faith

How to Survive Your Child’s Illness by Kimberly Ehlers

by Kimberly on March 7, 2012

My hearts desire, the purpose of this site, is to help you stay close to God throughout your child’s illness because He is the “secret” to your survival.  By survival I mean facing each and every day knowing that, come what may, God is with you, in control, and working for your child’s (and your) good.  In that knowledge you can experience peace, faith, and even joy instead of fear, doubt, and stress.  Surviving also means knowing that when you fall short of being the mom or daughter of God you want to be, you can start over again.

Every post, every edition of The Heart Connection, and every product in my e-store has been created to serve that goal.  I’ve realized, though, that all that I’ve made is very spread out, and I wonder how a hurting mom coming to my site would find what she needs to survive.  How can I give her (how can I give you), what she needs when she needs it the most?

Your mental/emotional survival is dependent on your faith. Your faith is a gift from God that grows when our mind sets and emotions are healthy and inline with our Father.

That’s why I made “A Guide to Parenting a Child with a Serious Illness”.  It’s the jumping off point from which you can strengthen 4 key areas necessary for you to not only survive your child’s illness but to see you faith thrive in a time you need it the most.  Your mental/emotional survival is dependent on your faith.  Your faith is a gift from God that grows when our mind sets and emotions are healthy and inline with our Father.  We are holistic beings.  Every aspect of our lives is connected and effects one another.  Working on these 4 keys will bring you much needed healing and put you in the safest place on earth – held by His strong arm next to His heart:

 Key #1  – Everyday Life and Taking Care of YOU!

 Key #2  – Create Your Firm Foundation.  It’s All in Who and What You Know!

 Key #3  – Getting Ready for Those Dreaded Doctor Appointments or (Even Worse) Hospital Stays

 Key #4 – Building Up Your Support System and Watching for Warnings

There are, altogether, over 20 resources listed under these keys.  I encourage you to start with Key #1 and work at your own pace through each article, audio, or download.  It will take time to work through each Key and that’s good!  You don’t want to rush the work God wants to do in your heart.  Oh, did I mention that this guide is completely free?  All I ask is that you share it with others if you feel it would bless and help them.

Are you ready to go beyond surviving?  Here’s your link to your guide Go to Guide

In His Love, Kimberly

Picture of keys found at http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=151

{ 2 comments }

Getting to Know You Tuesday – Resolutions that Build Faith

by Kimberly on January 9, 2012

Hi, Everyone!

Happy belated New Year!  How is 2012 going for you so far?  The winter time can be so challenging on our health, but it’s especially hard on our kids.  Adding extra illnesses like colds and flu on top of our child’s regular serious or chronic illness can wear us out.  When we’re tired and worried our faith is definitely challenged too!  It’s such a vicious cycle!

With that in mind, let’s start today with some resolutions that will help us remain  physically healthy (or get back to it), and give our faith that extra boost it needs for any struggle that lies ahead.

To help you get some ideas flowing, here’s a list of ideas:

  • There are great teas out there (I highly recommend anything by Traditional Medicinals) that boost your immune system or help it recovery in a delicous way.
  • It’s thought that a dab of lavender on your neck can possibly keep illness away (and it smells good too!).
  • Get more sleep!
  • Set a time every day to just be with God – enjoy His presence, worship and thank Him.
  • Are you getting enough time with God in prayer and Bible study?  Try to get more even if it’s merely 5 additional minutes – remember we’re trying to build up our immunity to those “germs” that attack our faith.  Plan to get those extra doses of God time!
  • Grab your copy of “The Faith Challenge” today, while it’s still on sale, for an amazing boost to your faith.

What do you think?  What are 2 or 3 resolutions you can make right now to help yourself be as healthy in body and faith as possible?  Please share in the comment section below – it will be fun to see what everyone has planned AND you can inspire someone else by sharing your great ideas!  Can’t wait to hear from you!

