Christmas Miracles – Week 2

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Good morning, Eastside. It’s a pleasure to be here this morning. We’ve just been really worshiping God and being in his presence. It’s been a beautiful day so far. Let me introduce myself. I’m Trina Corcoran. I’ve been attending here since May. I was born right here in Richmond, but since then, I’ve moved over 20 times and lived in five different states before landing back home eight years ago. I’ve been looking for a church for eight years, one that would feel like home. And back in May, when I came with my cousin Sherry. I found what I’d been looking for. The hashtag was more than a catchphrase. It was our culture, our culture of living a Christlike life. And I was drawn to that. I immediately knew that this was the message I wanted to be a part of. So my cousin and I decided that even though she’d been coming for three years, she hadn’t joined a life group yet. So like, okay, we’re going to do this. And we were blessed to be sent Amanda Smith’s way. And I’ve got some of my ladies here today. Thank you for coming and for all of your support. It really did make a difference in making Eastside home. All of a sudden, I belonged, and it was warm and comforting, and I’m very thankful and blessed. So I’m going to tell you a little bit about my back story and my journey. So I was married for just over 21 years, and we lived in the Chicagoland area for 17 of those years, and everything there was incredibly expensive, so we struggled. We were in and out of foreclosure for years, and in 2012 God spoke to my spirit and said, This time is different. You’re going to lose your home. And I never wanted to move back to Kentucky. I was happy with my church, my kids were in great schools, and I had built a life there. But God started changing my heart and changed my desire, and prepared me to come back home. Then I started talking to my husband, who had never lived anywhere but Chicago. And I’m like, I’ll have to have a new husband before I’m going. I’m going to get him to go to Kentucky because he’s not moving nine miles further away from his mom. That’s it, nine miles.
Well, anyway, over the course of that year, God changed my heart and his heart. We lost our house in August 2013. You would think that would have terrified me. But God had prepared me ahead of time, and he had set my mind on what was next. So in August, we lost our house, and three months later, we were able to pay cash for our home here in Richmond. Not just a home but my dream home. I prayed for a porch. I got a double-decker. God is good, and he is great. I’ve moved a lot. As I said, the 20 moved to different houses, different states, and the West Coast. But I’d never lived anyplace that I had the peace that I have where I’m at right now. And in the divorce, I got the house, and all of a sudden, I was completely responsible for providing for my family. I had no control in my marriage over our finances. He made all the decisions. So that’s when fear kind of set in. I said, okay, God, I have to do this. I have to do it better. I have to do it right. And I completely blocked God out of the whole equation. I became a problem. So back in September, I hadn’t been doing anything. I would occasionally give just a little gift here and there, but I hadn’t really stepped into my generosity journey yet. God came to me in his awesome way. It kind of went like this. He said, Really, Trina? You trust me with your eternity? What is the magnitude of that? That I trust him. And I do. I know where I’m going. I know there’s a place for me, and I’m going there. But I couldn’t stop white-knuckling the cash because I had to do it. I had to take control. I was going to succeed. I wasn’t going to fail. I was going to prove myself to God. But then God said, Where am I at? Okay, how do I argue with that? So I immediately changed my whole perspective. I went online, stepped into generosity, and committed to my weekly contribution, which started back in September. And since then, in typical enemy fashion, you get thrown some moments where you really have to have some faith. So I had three mechanics tell me that my van was going to need a new gasket. It was going to be over $2,000. I was like, okay, my van’s 2004. And I had just put 2700 into a transmission. So I’m like, I really don’t know what to do. God, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t afford even a decent used car because the market is so over hyper inflated.
