Tag Archives: Faith

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Remember… You Are Beloved!

sunrise-forest-you-are-beloved

The term “Beloved” means to be greatly loved. 

No one can love us like God. For He is Love as scripture describes.

God is love. 

1 John 4:16 NIV

God spoke the world into existence with love. Jesus is the greatest expression of God’s love for us. For those who believe and accept Him as their Savior, embraces the truth that His great love can live in us.

You, me, we… are His beloved children, undeserving of God’s love yet chosen to receive it.

So, in the midst of everything going on in the world today... the unknown, the uncertainty, and in the midst of any anxious thoughts, worries or fears, remember this…

You Are Beloved!

Hold on to this truth and be transformed by God’s Word as it declares that we are beloved, purposed, and cherished children of the one true God.

A Few Verses to Meditate On…

We love because he first loved us. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” – John 15:9

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. – Matthew 11:28

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. – 1 John 4:18-19

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10b

May God’s peace and protection be upon you and your family! ~ Tom

Trusting God during trials and in challenging times is not easy. And I don’t want to come across as having all the answers because there have been times when trusting God has been a struggle for me. But over the years I talked about those struggles along with some of the life lessons I’ve learned, and you can find those posts here.

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Cancer Milestone

I have had March 3, 2015 circled on my calendar for almost four years. The date represents a cancer milestone for me, and an anniversary of a conversation which was filled with wisdom.

cancer-milestone-leverage-your-life-now

Photo credit: Victor Correia©

4 Months, 4 Years, or 40 Years

Milestone:

1. A stone functioning as a milespost.

2. A significant event or stage in the life, progress, development, or the like of a person, nation, etc.

Actually the significance of March 3, 2015 points back to a pivotal conversation which occurred four years earlier on March 3, 2011. On that day my fiancé and I were meeting with the Pastor who would marry us. Mike Teston asked us to share our stories and why we wanted to be married now rather than in the fall which was our original plan.

I shared how merkel cancer had returned for a third time with a stage-four diagnosis. Shari told Pastor Mike how she wanted to be with me through the radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery regardless of the outcome. In the two hours we were together, questions were asked and answers given, tears were shed, and prayers were prayed.  As we were saying goodbye Mike said,

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Has It Been A Year Already?

 

iStockphotos © RTimages

The last few weeks have been a blur! An example of that fact is you seeing this post now and not July 11th as originally planned. There is a saying, “life get’s in the way,” and I think you’ll agree there are times when “stuff” gets in the way of life as well…and boy has that been the case lately for me!

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Leveraging Faith

iStockphotos © Michel de Nijs

Sixteen hours in a car driving to and from Indiana for a wedding last weekend afforded me a good bit of time to reflect on the first six months of 2011. In the moments when my family dozed, one thought emerged almost as often as overpasses appeared on the horizon:

I had not “paused” as often as I hoped to this year.

My first inclination was to go through a long list of excuses why, and those familiar with my story might consider most to be legitimate. Regardless of the excuses, though, one question lingered.

Is there a correlation between pausing and being grateful?

When you live your life at a pace life dictates, you miss what opportunities are present to go deeper, past those surface level observations. At the surface everything is a blur, much like when you lie in bed at night and the day just plays through your head like a movie preview trailer. But if you truly desire to see the real story being written by your life, you need to make an effort to look past the obvious and find the picture God is painting.

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Cancer Confessional – Behind the Mask

iStockphoto © PeskyMonkey

If you were to take the time to poll my family, my friends, and my co-workers asking them to describe my outlook on life, most if not all, would described me as an optimist…a glass half-full guy. Dig a little deeper into what makes me tick and spend a little time reading through my DISC profile (high D & I) you would learn that being an encourager is another characteristics which makes up who I am. Optimism and encouragement come naturally to me and throughout my career they have been utilized to build teams and help grow businesses.

However in the scope of writing blog such as Leveraging Life, I have a genuine concern, what comes naturally (optimism and encouragement) could be taken out of context or be misconstrued leaving readers with a false impression that I never have doubts, that I live my life without fear, or that I somehow trust blindly when facing trials or adversity. 

“saying trust God period and living trust God period are two totally different mindsets…one is contingent on circumstance and situation warranting that trust, and the other is influenced by a relationship which is nurtured through circumstance and situation creating an environment of trust.”   

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When God Winks On Love

when-god-winks-on-loveWhat you see here is what greeted Shari on the afternoon I proposed. Most people would say three weeks is just too short of period of time to plan a wedding.

We crammed a lot of life and so many experiences into those 21 incredible days leading up to our wedding day. Our decision to be married, despite the circumstances surrounding my cancer‘s return, was met with so many affirmations which lead us to move forward with our decision to be married in the Spring rather than later in the Fall.

Shari and I were were so grateful for the affirmation we received from family and friends who saw in us what we believed God was doing in our lives and in our courtship. We were also blessed by the God Winks which became apparent during this period and helped us to choose to become husband and wife on March 19, 2011.

The Greatest Day of My Life!

Regardless of the size wedding, planning and coordination are key when planning an event of this magnitude in one’s life . The planning should take in all the aspects which create memories which span a lifetime for you and your wife along with the special guests who attend.

Time usually is the best friend for the bride and groom in the planning as they have months to prepare for the big day. Unfortunately Shari and I didn’t have the luxury of time as circumstances dictated there were only 21 days for us to plan and celebrate our wedding day. Despite all the obstacles and the coordinating of all the logistics, somehow, everything all fell into place for us to be married.

when-god-winks-on-love-proposal

Our God Wink Story

Shari and I met in 2008 while we attended different locations (campuses) of North Point Church. We met, but for this part of our story it started and ended with this meeting.  Despite meeting then, both of us would go on our separate ways for the next two years but the meeting in 2008 would be an important footnote in our story which would come together two years later.

