“Coffee chat” visit in my kitchen

Y’all!  Was this week extra hard?

I’m missing people!! 

I know I’m not alone.  I know from reading Facebook and IG posts this week that many of you had a hard week.  This “shelter in place” life just felt harder.  Yup, it stinks!

I decided that instead of writing a post this week (like my past “peek into my quarantine life“) I thought I would sit down with you for a visit.  Now I know… it isn’t a real visit since you can’t be here with me in person.  However, something is better than nothing, right?

So, join me at my kitchen table.  We are in this together and I hope you find some encouragement from our “chat”.  Below you will find links to the resources/podcasts/articles I mention in the video. (side note: YouTube really knows how to create an attractive screen shot!  LOL)

Resources I mentioned in the video:

Why are we all feeling SO TIRED?? This article my Aunt Edna shared with me really helped me to understand.  It’s OK and understandable that we are feeling physically exhausted from this. Click this link to read.

FREE download of the  Weekly Journal Sheet to keep track of Feeding Faith!

 

Podcasts I listened to this week that I found personally very helpful:

What You’ll Learn on this Episode:
The truth about the future.
What happens when you resist the feeling of disappointment.
How you can choose to never feel disappointed if you want.
Why knowing what is coming in the future would create a different experience for us and wouldn’t bring as much relief as you might think.
How I’m thinking about the future right now.”

We are currently with our children 24/7.  This parenting gig is even harder right now.  We might find ourselves being frustrated more with our kids and loosing our cool.  I found this podcast SO helpful!!  I want to be the BEST parent I can be…. I can always use some help!

This podcast episode is from October 2019 (pre coronavirus).  Currently our HURRY, our BUSY has been stripped away.  Maybe this isn’t all bad.  Maybe as we go back to “normal” we should really think about what we want our new normal to look like.  This podcast episode gave me a lot to think about.  I ended up listening to several of the Bridgetown podcast episodes this week.  Good stuff.

Spend some time doing things you ENJOY!

For me….. My kitchen and my flower beds are my happy places.  I have been learning how to make sourdough bread.  This has been a “bucket list” item for a long time and now is the time! This is a GREAT post with lots of resources on learning sourdough (if you would happen to be interested).

 

How can I pray for you?  If you respond (leave a comment) I WILL pray for you!!  Life is HARD, it is OK to ask for help and for prayer.

 

Gloves, masks and Jesus

Last week I pulled out the box of old medical supplies that we had from years of Wesley’s leukemia treatment. I was looking through the box to see if we had any masks left. I didn’t find any mask, but I did experience a flood of emotions.

While I am thankful we had the provision of the medical supplies in that box, I really don’t want anyone to have a need for a box like that. So many memories of HARD times rushed through my heart and my mind. I had to LEAN into the arms of God and cling to how faithfully he walked with us over the years.

I put all the supplies back in the box and slid the box back into its spot in the hall closet. I took a deep breath to try to clear away the lingering pain and turned to go to the kitchen. My husband soon came in and I shared with him how caught off guard I had been by the experience of going through the medical supply box. I’m glad he was home to help me process.

Last week was Holy Week that led up to Easter Sunday. Each day last week I joined in on Holy Week messages online. God began to stir in my heart an analogy from one of the items in that medical box.

Sterile gloves and dressing change kit.

 

As I have made our essential trips to the grocery store and pharmacy (one each week) I have seen an increased amount of people wearing gloves and masks. I totally get why they are wearing them. The gloves and masks give them a sense that they are doing something to protect themselves from becoming contaminated with the coronavirus. We all want to protect ourselves and our loved ones from this evil.

Watching people with their gloves and masks has been an interesting experience. I have seen so many people, with good intentions, make some crazy mistakes that actually put themselves at greater risk, rather than decreased risk. It has been hard to watch!

During the years of Wesley’s treatment I received lots of training on how to use gloves and mask, the importance of cleaning, hand washing and using hand sanitizer. I had to be trained on how to use these things so that they actually worked to help protect him.

Once you put gloves on they become “contaminated” the second you touch anything. I’ve watched people shopping, touching all kinds of things, and then pull out their phone without taking off the contaminated gloves. UGH… now the phone is contaminated. I’ve watched people adjust their face mask with their contaminated gloves. UGH… just put any germs right on their face and mask! I’ve seen people pull out their wallets, their debit cards, their keys with their contaminated gloves. I’ve seen them open their car doors and load in their grocery bags…. all while wearing the same gloves they wore all over in the store. UGH!! UGH!!

Wearing gloves and masks can be a way to protect ourselves from the virus…. but ONLY if we are using these personal protective things correctly. For example…. DON’T touch your phone, wallet, keys or anything else without removing the contaminated gloves! Otherwise you just transfer germs to those things! Most certainly, do NOT touch your face or the mask!!

OK… where am I going with this? How does any of this relate to Easter, to our Savior?

Note: Pictures are old. Wesley has not had a central line now in just over a year! Thank you Jesus.

For a total of over three years Wesley had a double lumen central line in his chest used to administer chemo, many other meds, blood transfusions, platelet transfusions and for drawing labs. This central line was EXTREMELY valuable and necessary, but came with a HUGE risk of contamination and infection. He had a line coming out of his chest that was connected to one of the main heart blood vessels. If infection got into his body through the central line it would go right to his blood stream. YIKES!

Diagram of a central line

Each week the sterile dressing that covered the central line entrance had to be changed. 3 years = minimum of 156 dressing changes. (It was really more than this because he had a central line in longer than exactly 3 years.)

The responsibility of changing that dressing rested firmly on my shoulders unless he was admitted in the hospital. (Side note: He would only allow certain nurses to change his dressing… trust issues… so if one of those nurses wasn’t on duty he would ask me to do the dressing change. Therefore, I did a fair amount of dressing changes even when he was admitted. This was the ONE area he exercised incredible stubbornness …. and …. We all totally understood. He wanted to feel secure that his central line would be kept as safe as possible. Even the nurses understood because it is normal for patients to feel very protective of the central line.)

In order to change his dressing I had to be trained. Changing the dressing must be done using sterile technique. I had to be trained, and had to pass a test, at each of the three medical facilities where Wesley received treatment (Indy, Philly and Seattle). Sterile procedure is INTENSE! Have you ever learned how to put on sterile gloves?? Wowzer!

Each week as I would change his dressing I would pray that God would help me. I felt the weight of the responsibility. It was heavy. I knew that if I contaminated his skin or any part of the dressing material I would put him at HIGH risk of infection. Infection was DANGEROUS and could cause death. Yeah… the weight I felt on my shoulders was heavy. Dressing changes were only done with lots of prayers!

Wesley with his central line.

There were times during dressing changes I would contaminate one of my gloves. There were times I wasn’t for sure, but was afraid I was contaminated. What did I have to do at that point? Start completely over. Once I was contaminated there was no undoing that. I had to get rid of the contaminated gloves, dressing, etc. and start completely fresh.

This is where the connection to Easter comes in. God used the sterile dressing changes to show me about sin and my need for a savior.

Pulling out that box of medical supplies brought back so many memories …. but God used seeing the sterile dressing change packages to teach me about Him.

You see…. in order to be in the presence of God (in heaven) we have to be completely “sterile”, free of sin. We can not have one speck of contamination on us. However, living in this world there is NO way we can get through life without becoming contaminated by sin. We are inherently sinful and surrounded by sin. We all sin. We are all contaminated. Our “sterile” gloves stand no chance!

Once contaminated there is nothing we can do to un-contaminate ourselves without being completely cleansed. However, we do not have the power to wash away our sins like we do have the power to wash a virus off our hands. Sin won’t come off with water and soap! There is nothing we can do to get rid of the contamination of sin. Nothing!

The ONLY way we can become clean and uncontaminated is by the blood of Christ. Jesus became the sacrifice that makes us white as snow!! Jesus came to save us from our sin to bring us into relationship with our Heavenly Father!

That is what Easter is all about. That is why we need a savior.

Without Christ cleansing me I am covered in the filth of my sin. Washed in his grace I am covered in His righteousness. I am free of contamination. I am “sterile”. I am given forgiveness and welcomed by the Father as His child!

Thanks be to God who sent His one and only son to save us from the contamination of sin! To bring us into a relationship with him!

I pray that each time as we put on gloves and masks we will remember that Jesus is the only way we can be cleansed from the contamination of our sins. That we will thank Jesus for his grace! We are washed in the blood of the lamb!

Have you downloaded your free copy of the E-book Bible study: GOD is BIGGER, Feed Faith & Starve Fear??  This Bible study is based on the tools God taught me while we were in the trenches of battling leukemia.  These methods of feeding faith and starving fear apply to any kind of hard stress we can face in this life.