I prayed, and I asked for guidance and wisdom, and then God came in and used my boss to give me a bonus specifically for my car. That’s what he said. And so I’m like, All right, let’s go check this thing out. Let’s see what they say. So I went, and everything came back. The initial indication is, yeah, it’s the head or the head gasket over $2,000. So I was talking with the mechanic, and I told him that, you know, I just had their transmission replaced. Could there be something related to that? Was something done wrong? Is that, was that the problem? So he went back and took another look. He spent three and a half hours, flushed the system eight times, and charged me $345, which was less than my bonus. Thank you, God, and got me back on the road. So I’m thankful that God took me from fear to faith, and he took care of me when I didn’t know what to do. And he provided a solution when I didn’t see one. So that brings us to Pastor Virgil and our three initiatives for Eastside for 2022. We’re going to have a limited preschool. We’re going to start back up the meal pack program, feed my Starving Children, and we’re going to start a special needs ministry. And I’m sorry, but I’m going to cry. This is where my heart is. My second-born son was on the autistic spectrum. My personal experience was the church I had been going to when he graduated from the nursery and went to the classroom. I picked him up after the first day, and they were like, We teach in this class. I’m sorry, but this isn’t a good fit for your son. So all of a sudden, there was no place for my son, which meant there was no place for my family and me. I quit going. Ten months later, my son was diagnosed with leukemia, a very rare form of leukemia that required a bone marrow transplant. And then, 11 months after that, he passed away. He never did really get to go back to church. I know that here at Eastside, the thing that I fell in love with is that we are for the children. We’re for the community. So I just really encourage you to just pray, have a conversation with God, and ask him, What do you want me to do, God? How can I move forward? How can we do this for the children? Just trust me. He will show up wherever you’re at in your journey. I was dead for years. He waited on me. I wasn’t doing anything. And then he showed up, and he said, Do this. When I was faced with that car thing, I was like, I literally stood in closer, and I said, I will not stop giving. I will sell my house first, my home that I love, because God had told me what I was to do, and I was not going to be disobedient when God was that clear. It’s time to listen. Now you all are going to be where you’re at, and God’s going to speak to you in his time. But for me, that’s what I was called to. And I want you to know, that’s when he came in, and he provided he saw that I was steadfast and I meant it. I meant it. And so let’s just see what God has for each one of us here as we keep doing what we do best here. And we make a place for people, for their home. There are three ways that you can help us with this. You can increase what you’re giving right now. You can make a one-time donation and pay before six months of the first year. Or you can do as I did in step for the first time into your generosity journey. All you have to do is go to Eastside.church/endofyear and make your commitment together. We are for the children. Thank you.
Good morning. Many of you know me and my testimony, but many of you don’t. My name is Curtis Sizemore. Today, I’m here to proclaim what Jesus has done in my life. For years, I’ve struggled with addictions. I’ve been in situations and experienced some of my darkest days. I’ve often asked the Lord again and again, why me? What’s my purpose, and how can I go forward? His answer has always been clear to me. Never give up hope. 2017- 2018. I entered into a faith-based program called Teen Challenge in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and it was there that I felt like I had nothing left to give. And Jesus spoke those words to me. This year, August 6, 2021. My life as I knew it was over. My drinking had gotten out of control, and I was a sick man, and I didn’t realize how sick. Coupled with a detox that almost took my life, COVID-19, pneumonia, pancreatitis, and vital organs that were slowly shutting down and on event I was at Baptist Health for three weeks in an induced coma. I knew then, still while in the coma, that I was in a fight for my life. I could feel the presence of Jesus with me. I was scared. I can remember these things. After three weeks of being there, I was still so severely that they had to airlift me to the University of Cincinnati Hospital for the tremendous care of our healthcare workers. They slowly brought me back. And I’m so grateful now. Because I see the miracle and the miracles all around me. I get to be with my family this Christmas. I get to be with friends. I get to be with you all. And there are moments that I know when Jesus is with me, and I’m still in his hands. I’m confident in that. And he has never failed me yet. He’s always been there. And he will continue to be. And for that, I’m very grateful. Thank you.