Random, Fate, or another God Wink

Fast-forward to the spring of 2010 where we both find ourselves in the North Point Church Singles environment called Fusion. Despite the odds Shari and I find ourselves placed same host home as opposed to the other five during this cycle. We believe the odds for us to be placed in the same host home twice in two years was astronomical and we believe this fate of our placement to be a big defining God Wink in our lives!

This time something clicked, and in our re-connection something was different; and we were different! As we came to know each other through the North Point singles ministry we also connected on another level as learned we had both battled cancer. It was through this connection we grew closer as news of my cancer spreading impacted both of our lives.

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Learning to Pause

A week ago I wrote about how I would be choosing to “pause “ more often this year as compared to years past and how “pause” would be my One Word for 2011.

Little did I know only a few days later nature, not health, would create the perfect “pause” situation for the entire metro Atlanta area and much of the Southeast.

The timing, situation, and scenario was perfect for me to implement my plan as snow and ice caused everything to slow down, or as in this case, grind to a standstill. As this photo indicates, nothing was moving, and despite managing a Subaru dealership (which has the best symmetrical all-wheel-drive system available), we were closed for one day and had limited schedules for most of the week to ensure the safety of our employees and customers with all the ice.

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Thanksgiving and Gratitude

I was having a conversation with a close friend the other night and she shared with me the story of an uncle who passed away from cancer this past summer. As I listened to story after story I couldn’t help but notice the impact his life had made on hers. But it didn’t end there; sprinkled in each story was tales of how other family members lives were touched in similar ways. Over and over I heard, “you just can’t comprehend how special he made everyone feel, each in our own individual unique way” or “when I was with him it made me feel so important every time I saw him.” As I was driving home, that conversation caused me to pause and take inventory of the people in my life, past and present, who left similar marks on my life.

The thing I love about Thanksgiving is the fact that the only exchange which takes place is the exchange of stories in the midst of sharing our time with friends and loved ones. So before settling into your Thanksgiving routine this week, the food and the football, I challenge you to take a similar inventory of those who left a mark on your life, and to do it prior to Thursday.

-Who is the person or persons who impacted your life in such a way that it left such a mark on your life that you now feel compelled to share it with them?  

-And if they are no longer with you, is there someone close to them whose Thanksgiving would be so much more meaningful, and may be even a little less painful,  if you shared with them the difference that their loved one made in your life?

-What’s stopping you?

Remember that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony survive their first brutal winter in New England. So in that tradition….please don’t won’t let this Thanksgiving pass without sharing your appreciation to those who made a difference in your life. And I do hope you will leave a comment below about the person or persons whose life impacted yours so everyone who reads this post share in honoring them this Thanksgiving.

I’ll be the one to start in the comment section, but I also want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who have visited Leveraging Life the last four months. I know your world is a busy place, so for you to spare a moment or two and read what I post is something I value greatly.

So I thank each and every one of you and hope you have a Safe and Gratitude filled Thanksgiving!

~Tom

trusting God period

I hope you’ll stop back by on Wednesday as I put the Christmas twist on Worship Wednesday.

If you are not doing so already, you might want to subscribe to Leveraging Life. (It’s free.) That way when I update you’ll be notified via email.

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Flight to Nowhere

I saw a bumper sticker like this last night and it got me thinking about the choices we make in life. God doesn’t force Himself on us, actually God gave us free will to choose the role we want Him to play in our lives. Experience tells me the times I’ve made my God my co-pilot tend to also be the times when I’ve had the most turbulence in my life.  Maybe things begin alright but usually when the turbulence starts I look up and realize I’m on a flight to nowhere. 

Another option to consider would be letting God be your pilot. Don’t ask God to play a role in your story, accept the role he has for you and take a seat. The humility in doing so acknowledges the simple fact that without Jesus there would be no choice.

Mercy and Grace is stamped on your boarding pass, are you flying the plane or enjoying the ride?

~Tom

trusting God period!

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Life Lessons Part 4-Fast Forward

As promised Fast Forward does just that, brings my merkel cell cancer journey to the present tense and picks up where Off Season left off.

New Season

A routine follow up on the skin graft of my hand afforded me the opportunity to ask my surgeon to look at the scar under my arm where they removed three lymph nodes in December. This for all practical purposes should have been a visual check and was initially, but in his words: “something told me to not only look at the scar but to also feel under the arm as well.” He said he felt a lump, but the look on his face told the story a biopsy later confirmed, that cancer was back in my life. A key thing not to miss and what I consider to be a blessing, had the surgeon only looked and not felt, most likely the cancer would have continued to spread unchecked for at least another six months when my next follow-up appointment was scheduled.

When cancer re-enters the picture you really can’t have another “Pin Drop” moment, but a fist through the wall moment is certainly justified. Unfortunately or fortunately there really isn’t too much time for that because your life becomes very scripted at that point and you follow the sequence laid before you. Biopsy’s bridge to scans, CT & PET; tests are followed by more tests confirming what your heart already knows. A script and a sequence are what you need to navigate those days because an idle mind is the breeding ground for doubt and fear….not only in the skills of your medical team but also in where God is in all this. The purpose of the scans was to see if cancer was present anywhere else including my organs and thankfully it was not. For me both scans lit up for cancer under my arm but in no other area of the arm. I took that as great news because that would have opened the door to a conversation that could have included the word amputation.