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tripete

Very helpful member
Joined
Dec 5, 2014
Messages
1,002
Reason
PALS
Diagnosis
12/2014
Country
US
State
PA
City
Lancaster
With all the time I have on my hands I often think about why this happening to me. ALS is a horrific disease that, about the time you think you are handling your situation OK, you get blasted by another problem. One day is worse than the next and the end is more definite than at any time in my life but not definite enough that a time can be put on it.

My comfort is in knowing that I deserve worse. Plain and simply, I am a sinner who deserves to be lashed by the licking fires of hell, and tormented for all eternity by the whips of my own sins. This is the truth about me as I am judged by the perfect law of God ( see Romans 3:9-19 ). My own experience tells me that my thoughts are wicked and my days are filled with selfishness.

Given this reality, where then can I find hope and comfort?

In the knowledge that another suffered the eternity of hells flames for me. Christ, Jesus took the eternal judgment that I deserve from me. He through His Holy Spirit, has taught me, by replacing my heart of stone with a heart of flesh to see my sins and hate myself for them ( see Ezekiel 36 ). I am worthy in myself of nothing but eternal damnation. And yet, God sent His son to bear that for me, releasing me from the bondage of sin and death and making me instead a slave of righteousness ( see Romans 6:18 ).

Job questioned his condition and insisted that it was not due to any one sin he had committed. God answered him that he had no place in questioning his creator. God argued that He and He alone was without sin. That He knew all things and did what was best for His people. Job humbly repented. Paul pleaded with God three time that the thorn (some ailment sent by Satan to buffet him) would be removed from his side. God responded “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” ( see 2Corinthians 7 ).

I do not posses their knowledge or wisdom. And my life has not been good, it is littered by my constant sins. And yet, God through the shed blood of His Son has redeemed me. He has removed my blackened robe and replaced it with a pure white one washed in His blood ( see Zechariah 3:1-5 ).

If I where to have a tombstone or any other words of remembrance they would be those of Jacob when he said to Pharaoh "few and evil have been the days of the years of my life" (see Genesis 47:9 ).
 
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Tripete, I hear you brother. the Lord did to. Being saved, is just about all we have to look forward to. Forgive me for saying but the tone I received from your letter was one of sadness. Our condition leaves plenty of room for depression, but being saved should, in my mind reflect the opposite.

Believing that God has a plan is for me, the single most important source of strength that keeps my boat floating. I made a promise to myself that i'd remain positive and upbeat for the remainder of my days. Do my best to be an example to others that although stricken with a terrible "thorn in my side", I still shine with God's grace and love. By facing my end praising God's glory, I believe that I'm doing all I can to influence others toward salvation. Could this be my Master's goal? Using me to save other souls? I'd like to think that.

Anyway, please do not be offended by my observation. You sinned, I sinned, but God has forgiven us. So should we forgive ourselves.

God Bless Us All.....................Glenn
 
Tripete and Glenn,
Thanks Tripete for your testimony, I certainly can relate! Praise the Lord for the life I've been given and the black robe I was allowed to take off and the beautiful white, clean, sparkling robe I am allowed to wear because of HIS righteousness!

I think we all process this disease differently and I find at different times I feel this is the biggest blessing I've been given in my life at other times I'm feeling it's really terrible. But, mostly I'm grateful for my life. All of it! I have a choice how I handle this and I can see how God will use this to grow me into the image of His Son. I hear you saying that - both of you, in different ways.

I had a meltdown today when the hospice nurse was here. I have lost a few friends from another forum from this disease and I was grieving.

Keep on keeping on...

God said to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous"

Lynne
 
Dear Lynne, Heaven is real. No more tears then.

God Bless Us All................Glenn
 
I remember once years ago, when I was training for the Boston Marathon, that I had gone to a park for a run with my coach and some friends. I had decided, because I needed more miles, to run back to my coaches house where I had parked my car to ride with them to the park. By the time I got there I was exhausted, and the temperature had climbed, so I was extremely thirsty. My coach had left and was not home but had left a power bar and water bottle on my windshield wiper. My thirst was so great that the water he left never tasted better.