I mean, have we not already had church this morning? Would you not agree with me? We’ve already had church through the testimonies. Thank you. You can be seated. We are in a sermon series called Christmas Miracles, and the whole purpose of the sermon series is to have stories to remind us that God is still in the business of miracles. And we’ve seen that with Trenia in her testimony. We’ve just witnessed that with Curtis. And each week during the sermon series, we have a member from our church who has experienced a miracle of God but is also still experiencing the miracle of God to come and share with us. Now, I understand that there are people in the room like me who’s lost someone this past year. I lost my dad back in May, and we were praying for a miracle. But you know what? God, in his goodness, provided the miracle that he needed. My dad is completely healed because he’s on the other side, and he’s in heaven with God. That didn’t make me question God’s goodness or have a lack of faith. I just knew that God says in Scripture that there’s a time to be born and there’s a time to die. We cannot disrupt that many of you. You’re in the same boat; maybe you’re asking the question, well, why didn’t God do a miracle in my life or in my family? He did. He just did it in his way and not our way. Amen. And so this morning, we have Dezna Napier, who’s going to come and share her story. Do you remember how this goes? You’re engaged. You’re encouraging her because you know this. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to stand on the stage for two services. Look at the camera broadcast on Facebook and social media and all the people that are here. You know, this tremendous courage. So we what to encourage her as she shares. So let’s give a warm welcome to Dezna Napier. Raise your hand, and let’s pray over Dezna. Then she’s going to share. Father, Right now, thank you for being the God of miracles. And God, thank you for being God and doing it your way and not our way. And, Father, we pray right now for Dezna that you give her confidence, that you give her boldness, that you give her the ability to remember the things that she needs to say. And that father, that you would take her words and multiply them and encourage the hearts of the people that are on campus and the people that are watching online. And we ask all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus. And everyone agreed and said together, Amen. Amen.
Well, good morning Eastside. Like Virgil just said, my name is Dezna Napier, and I’m honored to be here with you today. My husband, Jason, and I have been married for 18 years. We have two amazing children. We have Reed, who is ten, and Emory, that’s two. Jason and I grew up in Harlan County, where my Harlan County people at. You can’t go anywhere without meeting somebody from Harlan all the way to Jamaica, and you will still meet someone from Harlan. We have lived here in Madison County on and off for the last 20 years, and we both went to EKU, and we fell in love with the Richmond area. And when we were married, we decided to make Richmond our home. And I know there are some teachers out in the audience. I’m a teacher. I teach in Estle County, and I’ve been there for the last 17 years, and I teach fifth grade and my family, and I’ve been attending Eastside since 2017. And from the very moment that we walked through the front doors, we just felt at home here. Not only do Jason and I love it here, but our kids also love it here, too. Reed was actually saved and baptized here a few years ago, and he loves ekids. And Emery. She’s just two. She hasn’t quite had the same opportunities that Reed has had, but she loves it. And ask’s to come to church all the time. Jason and I are all in. We both serve for ekids as greeters. We joined a life group very early on, and we are part of the generosity rockstars. Joining a life group was probably one of the best decisions we ever made, and we decided to come to Eastside. Our life group’s been with us through so much in just a short period of time, and they were with us through an unexpected pregnancy and a very scary emergency hospital stay during delivery. Emory had some heart complications after birth, and they’ve been through health issues with us, with our family, and through my personal health journey. I know that I could call on any of those members to be by my side at any time. They could lift me in prayer or come to the hospital when we don’t know what’s happening and just sit with us. I just want to encourage you. If you were here and you have not given a lot of groups a try, just give it one chance. Carla and her team could help you find a group that you fit in. I’ll help you find a group that you fit in, but just give it one try. I promise you will not be disappointed, and you’ll actually be blessed. It’s just a blessing to us.
All this love and support that we have been having has helped us through a very difficult time. And let me go back to 2020 and tell you a little bit about what was happening in our lives. So 2020 came Jason, our feeling really blessed. We are two healthy children, and we were just enjoying life. Emory, as I said, was born with a heart condition. She was doing really well with that. In August, she was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease. Before you get at your phone to Google that, I’ll tell you what it is, Kawasaki disease is an inflammation that causes all the blood vessels in your body to enlarge. It’s a response to fighting off some type of virus. So she was hospitalized for that for about a week. She did really well. It can affect your heart, but it did not affect her heart. Thank the Lord. We were just living the life. I mean, we were having fun during the COVID lockdown, and it was hard to be there. But we loved the time we had with our family and getting to spend the time with Emory that we had never got to spend with our elder son because we were always working. We were just looking for the new year, looking forward to the New Year to come. So in December 2020, I started having a little health issue. Nothing that I was really concerned about, and I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. So I called my gynecologist and made an appointment with her. We scheduled for January. As I said, I didn’t think it was a big deal. And when I met with her, we discussed some things, and you know what was going on. And she decided that an IUD would be a really good option to help me. So we had that surgery in January when I went back in a few weeks, like two weeks, for my follow-up, IUD didn’t work and never implanted correctly, so we had to move on to the next step. So the next step was an ablation. She felt confident that would help I did to schedule that surgery in April. When I went back for my follow-up two weeks later, I was the recipient of a failed ablation, so it did not help. It actually made things worse. So she said, We’re moving on to the third and final step, which will be a hysterectomy. I audibly cheered out loud, and she said, I don’t think in all my years as a doctor that anyone’s ever cheered when I said hysterectomy. I was ready to feel better.
Since I’m a teacher and all teachers know it’s easier to go to school than it is to have sub-plans. And we scheduled my surgery for June when school was out, and I was ready and couldn’t wait for those days to get there. So I concluded all that back story to say, This is where I first saw God’s hand working in my story. If the IED had worked, if the ablation had worked, we would never have moved on to a hysterectomy. And the outcome for me would have been much different. And this is where I saw God working. Having those two procedures failed is the beginning of my Christmas miracle. So June 9 came. I had my surgery, and the doctor had to do a little more invasive surgery than she thought. She ended up having to remove my ovaries. She said she wasn’t really concerned. They were pretty gnarly looking, but she didn’t think that anything was going on. It was just probably a result of me having PCOS or polycystic ovarian syndrome and that we would send it out for pathology. No big deal. So I had my follow-up a few weeks later, expecting to get those results. No results. The nurse promised that as soon as they came in, somebody would call me and tell me. So we were heading off to vacation the next day. We packed up and headed to Port Saint Joe, Florida, and my family in my husband’s entire family were going we were going to stay in a beach house. We were going to relax and have a great time. Little did I know this was where my entire life would change. So Monday afternoon of our vacation, we were planning a dinner on the Sunset cruise. So I went up to our bedroom to get my family’s clothes ready. And I sat down on the bed, and I saw I had a new email. So it was from my medical chart, and it said I had a new test result. So I was like, Oh, good. Finally, my pathology reports are in. They must be good. They email them to me. So I opened that email and began to read. About two lines in my entire world stopped. The first two words jumped off the page where in bold letters, it said neuroendocrine carcinoma. I didn’t know what neuroendocrine meant, but I knew that carcinoma meant cancer. I read the entire report, really not understanding all of it, but the things I could understand were really scary. It talked about how the type of cancer, neuroendocrine carcinoma, isn’t usually found in your ovaries but found in other places like your liver, your brain, your pancreas, and your lungs. And since it was in both of my ovaries, it was likely metastasized from somewhere else. I was going to need some further testing to find out where cancer came from.
I sit there alone on the bed in paradise, in the most beautiful beach house I’ve ever been in. And read the most life-changing news. I was so thrown back that I couldn’t even yell out for my husband to come upstairs. I just sat there reading, feeling scared. All I kept thinking in my head was, I don’t want to leave my babies. I don’t want to leave my family. I wasn’t afraid to die. I knew if I died, I was going to heaven. That wasn’t my fear. My fear was leaving my kids without a mom. So Jason eventually came upstairs to check on me, and I was just sitting there on the bed, and he asked what was going on. I couldn’t even answer him. I just handed him my phone. He started reading, and he didn’t understand it. He was like frantically asking me, what’s it mean? What does it say? I said All I could say was, I have cancer. Well, that began a lot of phone calls and a lot of gathering information and trying to get confirmation that what I read was really true. And it was a doctor who confirmed that I did have cancer. We talked with the oncologist and scheduled an appointment for the week that we got back from vacation. So right there, that moment, I decided that no matter what the future held for me and what this outcome was going to end up being, we were going to have the best vacation because if I was going to leave my babies, we were going to have a great vacation and they were going to remember it as fun and exciting and not scary and sad. So when we returned home, the real whirlwind began. We had doctor’s visits, phone calls, blood work, meeting with the pharmacy to find all the horrible side effects I was going to have to visit the infusion center, finding out that my hair would fall out 14 days after chemo began, and then actually starting chemo a week and a half after returning from vacation. They found out the type of cancer I have is very rare and that it’s even rare to be found in both ovaries because it’s so rare. They sent my tumors off to Harvard to be studied because it’s really unheard of. The PET scan that was required to see if there was cancer anywhere else in my body is also a rare PET scan, and it’s only offered a few times once a month, usually. So I had to wait to have my PET scan. Thankfully, my oncologist is very aggressive, and before I even had the PET scan, we started chemo because we didn’t quite know what we were up against, and she wanted to get started right away.
