Sharing the challenge to my faith with my wife’s diagnosis of Ovarian cancer and then what faith is like in day to day life.

National Family Retreat 2018: Living Faith

<p>Sharing the challenge to my faith with my wife’s diagnosis of Ovarian cancer and then what faith is like in day to day life.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Restoration International

Tom Waters

Living Faith

You know I Those of you that have come to these retreats over the years 1 of the things that Always moves my heart is to see these young people up here.

They asked us this morning if we wanted them to the the the deacons the ushers that they're very efficient and they wanted to see if we wanted to take the chairs off so that we wouldn't have to come out until after the choir sang.

I just love that feeling and so it's just great when they all come up here and the stage gets full and they're just all right there and I feel like I'm a part of it and listening to the music and just being inspired by the song.

But 1 of the other things that always touches my heart is after 28 years of ministry, doing this kind of ministry, and 24 years of that we've been doing these family retreats watching these young people grow up.

And it touches my heart and I know it touches my wife's heart because we always talk about this.

You know, you've got Michael and Neil up here doing the offertory.

Elaine and I had a nice opportunity just to catch up with them a little bit yesterday.

Why are they here at 27 and 25 years old?

They've got great careers, and they're responsible young men.

Well, they're here because, not just because they've grown up much of their lives at family retreat, but they're here because they love the Lord.

And they love what the Lord is is seeking to continue to do in their lives.

And that's 1 of the things that just touches my heart.

Doesn't matter what these young people sing or what they play.

It just touches my heart to see these young people that are up here getting older and older, and they're still seeking the Lord.

Especially for some of us who see, as we travel around various places in the world and around this country, as we see the...

Well, you know what's happening in the world, and it's very disheartening to see the young people, seeing them drop off, some of them in our own beloved church.

And so it's just an extra blessing, And that always stirs my heart and inspires me to get up here with some more inspiration other than what I feel God has put in my heart.

But this morning, we're talking about living faith.

It's the righteousness of God that is revealed from faith to faith.

That is from 1 faith decision to another faith decision.

It is God's righteousness that is being revealed in those choices because the just shall live by faith.

Well, we know that Hebrews 11.1 says, and it's 1 that we know and sometimes it's 1 that we just say, but it says faith is the substance, the substance of things hoped for, so it's the reality.

As Duane was praying this morning before this meeting, since he was praying and what he was asking for was in accordance with the will of God, can he believe that it will become a reality?

It doesn't necessarily mean that it's gonna become the reality that we see in our minds as we pray.

But if we are praying for the will of God, we can know that it will be a reality because God never fails.

We're already seeing the evidence that's tangible of the things that really aren't seen.

But with the eye of faith, we see them because when God says it and when I believe it, it is going to happen according to the will of God.

So, do we have living faith this morning?

We've got 3 people with living faith this morning.

Now I understand that that doesn't mean that just you had to think about that.

And sometimes our faith, and we're going to talk about this fairly practically, I hope, this morning, but living faith is a faith that is alive right now.

Not a faith that I got when I became a Seventh-day Adventist.

Not a faith that I got when I, yeah, you might have gotten it then too, when you were baptized, but it is a faith that is living today.

It's a faith in God that reveals the power of God.

That's what it says, that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, the just shall live by faith.

So I hope that for any of us that are struggling this morning, and we all have struggles, don't we?

We have difficulties, we face things, but I hope that if your faith is struggling this morning and if it doesn't feel too alive, that as we go through this message and through the day, that your faith will take hold by a choice upon the power of a living Christ.

I found myself, 38 years old, my wife and I were both 38 years old.

I found myself sitting in a surgical waiting room.

UCLA Medical Center, actually it was a very difficult day.

My wife had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Both of us understood that that is not a good diagnosis.

And I was sitting there in that surgical waiting room.

We were living a pretty healthy life at that time.

We were living in the mountains of Montana.

It was 1 month before our 15th anniversary.

It's just a week before our 38th anniversary.

So you know the real end of the story but you don't know some of the details.

And I'm sitting there in that waiting room.

She has a tumor that is about the size of a tennis ball and it has been diagnosed as ovarian cancer.

I called 1 of my dear friends back from my old life at Hinsdale Hospital where I worked in radiology and I called 1 of my dear friends who was a fellow elder in the church who was 1 of the top surgeons at the hospital and I said to Walt, told him what was happening and we had a good enough relationship that he just, we could talk about the reality.

And I understood that there sitting in that waiting room that day for hours.

I had a 13 year old, an 11 year old, and an 8 year old that day, our children.

And I tell you the devil kept putting thoughts in my mind about what's going to happen to you when what's going to happen to your wife happens to her.

You're going to be alone with 3 children.

At least it was for me that day sitting in that waiting room.

I didn't really feel like reading magazines in the waiting room, my heart was being constantly pulled to prayer to God.

And that day, those overwhelming thoughts, The thought that came to my mind in the midst of all of this, those hours of waiting, is how is your faith?

In that moment, As I was being overwhelmed with the possibilities of losing my wife, I heard, and didn't hear an audible voice, but that still small voice speaking to my heart in those moments and those hours of prayer and the agony of the thought processes I was going through, I heard this thought, I will never leave you or forsake you.

It wasn't the kind of thoughts that were trying to hammer me with all the negative information and all the the possibilities of what life would be like You know Jesus said take no thought for the future Take no thought for tomorrow because today what you're dealing with today is sufficient for for the day We don't have grace for tomorrow, and I heard those those words come to my heart I will never leave you or forsake you.

And I took hold of those words and that promise and I took hold of Christ by faith in that moment of time with a seriousness, with pouring myself out because at that moment, I had nothing on this side to look forward to, only to hold on to Christ.

And that was a moment that I had to decide if my faith was going to hold on to Christ.

He did not tell me, your wife's not going to die.

All he said is, I will never leave you or forsake you.

It has to be enough, because if Christ is not enough, Nothing will ever be enough.

We cannot just hold on when things are turning out my way.

And so there in that surgical waiting room, I believed.

And my faith, my choice to live by faith in that moment of agony, connected me with Christ and His strength.

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Living Faith

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