BONUS! God is BIGGER Bible Study Weekly Jounal Page

Weekly Journal sheet for feeding faith and starving fear

Weekly Journal Sheet: Feed Faith & Starve Fear

God is Bigger Weekly Journal PDF  (download link)

If you are doing the “God is BIGGER: Feed Faith & Starve Fear” Bible study then I have a new free bonus journal sheet for you.

Last week I started using a plain old notebook to keep a journal of the ways I am currently feeding my faith to starve fear.  It really helped me stay intentional and focused.  I also used this journal to write the “peak into my life” post.

My plain old, not so pretty, weekly journal.

We are all living in a very hard time with the Covid-19 and we have multiple fears that are trying to grow in our hearts.  Being intentional to feed faith in our BIG God starves fear!  GOD is BIGGER than the coronavirus.

As I have used my plain old, not so pretty, notebook journal this week I began to think that maybe a weekly journal sheet would be helpful to you, too!  So, I hopped on Canva and created a pretty weekly journal sheet for us all to use!  I can get rid of my not so attractive notebook sheet and have a pretty journal sheet, too.

I found that using this journal helped me stay focused on TRUTH!!  I could look back at it and see all the things God used to help me stay intentional on feeding my heart and mind with HIS truth.  What we feed will grow.  Feeding my heart and mind with God’s truth grows my faith.  GOD is BIGGER than any hard we can face in this life.

Download your PDF copy of the weekly Journal sheet below.

Weekly Journal Sheet: Feed Faith & Starve Fear

God is Bigger Weekly Journal PDF

A peak into my “quarantine” life. Feeding Faith & Starving Fear. Wk 1

The reality of this current Covid-19 life is that we are all in the grips of fear.

*post contains affiliate links

We all have fear of disease, death, financial loss, job loss, etc. Life has changed in every possible way. Kids are home from school, all activities cancelled, stores have experienced shortages and lets not even get started about “distance learning” (that is painful for most parents and kids alike)

Spring!! Flowers make me so happy!

So, I thought that maybe you would like a glimpse into my personal life….. we all share similar fears and concerns. How am I feeding my faith to starve fear??  To learn more about me I recently wrote this post.

The Bible Study: God is BIGGER, Feed Faith, Starve Fear, is based on the 5 ways God taught me to feed faith in his power. He taught me these strategies over the nearly 7 years our son battled leukemia. I learned these in the trenches, with disease and death always staring us in the face. These same strategies work no matter what kind of HARD circumstance we are going through.

I’m going to share with you the things I am currently doing in each of these 5 ways to feed my faith to starve fear in the midst of this Covid-19 life we are all living.

Bible study bonus pages

Bible Study Cover. Click to get your own FREE copy!

1) Praise and Worship.

Praise gets our eyes off our circumstances and on our Savior! Battles are raged and victories are won as we stand in praise of our God. GOD is BIGGER than anything we face. We feed our faith by praising our BIG God. Praise keeps us centered with the proper perspective… GOD is GOD and we are not!

So, how have I been intentional about praising God? I have a Bluetooth speaker that is easily connected to my phone and I have Bluetooth earphones. On my phone I have the Klove radio app, the Moody Radio app, Faith Radio app, Pandora, Apple Music and the Tunein Radio app. I use Pandora the most, but have used all of those apps this week. I really like Pandora because I can search for specific songs.

Specific songs that I have listened to a lot this week:Waymaker” and “The Blessing”.

I make sure to turn on the music as I do housework. Praise helps keep my mind from wandering and centers my heart on truth!

The joy I find in hanging clothes on the clothes line is almost crazy!

We have had a few BEAUTIFUL spring days this week. I made sure that I went outside each day. I have been able to open the windows in the house. We live in the country and we have lots of birds. Our youngest son is a “birder”. He keeps our bird feeders full and over the years we have been intentional about planting trees and bushes and flowers that the birds like. We keep our eyes open for the return of the different species of birds. God’s creation worships him! Listening to the birds sing has been its own praise song.

As I type this I am sitting at the kitchen table in our 1911 Indiana farmhouse. I can look out the windows and see the clothes on the clothesline fluttering in the spring breeze. I can hear the song of several different types of birds. I can see my youngest son (Nate, age 15) shooting hoops out by the barn. The sun is shining. It is a gorgeous spring day and I choose to praise our God who created all this beauty!