My next Christmas miracle is that when I had my scan, it came back completely clear. There was no cancer anywhere in my body. Even though the medical team was sure that the cancer had metastasized from somewhere else, God in his glory had contained cancer just to my ovaries. It had been removed with my hysterectomy. Let me say this was overwhelming, but I really had an odd sense of peace about it. I just felt peace in my heart. I was scared, but I knew God had me. Jason and I had talked a lot, of course. One night we were just talking, and I said, It’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay. If God heals me here on Earth, it’s okay if God heals me, and heaven is going to be okay. So I listened to this song by Tasha Layton called Into the Sea. Some of you probably have heard it. It says in the song, It’s going to be okay. That became my anthem because I knew God was in control and it was going to be okay during the chemo treatments. I was there for 7 hours a day. This gave me a lot of time to pray, read my Bible, and do devotions. Just to think and talk to God. I found so many verses when I was there that really helped me. This one really spoke to me. It said it brought me a lot of comforts. I hope it brings you comfort, too, if you’re going through a health issue. This verse just it just blesses me. It’s Jeremiah 30:17.

“I will restore your health, and I will heal your wounds, declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah 30:17

I knew that he would restore my health here or in heaven. On certain days when I was feeling especially weak or tired, I would read Isaiah 41:10.

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Isaiah 41:10

I had so many people tell me during this journey that I was strong, but I wasn’t strong. The Lord gave me his strength, and he held me in his hand. He gave me the strength to continue working throughout my treatments, and he gave me the strength to try to keep life normal for my kids. He gave me the strength to keep pushing and fighting even when I wanted to give up. I know this time of year is hard for a lot of people for different reasons. Maybe you had a death in your family. You have sickness. Money, I don’t know, problems, things that are happening, and you just feel rundown and tired. If that’s you, if you’re having a year like that where you just feel like you can’t go on. I just encourage you to write down Isaiah 41:10 and carry it around with you. And on those days when you feel like you can’t go on. Pull that out and read it. Read it and know who gives you the strength. Don’t get me wrong. I cried a lot. I let fear creep in. But I really tried to lean on the Lord, and I tried to look for the positives around me. It would have been really easy to find all the negatives. It’s still really easy to find all the negative things that happen. But I decided I wanted to focus on the positives. And in the midst of all the things going on around me, God showed up and showed me all the positive blessings. So the first positive thing I found was the people who work and volunteer at the infusion center. I really believe that those people are little angels. They just are such a blessing to everybody there. I feel blessed and humbled to have gotten to meet them. Now I wish I didn’t have to in that circumstance, but they were wonderful. The second positive I found was that I really wasn’t extremely sick. I went through two cycles of chemo and never was sick at all. The type of chemo I have two different types. The number one is nausea and vomiting causing types of chemo. And they prescribed me tons of medicine to combat that. But I never had to take it. It wasn’t until the very end of chemo that I started to get a little rundown. I was able to continue working through all of that and only missed days that I had to go to the doctor or that was in chemo. A third positive was that I met so many different people as they passed through those infusion chairs. I was there 7 hours a day, three days in a row every 21 days. I got to see and talk to tons of people. Some people were talkative. Some people weren’t. Some people shared their stories. Some people wouldn’t. I prayed with some people. I prayed for some people. I just was really blessed to get to meet all those people.
