Prayers for my Grandaddy!

On Tuesday, he came to the heart hospital at Norfolk General to have a heart catheterization to check the blockage he had last year. Before they went back, the doctor noticed that his anemia has gotten much worse and decided against putting a stent in until they could figure out a reason for his drop in numbers. The doctor still went in to check on the blockage and found that the original blockage hasn't gotten any worse (Praise the Lord!), but he has a new 90% blockage.

The blood doctor wasn't worried about possible internal bleeding making his anemia worse. Since Grandaddy has been anemic his whole life, there wasn't much concern about the situation, although he did want to get a bone marrow biopsy to be sure he wasn't missing anything. He did let the other doctor know that it would be okay to go ahead and do a stent.

Yesterday, he went down to get an endoscopy to check and make sure he didn't have any bleeding in the stomach and whatnot, then he went straight to the cath lab to get his stent put in.

Everything seemed to be going well and he was scheduled to go home this morning, but a new doctor came in earlier and said that his platelets are too low to let him leave. He said spending one more day for observation should be enough to put their minds at ease with letting him go home.

I think my poor Grandaddy is just getting so discouraged. My Grama took a bad fall on Sunday morning and had to go back to the ER yesterday, so she hasn't been able to be up here for him and he hasn't been able to be home for her. If you could pray for both of them, we would all be so grateful.

Lord willing, he will be discharged tomorrow. Just pray that he's able to get a step ahead. And pray for my Grama, too. She's in a lot of pain and just wants her hubby back.

Thank you! :)

To Love > To Judge

I want to take a second not to argue, judge, or condemn, but to say one thing that seems to be getting trampled on.

"...He that is without sin amoung you, let him first cast a stone at her." 

And that's where we'll begin. 

Personally, I feel that when people, Christian or not, speak on their beliefs on different subjects, everyone points fingers, throws punches, and accuses that person of judging. Sometimes, that person has opened their mouth with the sole purpose to judge someone else, but not always. I think more people need to sit down and think about the motives of the other before judging that they're judging. Are you still with me? 

Homosexuality is a hot topic right now so obviously it's going to be talked about. I'm not going to go into how I feel about it, you can read about that {{here}}, but I think that too many people are going about this the wrong way on both ends of the line. I've read articles where people call themselves Christians and then condemn gay people saying that God doesn't love them; that they've committed too bad of a sin. Then there are people who call themselves Christians and are actively gay - supporting everyone and everything that goes along with that lifestyle. 

I want to tell you that, as a Christian, you shouldn't hate anyone. We've been called to show Christ's love to everyone. Not only the church-going, Bible-believing, do-nothing-wrong Christians. 

***NEWS FLASH***

We're all sinners. Every one of us. Just because we sin differently than others, it doesn't make us any better than them. I'm not a homosexual, but I can tell you that I've lied. I've cheated, I've disobeyed my parents, I've sinned galore. Thank the Lord that I can ask and be forgiven of my sins! In God's eyes, a sin is a sin. There isn't a sin you can commit that is 'too bad to be forgiven'. Our God is a merciful and loving God. 

There is a laundry list of sins that each and every one of us can roll out. People need to stop treating others as if they themselves are perfect. 

I'm not a homosexual so maybe that does make it easier for me to give all the reasons the Bible says it's wrong, but I'm walking on the same ground everyone else is. I have so much I need to work on as a person and as a Christian. 

I don't feel like sharing the Gospel on different situations {actually, every} is wrong, but we as Christians need to be careful not to put ourselves higher than those we're trying to help. We're all on the same line, not higher and not lower, we all  make mistakes, and we can all be forgiven. 

I am 100% against homosexuality just as I'm against divorce, pre-marital sex, alcoholism, lying, cheating, and the list goes on, but I am in no way against the person who commits those things. It comes back to the saying "Hate the sin, not the sinner". 

Like I said, we've been called to love. To show Christ's love to a broken and hurting world. Telling someone God doesn't love them because of something they've done is absolutely wrong. If that were the case, He wouldn't love any of us. But thank You, thank You, thank You, Lord that that isn't the case! 

Jesus Christ is standing at the door of heart knocking, just waiting for that invitation to come inside and live there forever. He died for you and me, and no matter how far you've gone off the straight and narrow path He's paved for us, He's waiting with opened arms for you to come running to Him. 

Accept that free gift of salvation. It's the best gift you'll ever receive.

Romans 10:9-16