When God changes ones heart, He makes them see the severity of their sin, so that they will see how much they need Him. I despise my sin and I only see a fraction of it. It is this recognition of how much I need to be forgiven that makes me, through His Spirit, to be thankful for it. It is not sadness but soberness of my sin and what has been done for me and at what cost.

God will wipe a way every tear. But the tears will not be from physical pain, hunger, or other fleshly concerns, but over our own sin. He will wipe the tears away that we shed when we see Him in His Holiness and truly understand the depth of our sin and what has been done that we would be forgiven from it. The blessing in all things is that we see our need for Him and are directed to be thankful for that forgiveness he provides His people if the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.
 
Peter, thank you for your spiritual threads. I used to belong to a mother's bible study, but as we slowly all went back to work, or changed work days, the study group folded.
Except for mass on Sundays, reading here seems to be my main point of focus on our God.
I remember only asking once, why me. I don't drink, smoke, I attend church regularly, have high morals in regards to many things. Ok, so I'm a prude. Your sins are between you and the Lord, as are mine, but are we similar, or totally different? I have total faith the Lord is our rock, our strength and shelter, and is carrying us through this storm. The storm is different for all of us, but our earthly journey leads us to the same beautiful place. Where there is no pain, no tears, just stillness.
Whatever suffering I do here, I long for that stillness, in God's time, because I accept he has a plan for me, although I struggle to accept the nature of said plan. But with His guiding grace and the fellowship here, I am willing to give it a go.

In the words of dear Glenn, God Bless Us All..........Janelle x
 
When we are suffering, I think we as Christians "dig deep" spiritually. ALS makes us face ourselves, how we've lived, what we've done, because we know we will have to give account to our Maker very soon. We are laid bare before Him. Contrition or repentance over what we've done, and over what we've failed to do, brings great grace to our souls. Think of Jesus' words about the pharisee and the publican who went to the temple to pray. One beating his breast asking forgiveness, and the other proud and unrepentant. The deeper our repentance, the deeper our joy. Jesus forgives! This time of suffering has been for me a time of deep reflection, prayer, contrition and purification. I have been blessed spiritually in ways I have not experienced before. I've become dependent on Jesus like never before. With each loss, He becomes more to me, as I grow in truly loving Him with all my heart, my soul, my mind, my strength. This love for Jesus, borne out of repentance, out of deep thanksgiving for His salvation, radiates to others, drawing them to Him. How blessed is the Christian under trial!
- Charlene
 
When God changes a mans heart he makes the see their sins and loath themselves for them (Ezekiel 36). If we believe the truth this is what we understand about ourselves. We all, tea toeter or hard core criminal, are equally evil and sinful - there is no difference. The Apostle Paul before conversion calls himself "perfect according to the law" but the says it was all dung compared to the righteousness of Christ. Christ says that sin begins/comes from our heart. So why we may have not murdered directly - even a thought of hatred is equal. Our hearts are desperately wicked all the time.

Thankfully for those who Christ died for, they are not judged by their wickedness but rather by His righteousness. The sins of His people where judged in His body on the cross. He died for them and they where punished in Him once and for all, there is nothing left to do about them, past present or future -it has been finished. This salvation comes from Him and does not require anything from us, even our acceptance of Him into our hearts. He applies His salvation to us, we recognize it and confess it, but do not cause it by asking for it. If it where up to our wicked hearts to truly ask for it then it would never happen. He is the author and finisher of faith.

Knowing this comforts me even as I daily find myself in sin. I am even comforted that I am able to recognize even "the tip of the iceberg" of my sin. My circumstances having nothing to do with my recognition of my wickedness. That recognition comes by the power of the Spirit working in and through me to the glory of God. Paul begged the Lord three time to remove an infirmity from him and was told that Gods grace was sufficient for him. It is sufficient in all and every circumstance.

Once we our before our Savior in glory we will weep over our sins and what we did to Him by committing them. God will dry our eyes and we will praise Him for all eternity.
 
that's the road im on. this is hell where were at right now. i waiting for the better place :)
 
The message at church today was excellent! The pastor talked about being ready for the end because it could come at any time. He said to a Christian death is a coma not a period. It is not the end of life, it marks another time, a much better time. He gave the testimony of he and his wife who had both been widowed early in life. She had 3 children the youngest not a year, when her husband was killed in a skidoo accident. He and his first wife were not married a year, when they took a trip and during that time they both became increasingly sleepy, and she started to have chest pain and nausea, so they decided to stop and take a nap. When he woke up he was terribly sick and confused, and she wouldn't wake up, they had sustain carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty exhaust system. She never woke up. I can't imagine how heartbroken they both were at that time. But we have something amazing to look forward too, but first for the love and gratefulness of the sacrifice that Christ made for us we must run the good race.

Paulette
 
God has decided how each person will die and when. For all people, those who He has chosen to save and those who He has chosen for eternal destruction, death is not a period but a comma.

I have to admit to being tired of the platitude "we never know when any of our going to die". With ALS we know the end of this life is near and it will be a horrific and relatively short road. There will be a lot of pain emotionally and physically for us and our loved ones. Knowing that His grace is sufficient is what Gods people hang on to.

This is the answer to every issue in the life of the saint.

-Do you have a problem with anger? It is because you don't believe you deserve what is happening to you and so you lash out at it. The reality is that the only one who did not deserve what happened to Him was Christ.

-Have a problem with over eating? It is because you are seeking comfort in something other than the forgiveness of your sins.

-Have a problem with lust? It is simply because you are not content with what has been provide for you.

-Have a problem with suicidal thoughts? It is because you don't believe that you deserve what is happening to you, that life is unfair. When in truth we all deserve to be burning in hell and the only one who was treated "unfair" was Christ when He bore and was executed for our sins.

-Think this disease is unfair? It is because we think we deserve something good because we believe we are good. The reality is that I deserve condemnation because I am a sinner who has never done anything out of any motive other than selfishness. God will have mercy on me because of His Son. In this I can be thankful. God does all things to either direct those who He loves to Himself or to heap condemnation upon those who are not His. This is the simple truth of the Gospel. By His Spirit we see our sins, we hate them and through that work which He creates, are forgiven. The Gospel is the answer to all our problems, struggles and rejoicing.

There are many false gospels, that teach us to believe in our faith, or to accept God into our hearts to be saved, or that we have free will enough to choose salvation, or that heaven is our reward for being faithful. These are all lies that are not found in the true Gospel. These are all man centered, egotistical, Judeizing lies, perpetrated by our own selfish God hating hearts. They lead to modern christian psychology that teaches to pray harder for what we want or to believe in our faith, or to do good works or this or that. All of which come from us and fail to acknowledge what and who we are what has been don for us in Christ at what cost.

There is nothing wrong with praying, doing good works, or faith as long as we see that we have nothing good in our selves and that anything good comes from Him working in and through us. That even our best deeds if not washed through His blood are dung. The Pharisees where incredibly devout and good moral people. And yet Christ condemns them and their works as evil. Today most Christianity is just a version of the same religion that the Pharisees practiced with Christ name and the cross added to make it look good. This is just evil.
 
Two things leaped out at me today.

'God shall wipe our eyes and we shall praise Him for all Eternity'

And

'A Christian death is a coma, not a period'

Two excellent things to remember daily.

Paulette, what a story from your pastor. what truly wonderful, committed couple. Firstly to share that with everyone, secondly to face such life changing experiences and to remain strong in their faith. To have this reminder that God is good is very pertinent to me at the moment.

Dave you beautiful soul, we are with you all the way.

God bless, Janelle x
 
We know from reading Job that even though God is sovereign, it is satan that destroys. ALS is from and IS the enemy, but my God has unlimited Grace to finish this race!. My sins can not be in the presence of God, but he makes me white as fresh snow!

I also tell my wife and children if the devil is firing off his ALS arrow, I would gladly step in front--> better me than them.
 
Hello...................I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about God's plan. I've formed a hypnosis concerning him and me. He created me as an over achiever. All my life I've never done anything half way. I wouldn't have been a good a football player if I hadn't spent all those countless extra hours training. Just about every memory of hobbies, projects or goals.....it was always the same.....100% of me went into them. All except being a Christian.

Oh, I've believed in God all my life....but was satisfied that by attending church on Sunday, saying grace at mealtime, and reading the bible before bedtime....I was doing my duty. Rarely did I volunteer for church projects, attend mid week meetings or got involved with Sunday School duties. I never attempted to build our congregation by inviting people I knew to church.

What I'm trying to say is that I never committed myself to God, the way I committed myself to everything else. THat all changed with my illness. Just like Marine Corps Boot Camp turns soft kids into fighting men......THis ALS has created in me a Warrior for Christ. I thank God with all my heart for this opportunity to come to know my Savior and what I now believe to be his plan for me. I never miss a chance to glorify his name and give him all the credit for my upbeat and joyful attitude interacting with everyone.

It's now my solemn prayer that my Master finds me worthy of filling the first wave of his Heavenly army in the ultimate defeat over Satan and his throngs of devils on the field of Armageddon.

May God Bless Us All...............................................Glenn
 
"It's now my solemn prayer that my Master finds me worthy of filling the first wave of his Heavenly army"

Glenn with all respect, we are worthy of nothing . The only one who is worthy is Christ. We have nothing we can offer or that is acceptable in His sight. We cannot of ourselves do anything that is good, righteous or holy. If anything in our lives is acceptable to God it is ONLY because of His Spirit working in and through us to walk in the good deeds that He prepared before hand that we should walk in. The Glory belongs to Him and Him alone. This is the testimony of the apostles and the prophets.

We never commit ourselves to God. He commits us to Him. We confess His name, we try and turn away from sin and turn to righteousness, while constantly acknowledging that we have no ability in and of ourselves to do so. Believers ought not to do anything thinking that they are pleasing God by doing so. For it is Christ and Him alone that is pleasing to God.

We ought instead to do things with a thankful hear. Thankful -that He has chosen to save us through the work of His Son. It is thankfulness that drives the believer and not an attempt to earn merits or please Him. For we can never earn anything or of our works please Him. It is Christ alone who earned redemption and who pleased His Father.

As we are found in Christ we are by His work pleasing but never of our works or efforts. It is Christ who redeemed us, Christ who causes us to walk in righteousness and Christ who will one day bring us to glory. It relies in no way upon me.

Yes, through our circumstances we can be reminded of how great our need is. Why? Because of the wickedness of our flesh. We are born selfish God hating people and will remain so in our natural man all the days of our lives. We should always rejoice in God through good and bad (these are our judgments of our circumstances). Yet when things are "good" we often rejoice in ourselves and forget who all things are from. The Psalmist says that people who are not Gods elect are being fattened for the slaughter with all the "good" things in there lives.

Those who suffer much and are thirsty for forgiveness on the other hand are thankful and rejoice in salvation. Yet there are many who had great struggles who are not saved and who are in fact God haters, how about all of Egypt when Moses was used to bring the plagues. Our physical circumstances are not the cause of our salvation.

Our recognition of our need for forgiveness as shown to us by the Spirit of God is.

The apostles state, in conjunction with all the testimony of Scripture, that God through His own choosing and to His own good pleasure determines who will be saved and who will be condemned. Those who He saves will walk by His Spirit in thankfulness for what has been done for them. Not trying to merit, earn, or please Him by their works. Those who are eternally condemned will walk according to the selfish flesh that they where born with. Believing that they earn goodness by what they do and how it is done. They will even lay hold to it in the day of judgment. While those who are believers will not even recognize that they have done anything but rather point to His work alone.

Consider Mathew 25:31-46

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy[c] angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

44 “Then they also will answer Him,[d] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
 
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