In His Love,

Kimberly

 

{ 0 comments }

Being Doers During Our Child’s Illness by Kimberly Ehlers

by Kimberly on January 4, 2012

Mary Kane blessed us with an incredibly important Bible Study yesterday on James 1:21-15.  For me, it was also a tough topic – being a doer of God’s Word, not just a hearer.  I find it much easier to read or hear Scripture and hope it works some “magic” in me, changing me as I listen.  The fact is, and as Mary’s study points out, the more time I spend in the Bible the more I realize that God expects me to do the sometimes hard work of living out my faith.  There are times in life when we come to a fork in the road and have to decide if we are going act in faith or not.

What does it look like to be a doer of the work (verse 25) when your child has a serious illness?  We must begin by looking at our own “filthiness and overflow of wickedness” (verse 21), as my New King James Version puts it.  Sometimes, when we read such strong words, it can be easy to think, “I’m not that bad!”  When asked to describe ourselves, I don’t think many of us would say, “I’m overflowing with wickedness.”  Let’s read a couple of different versions to help us get a clearer picture of what James was talking about…

So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage.  In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

~ The Message

Put out of your life all that is unclean and wrong. Receive with a gentle spirit the Word that was taught. It has the power to save your souls from the punishment of sin.

~ New Life Version

Has the enemy whispered to you that God doesn’t really care, or that He can’t help you?  Has he predicted evil and darkness over your child’s life?  Has he condemned you with the lie that God is silent and/or causing this because you are too sinful?  It is wrong, a cancerous evil, and, yes, wicked to believe the enemy’s lies over our Father’s promises and truths.

Once we begin treating his lies as truth and let it haunt our minds, we open the door to more filth – fear, doubts about God and His goodness or power, avoiding God because our sinfulness overwhelms us and makes us wrongly afraid of Him, trusting man (doctors) more than we trust God.  Have you said or heard someone else say, “If God is loving, why did He let this (children starving in Africa, Hitler slaughter millions of Jews, my child’s illness, etc.) happen?”  Doesn’t that question sound familiar? (Underlining is mine.)

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 ~  Genesis 3:1, New International Version

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

~ Matthew 4:3, New King James Version

and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘ He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and,‘ In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

~ Matthew 4:6, New King James Version

 

It may very well be your biggest work as a Christian to daily reject those lies and practice living the truth.

    Our enemy is clever, his lies are mixed with small doses of truth.  Every question he asks, every statement he makes is designed to plant a seed of doubt that he knows will grow rapidly.  If we do not keep that seed from taking root in our souls, he has successfully made us hearers of the word only.  We can not be doers of God’s word and His kingdom works because we are too afraid of God and the future.  It may very well be your biggest work as a Christian to daily reject those lies and practice living the truth.

My prayer is that as you read this article, you will hear God’s word for you and not the enemy’s because I fearfully understand that he could use this post to heap guilt onto you.  May you be free from any false-guilt that is not yours to carry, but may He shine His healing light on any sin He wants to help you remove.

I’d like to leave you with some verses to help you to begin, right now, to reject the lies of our enemy.  I encourage you to keep track of the promises and truths of God as you find them in your own Bible readings.  Jot them done on index cards or a page in your journal, anywhere that’s easy for you to read often.

(In speaking to the Jews who did not believe in Him, Jesus said,) You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

 ~ John 8:44, New King James Version

But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”

~ Psalm 31:14, NKJV

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

~ John 4:8, NKJV

O LORD, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

~ Isaiah 25:1, NKJV

In His Love,

Kimberly

kimberly@kimberlyehlers.com

{ 0 comments }

Remembering – My Journal Before Seth’s Surgery Pt.3 by Kimberly Ehlers

by Kimberly on July 21, 2011

This is the last journal entry I’ll be sharing and it’s from 2 days before Seth’s surgery.

Deuteronomy 4:4  But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, everyone of you.

4:7 Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.  And teach them to your children and to your grandchildren.

It’s hard now, with the surgery date 2 days away, but I will hold fast to the Lord.  I have to remember all that He’s done for us, not let my family forget and pass it on.  I have to tell what He’s done!

What’s funny to me is the last line, “I have to tell what He’s done!”  God had already done so much to heal Seth, but I had no idea what He had in store for us through the surgery.

The thing that was hard for me was still praying and hoping God would close the holes in Seth’s heart Himself and we could avoid surgery altogether.  Those holes seemed so small compared to the defects He had healed! 