We were blessed with a GORGEOUS sunset this week.  It felt like a love letter from God.  Even though the world

Love letter from God.

feels out of control right now, God is faithful.  He reminds us every morning as the sun comes up and every evening as the sunsets that HE is faithful!  His love for us never ends.  His grace and mercy are new everyday.  I took this picture of the sunset.  My view standing outside my back door.  I used the “Bible Lens” app to add the verse to my picture.  It is a fun app.  I like to add verses and text them to friends.  I have also printed them off.

2) Prayer

We have 3 sons and 1 daughter. Our daughter joined the Air Force and left for BMT (Basic Military Training) on March 17th just as the COVID-19 was really ramping up in the US. I told her when she left that I would be setting the alarm on my phone for 7am, noon and 5pm. These daily alarms are my “calls to prayer” for her. Now, I also include praying for our president and our nation.  Side note: I am one PROUD mama to have a daughter serving in the Air Force!!

My alarms are set! Calls to prayer.

I pray during other times of the day, too. However, these alarms help me to pause from my activities and to center myself before the Lord. I generally start out by saying the Lord’s Prayer and then follow with prayers for our daughter, Robyn, and other requests.

Because Robyn left for BMT right as our nation began to “shelter in place” her BMT experience has been a bit different so far. One difference is that she has been allowed to call home a few times. We do not have an address for her (at this time they are not allowing us to send them mail) so they are allowing them at least weekly phone calls. It has been so wonderful to be able to hear her voice. Equally wonderful is that we have been able to pray together over the phone! She can also share with me specific prayer requests.

Our Robyn as we dropped her off for Air Force!

We all think nonstop, and our thoughts can take us deep into fear really fast. Turning those thoughts into conversations with God is powerful. We are transforming our bids by turning to God. Instead of letting our thoughts lead us into dark territory we turn to God and seek His light.

3) The Word of God

To feed our faith and starve fear we MUST be in the Word of God. We must know the Word. We must feed our spirits with the truth of God’s Word. We must fill our hearts with His truth otherwise we are filling our hearts with our human emotions.

The news on tv and the internet feeds fear in my heart. I choose to keep the news off most of the day. I have a couple of news sources I will check each day but otherwise I stay off and away. A little news goes a long way in kicking up the fear factor. While I don’t want to put my head in the sand and act like nothing is going on outside the four walls of my house, I also must be careful about what I allow into my heart and mind.

The Word of God, the sword of the spirit, is what we use to fight away fear. It is the only weapon in the armor of God. We speak the Word of God over our circumstances. We tell ourselves what to think and what to believe based on the Word of God, not our feelings. God’s word declares over and over again that God is BIGGER than any circumstance we can face!!

My current reads!

In addition to reading the Bible, I recently finished re-reading the book “Praying the Bible” by Donald Whitney, and am currently doing the lent devotional, “Uncovering the Love of Jesus”, by Asheritah Ciuciu. Both are excellent!! I highly recommend them both. These books help me to feed my faith and to help me learn the word of God.

I am a huge fan of audiobooks and podcasts. I really like them because I can listen and DO tasks around the house or while I’m driving (pre- “shelter at home”). This week I listened to a special dramatized series about Judas Iscariot created by Unlocking the Bible. WOW. Just WOW! I had to text it to some of my friends. It is so worth the time to listen to it!

4) Renewing my mind

What we think about ends up being what we say. What we say we believe! It is easy for one thought to follow another and suddenly our minds have taken us to all kinds of fear and wrong places. We can “worse case” scenario things in the blink of an eye. Panic and anxiety are often the result.

We have the POWER to choose our thoughts! It takes determination, awareness and perseverance, but we can control what our mind thinks. Feeding faith in God requires us telling ourselves what to think in accordance to the Word of God. Therefore it is so important for us to know the word of God.

I pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help me be aware of how I am thinking and to help me see when my thoughts are NOT truth and are taking me to bad places of fear and anxiety. I have to put the brakes on my thoughts and literally TELL myself what to think about. I tell myself the TRUTH that is based on God’s word, rather than the lies of fear that my brain wants to naturally go with.

I help myself direct my thoughts by giving my brain the truth to think about. I have to be intentional. Again, I really like audiobooks and podcasts for this reason. Since we can’t GO to church right now we can listen to lots of church services online. This past Sunday I “attended” 5 online church services. Throughout the week I have been able to “attend” a few more! There are blessings to be found and this is one of them.

These messages have helped give myself things to intentionally think about. The messages help me so much!