In fact, through my journey there, I reconnected with a friend. And when I was a little girl in Harlem, I took piano lessons from a lady who was a high school student at the time. She was a senior, I believe. So I go to her house and then piano lessons. Well, in the time that I was taking lessons, her family moved from Harlan, and they moved to like the Lancaster, Richmond area. I really hadn’t had many conversations with her since then. Now I’m 42, so that’s quite a few years ago. But fast forward to my first week at chemo treatments, and I look over to my left, and in the chair to the left of me sits her mother. I hadn’t seen her mother in probably 30 years, but I knew her voice as soon as she spoke, and I was able to reconnect with the lady Tina, who was my piano teacher. And not only was her mother dealing with cancer, but Tina had also been there on her own personal cancer journey a few years before. And through our reconnection, she’s become a huge encouragement and support for me. Another positive that was brought to me was that the Lord showed me what a wonderful support system I have. Family, friends, church members, life group members, work, family, and even strangers were all praying for me. So many people brought me food, gift cards, and gifts, and they mowed our yard. They weeded around our fence line, and they donated money. They just thought of me. It was very humbling. It’s still very humbling. There wasn’t a day that went by that we didn’t have a delicious meal at home ready for us or a gift card ready to order our food for us. There were so many times when I was feeling discouraged or down I would get a text or a phone call. They just said I’m praying for you, thinking for you, thinking of you. I knew I wasn’t fighting the battle alone. So our life group during this time was such a blessing. I’ve never really considered myself a high-maintenance person. Never really fussed over my hair, never really fussed about makeup. But losing my hair was very traumatic. It was hard for me. Because my son, who’s ten, was very, very nervous about me losing my hair. And so when it started to get thin and every morning was a trial to get ready, I decided it was time for it to go. And so my best friend’s mother is a beautician, and she agreed to close her shop and shave my head for me. So we made that appointment for a Friday night. And right as we were getting ready to leave, there was a knock on the door. We opened it, and it was my life group leader, Luke. He was standing there with a bag, and he gave me a hug, and he said something along the lines of I don’t know what to say or do to help what you are feeling, but I can shop. He showed up with a bag full of scarves for head wraps for me so that Reed wouldn’t be scared.
It was exactly what I needed at that exact moment. God knew what I needed, and he provided it through my life group. Another life group here at Eastside brought me a bag of gifts. It had lots of things for me to take to chemo with me. And a card with some gift card and some cash in it. Now, I don’t even know most people in this life group. I knew one family in the life group, and they didn’t know what they did for our family with their gift. So I lost my hair, and I shaved my head. I needed a wig when I went to pick it up my wig this wig. It was a synthetic wig. So it requires special shampoo, and it is very expensive. I needed shampoo and hairspray. Special brush, a stand to put it on. Lots of things I didn’t anticipate. And as I said, it was kind of expensive. And the money that was in the card from that life group was the exact amount of money I needed to pay for those supplies. Said note if you see me in this wig is crooked, please tell me it has a mind of its own. So let me be serious for just a minute, and I want to pause and say a huge thank you. I may not ever get this opportunity again, but I want to say thank you to everyone who prayed for me, donated to my family, who supported us in any way. If it was just thinking about us or whatever it is. I just can’t thank you enough. Thank you. Does not seem like a big enough word to show you our gratitude and appreciation. Don’t ever underestimate the smallest gesture. You don’t know when that could be the difference for somebody. So I finished my four cycles of chemo on September 22. The last two cycles were pretty rough. I felt pretty bad, and I ended up being a little bit sick toward the end, but I finished it and felt great. I had my post-CT scan in October, and we got the best news ever. I got a phone call that said there was no sign of disease. So many prayers have been answered. And while we did get the miracle of hearing that there is no cancer, please don’t stop praying for me. The type of cancer I have is very rare, and I don’t quite know what to expect. So I will continue having scans every three months for the next three years and then every six months after that. It’s going to be still a journey. So keep me in your prayers.
