media, it looks like business is booming for you lately. I have to give you credit, you have managed to keep yourself in the news and social media 24/7 these days and that’s not an easy feat. You are like a chameleon. You continue to reinvent yourself. Sadly, your brand is a whole lot stronger than most people realize. Somehow you have been able to leverage all that fear out there into a pretty impressive machine.

But, thankfully we have the answer to overcome all hate. A beautiful four-letter word called Love. Oh yes, Love. That’s your kryptonite.

Love is the beautiful response to all the hate we see in the world. Love can rebuild everything that hate tries to destroy.

Love is a redemptive song that people keep finding a way to sing together no matter how difficult the days become. Sure, maybe we have had a rough stretch lately, but we’ve been through this all a million times before and Love has always been able to defeat hate.

And I believe Love- will answer now too.

Let’s face it, deep down we all know how this is going to play out, don’t we? Hate will grab the headlines and make a dramatic statement and chaos will briefly come, and you’ll feel and seem like you’re winning. Hate will get a bit of traction and celebrate for a moment, but it will not be long until Love rises up and slowly drives back all the destruction that you have managed to raise.

Like yeast in the dough, Love will quietly and silently do the healing work. From person to person, heart to heart, breath by breath. Love will dance!

Hate, you probably have noticed that Love doesn’t resort to all the theatrics you’re known for. Because the truth is, Love and goodness is humanity’s default setting and when people stop to breathe, when they step away from all the hate, when they draw nearer to one another and recognize the goodness in the other’s eyes—then hate you’re defeated.

I believe people will always return to compassion and mercy because those are the most powerful forces on earth. And when they do, they find Love there waiting. They’ll embrace Love and Love will embrace them.

Yes, hate may occasionally corrupt the system, but Love is the system. Love is the truth that people know without knowing they know it. Love is a deep sacred place that the human heart will always seek at its level. When hurting, grieving, weary souls search for rest, Love is where and when people finally find themselves at home.

So hate, you can have your eye for any eye, and Love will keep making peace.
Hate, you can demand revenge and Love will keep forgiving.
Hate, you can spew venom and Love will turn its cheek.
Hate, can strike with a closed fist, and Love will stretch out its open hand.
Hate, you can gloat and brag and feel quite pleased with yourself for the momentary chaos you’ve manufactured—and Love will press firmly into that which endures and defeats it.

Hate, you are a powerful and resilient, force, but you’ll never overcome Love.

Hate, no matter what unspeakable damage you do, Love will bring even greater healing.

Love will always have the last word.

Hate, look around you. Look beneath the headlines and the noise. Look deeply into the eyes of those who get Love and see how much they’re willing to do.

Love will not be denied.

Hate, you cannot win this one, my bitter friend, no matter what you, the news, social media or the fear mongers say.

This place belongs to Love. ~OC

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Broken Pieces

Today’s a new day! As I study the Bible, I see that those who did God’s work were often those who made the biggest mistakes and had to learn the hard way. Just like some of us. They were no saints. As we walk this journey called life, there are wounded and broken people all around us. They might be family, friends, neighbors or coworkers. They might be the people we sit next to at church. We may not actually see their wounds, but we can usually tell when people are sad or struggling or just not themselves. Most of us have been there at some point in our own lives. We have dealt with health, relationship or finances issues. That brokenness is very personal, so much so that we often do not want to share the details with anyone. That brokenness is unique to each of us. It’s ours, nobody else’s.

Yet in a strange way, it connects us with each other as something that we have in common.

We all have our stories, battles and wounds from this world. Broken things are often despised and thrown out. Something we no longer need. We just toss them away. We tend to reject damaged goods. That includes relationships. Often when relationships breakdown, the tendency is to walk away and find someone new.

But throughout history, we see where God chooses to use broken people.

The world is full of people with broken hearts, broken spirits and broken relationships. Maybe this is hitting close to home. But there is no reason to close yourself off from the world because you might get hurt. Again. I want to remind you of the words in Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

That verse is so true. God’s love can shine through the cracks and through our broken lives. Life at its best is letting the light and the love of God shine through, especially at our broken places. Only God’s love shining through will bring proper healing and transformation. When life is going well and there’s lots of sunny days, it’s so much easier to see God at work in our lives.

But in those dark days, we see God’s presence and strength shared with us in a different way. He is stronger than our darkest moments and if we trust in Him, we will grow in grace and confidence and others will notice that light shining through our cracks. But in those moments, we might need to be open and vulnerable to others.

We all know how difficult, but rewarding building relationships can be. It can be challenging to be real and transparent. We do not want people to know everything about us, but there are some painful issues that we can share, especially if we know that God is helping us through those difficult times.

Today, do you feel there are too many broken parts of your life to be of any use to God?

Believe me you are not alone. Jesus wants us to bring him all our brokenness and ask him to fill us with his light, that will shine through our cracks. So today, I pray you will lay all your broken pieces at the feet of Jesus. ~~OC

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Is the Church Ready for Revival?

In 2023, I attended the Asbury Revival with some friends. During and after that experience, we saw pockets of revival happen across America. But the small fires of revival never turned into a spiritual wildfire. Why is that?

Let me start off by saying, I believe that revival is a gift from God and He grants it sovereignly according to His will. But sadly, I do not believe the American Church or the Christian community is living out scripture in a way that revival can spread beyond those small pockets of fire. The following are some things I believe need to happen before revival can be experienced across America. Remember, these are just my thoughts. Things I believe God has revealed to me, since the Asbury Revival of 2023. But of course, God can bring revival to America and the world anytime He wants. I pray He would.

1). I do not believe God’s people in America are truly desperate for God. We may say we’re desperate for God, but our hearts do not match our words. It has been some time since I have seen a church or faith gathering truly plead for God’s presence.

2).The Church and its members tend to be more concerned about the sins of others and less concerned about their own shortcomings. Few people in the church are so broken over their personal shortcomings that all they can do is cry out to God.

3). In America we love our stuff. That includes Christians. We know it’s all fleeting, but we treat it as if it weren’t. The more stuff we have, the happier we feel and the less we feel we need God – and most people in America have much more stuff than the majority of the people around the world do.

4).Most Christians do not take time to know God’s word. To really let it sink into our hearts. Those that really do know the word, tend to have more of a head knowledge and less of a heart transformation. I am thankful for those believers who not only know the word, but actually live it out.

5).The Church is lacking prayer warriors. Have you tried to put together a prayer gathering lately? You usually get the same few people and even that can be like pulling teeth. Our prayers tend to be reactionary; that is, we pray only when we must. Not many people are lying on their faces at one or two in the morning, pleading with God to fall on us with His power.

6).Too many churches appear more concerned about opening up more campuses and less concerned about growing more disciples. In my experience, a lot of churches that show any signs of growth seldom feel the need for revival.

7). Is the Church and the Christian community ready to pay the cost of revival? When God falls on us in His power, the result must be a brokenness that leads to repentance from sin and weeping over lostness. It means calling the church to holiness. Revival often wounds first before it heals – and I’m simply not convinced that the American Church is ready for all of that.

I will continue to pray for real revival to move through God’s people and the Church. I pray with anticipation for God to move in a mighty way across America and the world. Blessings. ~OC

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