Last weekend the new movie about Jeremy Camp and his first wife, Mellissa, was released to rent online. WOW!! We watched it as a family. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it, please do! You will be encouraged by this story of faith. I will admit we were pretty emotional throughout the movie and even talked a lot about it the next day. There were several parallels between their story and our leukemia journey with our son, Wesley. The movie hit home in a way that was extremely personal to our own life, but I know it will also be encouraging to those who have not journeyed with cancer.

The “I still believe” movie was extra emotional for us because the Jeremy Camp album, Stay, that he wrote after his wife died, is the album Wesley listened to on repeat during his first bone marrow transplant. That album is all about the truth of God in spite of the hard we face in life. That album has had a huge influence on our life. Also, side note: Jeremy Camp is from our area. I have never met him. However, his Dad is a pastor and 19 years ago his Dad, Tom, baptized my husband and me! I’ll have to share more sometime about how that happened to be since we didn’t go to his church. Also, my sister was married by Tom 23 years ago. Her husband’s family knows them all, including Jeremy.

5) Speak Life

This one is so huge!! We are all stressed right now and the words we say to our people really matter. I have messed up this week. In my frustration of being WITH my family all the time I hurt my youngest son’s feelings by telling I’m “I just wish I could have a day alone!” UGH…. not helpful to speak those kinds of things!

I have also seen so many meme’s and Facebook posts of parents complaining about being home with their kids, about homeschooling, about the stress of dealing with children. I get it. We are stressed right now. However, our words have power and we can build up or tear down with our words.

So, I am praying that the Holy Spirit makes me very aware of my words and to help me be extremely intentional about speaking encouraging, life building words. Also, apologizing for any hurtful words… so important for me to repent to both God and my family!

Robyn before she left for Air Force BMT

Right now we are NOT allowed to mail letters to our daughter at basic training. So when she calls I have to fill her up with words of truth. Strong encouragement doses. Truth from God’s word. I pray over her and remind her that God is our daily bread, and that through Christ we can do all things! Build her up in the few minutes I get to speak with her.

Whew! If you are still reading you deserve a virtual high five!

Here are some other things happening in my life and ways we can use this “shelter in place” intentionally to feed our faith!

I have been choosing people to reach out to every day. A text, an email or a phone call can go a long way to be a mutual encouragement. This is another opportunity to speak life.

I’m using this time to learn some new things! I have my first sourdough starter going! This is something that has been on my “bucket list” for a long time. Now is the chance.

Bucket list: Starting Sourdough!

Since we have had some beautiful spring days I have been getting outside each day. Fresh air and “dirt therapy” (working in my flour beds) is so good for my soul! Even deep cleaning our screened in porch was wonderful.  I LOVE hanging clothes on the clothesline.

Country Girl Date Night!

Yesterday evening my husband and I went on a “date”.  You know you are a country girl when you so enjoy an outside date more than going to any restaurant.  What did we do?  We went for a two hour hike in the woods to scout for the upcoming Turkey hunting season.

I received the SWEETEST letter from my

Nate’s girlfriend, Corrie. I couldn’t have picked a better girlfriend for him if I could have been the one doing the choosing! He has good taste! Anyway, she sent me the most encouraging, life building letter and also sent my a key chain. She set a HUGE example to me about the power kindness can have. She is inspiring me!

Family dinners have always been so important to me, but with busy sports

Corrie’s gift to me. She speaks life.

schedules they were fewer and farther between. However, dinner every night around the kitchen table has been a wonderful thing the last few weeks. I’m glad I like to cook, but even if you don’t, frozen pizzas and sandwiches are extra special being enjoyed together! It is the relationship part of family dinner that is the most important thing.

I want you to all know that I am praying for you all. I do not believe it was by coincidence that God led me to write this Bible study and I believe he wrote it for YOU! We need to all feed our faith and starve fear. Our GOD is SO BIG and he is definitely BIGGER than Covid-19.

I would be more than happy to pray specifically for you…. so please comment below or send an email to heatherfoxcorbin (at) gmail.com. I will pray for you!!  Also, share how you are being intentional about FEEDING Faith to starve fear!  GOD is BIGGER!!!

 

Until next time….  Stand on the truth…. GOD is BIGGER than any hard we can face in this life!!

Again, If you haven’t gotten your own FREE copy of the Bible Study: God is BIGGER, Feed Faith, Starve Fear, go grab it now!