Through my cancer journey, I felt the Lord teaching me. I could feel Him teaching me that I needed to slow down and be still and listen to him. Even though I have been blessed to hear the words, there’s no sign of cancer. The Lord is still teaching me to focus on the positives and the things that are important, like my family and like serving him. Letting go of the things that pull my attention away from God and my family has let me be able to focus on what’s important and reconnect with friends and just enjoy the beautiful life that God’s given me. It would be easy to dwell on the negative things because, with cancer, there are a lot of negative. But looking for the positives around me. Help me focus on how blessed I am. I’d like to give each of you a challenge. I know that some of you may be struggling with your own journeys, whatever that could be. Whatever difficulty you’re facing, I just want to challenge you to find the positive. There’s a positive there when you look for it. Even on the hardest days, I was able to find at least one positive thing to look for and just focus on that. I challenge you, even on hard days, to find that positive God will provide a blessing for you. If we choose to dwell on the negative, it can bring up those feelings of bitterness and anger. And I know all of you probably can think of somebody you’ve met who just seems like they’re angry at the world, just so bitter and harsh, and just their words seem harsh. And I had the opportunity to meet a lady through my cancer journey at the infusion center that was very bitter. She’d been dealing with cancer for the last three or four years, and she just had lost faith and didn’t believe that God could help her. So while another lady and I had been talking, she turned around, and in the harshest voice I’ve ever heard, she said, How can you, as a Christian, be so positive when God lets you get cancer? So that just was almost like somebody punched me in the chest. Like what? I never thought about it that way. I mean, it never crossed my mind to feel that way because I know that some people believe as Christians, we’re going to have a perfect life. But I know, as a Christian, my life’s not perfect. We still have trials, we still have sickness, there’s still death, and There are still hard times all around us. But because I am a Christian, I have a God who walks with me, who provides me with peace and comfort, and who holds my hand through the journey. And when I can’t walk, he carries me. And I know that when the Lord does decide to take me home, I have a place in heaven where there are no more trials, no more sickness, and no more cancer. Thank you all.
I mean. Aren’t you glad that you showed up this morning? Aren’t you glad? You know, I love what Dezna said that if we’re not careful. We can interrupt, we can enter end up being bitterly cold and callous. And here’s what I know this morning. That there are people in this room. Who’s cynical? Now, I’ve used that word all my life, and I really didn’t know what it meant until a couple of months ago. And I decided to go to Dictionary.com. And here’s what it said at Dictionary.com that it means that you believe. That nothing will change in your life. Do you believe that? Things are going to always be the way that they are. In other words, Christians don’t believe that God is at work. We don’t believe that God is going to show up and show off. And some of us here today have cynical hearts because we just believe that things are the way they are. They’re never going to change. God’s not at work. I don’t feel or see his handiwork at work in my life. And so we just become cynical. Do you know what happens to cynical hearts? What happens to cynical hearts is that they become a heart. A callous heart. A heart that is completely no longer sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit no longer feels the presence of the Holy Spirit. And these testimonies are designed to help us to say, you know what? I don’t want a cynical heart. I don’t want to have a cold, callous, stony heart. But I want to have a soft heart before God Almighty. And that when God speaks, I hear him. When he nudges me, I feel the nudge. Because, friends, listen to me. God is too good not to believe that God is alive. His wonder-working power is activated. God is still on his throne, regardless of what anybody says. And today, God is still in the business of healing people and performing miracles. And maybe your miracle hasn’t come. Here’s my word to you. Don’t give up. Don’t give up because it’s his timing and not your timing. Let’s stand and let’s sing this next song, our closing song, with conviction and with passion.
Aren’t you glad that the song said it was good to be in the house of the Lord? Has been good. Has it not? You know, again, I want to thank Trina. I want to thank Curtis. I want to give a big shout-out to Dezna. He will give it up for them one more time. And this morning, as you prepare to leave, if you haven’t made it to winter wonderland. This Friday and Saturday at 6:30. Make sure that you get here early. You do not want to miss it. We start at about 6:27, we get a little preview of something, and then the first 8 minutes of worship is off the charts. You do not want to miss that. Come early and be here next Sunday. We have one more testimony in this sermon series. You do not want to miss that. And then, on Christmas Eve, we have two Christmas Eve services. At 12 or at 5, just pick one. They’re going to be identical and just come and be a part of that. And let’s continue to explore this wonder-working God, the God of Christmas miracles. Amen, let me pray for you. Then you can be dismissed. May you go in the grace and the peace and the love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. God bless.