I would never tell people, “Seth’s surgery will be July 22.”  Saying that felt like I was closing the door to the possibility of God healing Seth.  I’d say instead, “His surgery is scheduled for July 22.”  Praying for healing, but preparing physically for surgery (getting packed and the pre-operation doctor visits) just didn’t go together.  It was especially hard when Seth asked me if I’d given up hope.  I worried what this was doing to his faith.  I had to trust God with all of Seth – his physical and spiritual beings both.   If you listened to Seth’s interview, I think you can see the health of his faith.  Did you miss it?  Go to http://kimberlyehlers.com/?p=2150 , it’s a short 25 minute interview that will bless you beyond measure!

In His Love,

Kimberly

 

***************************************************************************************************************

P.S.   Are you having trouble holding fast to the LORD?  Are you feeling separated from Him or are you carrying guilt that keeps you away from Him?  Please join me for The Messy Motives of a Worried Mom teleseminar.  You are not alone and you do not have to stary separated from the Father who loves you.  Go to http://kimberlyehlers.com/?p=2170 and register today!

P.S.S   Stay tuned for information on the BIG sale coming this Friday, July 22!  It’s a day we love to celebrate, and we want to celebrate with you!

{ 0 comments }

Remembering – My Journal Before Seth’s Surgery Pt.1 by Kimberly Ehlers

by Kimberly on July 19, 2011

   

     As we get closer to Friday, Seth’s big 2nd Healthy Heart Anniversary, I’d like to share with you some of my journal entries from the week before his life-changing surgery.  I remember all the long years of struggling with fear and faith, they seemed to last a life time.  Now, here we are getting ready to celebrate 2 years of Seth being healthy!
     To be clear for those who don’t know Seth’s story, his 2nd Anniversary marks the date of his last open-heart surgery.  It was the surgery that changed his health completely.  By sewing 2 holes closed, Seth’s oxygen level went from the low 80s to normal.  If you listened to his interview, Seth also shared how this changed his overall health. 
     We look back on this day with joy and thanksgiving because God has given him a new lease on life, but it’s also mixed with the hard memories of facing such a scary surgery and the pain he dealt with during recovery.
     Over the next couple of days, I’d like to share with you pieces from my journal of the week before his surgery.  Each entry begins with the Scripture I had read as part of my time with God.  Please keep in mind this is unedited, straight from my journal.
      Let me give you a little background information.  At this time, we were doing “The Faith Challenge” as a family, praying for a miracle.  When Seth was a baby, we witnessed God growing Seth’s right ventricle and tricuspid valve, and that is what I’m referring to in my journal.

Deuteronomy 1:29-33  Wow!  Yes, God did so much for the Israelites, but I can take those same verses and apply them to me and all that He’s done for us.

“Do not be terrified or afraid.  YHWH who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you already before your eyes (made Seth’s right ventricle grow – we saw that!), and all these 11 years you’ve seen how YHWH carried you, as a man carries his son.  Yet, for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God YHWH, who went in the way before you to show you the way you should go.”

He fights for us, carries us, and guides us!  He does everything!

Even knowing how much God had done for us, there were so many times I still managed to doubt.  It’s too easy to forget what He’s done .  I think that’s why throughout the Bible there’s a constant theme of remembering.  From the Old Testament to the New, they retell the stories of what God has done over and over again.

What has God done for you that you need to remember?

In His Love,

Kimberly

Did you miss Seth’s interview yesterday?  Oh, make sure you take the time (just 25 minutes!) to listen.  It is going to bless and encourage you moms.  Here’s the link: http://kimberlyehlers.com/?p=2150 .

{ 0 comments }

Kicking Off a Big Week in a BIG Way – Interview with Seth Ehlers

July 18, 2011

      I can’t wait for you to hear this interview!  Oh, I know God has something special in store for you!  As I interviewed Seth, asking the questions so many of you, my friends (and family ) asked, I was just in awe.  The message he has for you parents and your kids as they [...]

Read the full article →

The Temperature of Your Faith by Kimberly Ehlers

June 21, 2011

“‘I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other!  But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth,’” (Revelation 3:15-16, New Living Translation).      Sometimes people think that this passage means [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries