Heart Hope by Olga

Today I am grateful for my biopsy result—benign, no cancer present. I was prepared for the other option-cancer… after all my grandmother died from breast cancer. Since leading the One in a Million Study this fall, I assumed that having cancer might just be the next wilderness that God had for me, but that’s not to be at this time.  As thrilled and thankful that I am that my fate was not the latter one, my heart goes out to all of the people who found out today that their results were not as good as mine. Why did God spare me and yet allow them to suffer?   I am not deserving of all of the good that God has given me in my life. Although I have suffered with a diversity of trials in my life, God has always proven faithful and trustworthy in bringing me through each of them. They have not always been with out heartache along the way, but He has provided people to help me, circumstances to comfort me and always His Words that give me hope. Lord, I thank you and praise Your...

Those of you who know me, understand that I am not your typical mountain woman. I prefer to sit on my veranda drinking iced tea and reading, but I am trying to get out and enjoy the beauty and nature of the outdoors more often. Several friends encourage me, push me, teach me and most of all are patient with me when I do venture out into the sporting world. So when my friend Deb asked if I wanted to ride bikes to Vail, I cringed inside thinking I could never do that; she doesn’t know my skill level, after all, I am a flatlander, but I consented to try it. We got off to an early start to beat the heat of the afternoon and enjoyed the cool crisp morning air and the magnificent views of the green mountains and the raging river. As we rode, I thought of all the blessings I would have missed if I had chosen to say no—the views, the workout, the wind in my face, the fellowship with a friend. But the funniest thing I would have missed is seeing my friend, Christy’s face when we ran into her ou...

Since Monday was a day of reflection, I’m still thinking about how we all need to look back not just on the men and women who have sacrificed their lives for our country, but we also need to look back on the times and people in our personal lives that have made a difference. These are the things that can give us hope in our times of trouble. If we have seen God’s faithfulness in the past, we can trust that He will be faithful to us in our current struggles. In the Bible when Joshua was leading the people into the Promised Land by crossing the parted waters of the Jordan River, he instructed one person from each of the 12 tribes to pick up a rock from the river bed. They set the stones up as a memorial so that when people saw it and asked about it, they would be told the story of how God had miraculously shown His power in guiding Israel during the time in the desert. In the Old Testament, the wise prophet Samuel set up a stone and called it Ebenezer when God came to the rescue of Israe...