“Grace”

My Scripture

And He said to me, ”My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

My Devotion

Every morning when my feet touch the floor I humbly thank God for another day that He’s given me to be up and about. Since my lightning accident, I vividly remember many days when I’ve been too sick to get out of bed. There’ve been times when I’ve wondered if I’d ever be able to get around without the constant assistance of a wheelchair, walker, or cane. 

I’ve always known God to be faithful, but after my accident 26 years ago I really sought after God. What I continue to find over and over is a loving Heavenly Father that desires for me to grow in Him so He provides the grace for me to overcome the obstacles that are in my way. 

One of my favorite authors, Roy Lessin says, “Grace enables you to do all God calls you to do today. Success is not based today upon what you can accomplish, but upon what He will do through you.”

I pray that you will let those words sink into your heart and no matter how inadequate you are feeling–God is in control of all things.

Why don’t you surrender and snuggle in the blanket of His grace. 

My Song

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

“White Chocolate-Cashew-Pretzel Bars”

This is a Pillsbury recipe I found on the net. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and friends.

INGREDIENTS:

1 roll(16.5 oz. Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies

1 bag(12 oz.) white chocolate chunks or white chocolate chips

1 cup coarsely chopped pretzel sticks or twists

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup chopped cashews

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 350 degree. Spray 13×9-inch pan with cooking spray. Break up cookie dough into pan. With floured fingers, press dough evenly in bottom of pan to form crust. Sprinkle 1 cup of the white chocolate chunks and the pretzels over dough; lightly press into dough.

Bake 16 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely on cooling rack, about 30 minutes.

In small microwavable bowl, place 1/4 cup of the white chocolate chunks; set aside. In large microwavable bowl, microwave remaining white chocolate chunks and the chocolate chips on High 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. If necessary, microwave 30 seconds longer. Stir in peanut butter and cashews. Spread mixture evenly over cooled baked crust. Refrigerate until chocolate is set, about 15 minutes.

Microwave reserved 1/4 cup white chocolate chunks on High 30 seconds; stir until melted and smooth. If necessary, microwave 10 seconds longer. Drizzle over bars. Let stand until set about 10 minutes. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.

“A Sweet Analogy For Life”

My Story

I recently found a great cookie bar recipe, “White Chocolate-Cashew-Pretzel Bars.” It is a perfect blend of salty and sweet for the taste buds. You’ll find the recipe listed below in a separate blog. I would like to share some devotional thoughts with you related to the recipe while I catch you up on all the Hathcock happenings.

Most of you know that I love to cook as much as I love to write. When I’m cooking I use that time to pray for whatever the Holy Spirit brings to my heart. Several days ago I was making the delightful dessert I’ve mentioned above as part of a meal for my neighbor who had just had a baby and I was praying for the family and other needs as usual.

When I started mixing the nuts and the peanut butter with the two wonderful sweet tasting chocolates I began to realize it was a lot like life.

Life is a mixture of the bitter and the sweet. We all love those sweet moments in life - the birth of a healthy baby, watching your child graduate with honors, selling your home, and getting the promotion you deserve.

Then we try to hold on during those bitter times in life – when we lose our job, when a close family member dies, sickness changes the course of our family life, an unexpected accident happens to a family member and it effects everyone, or maybe we’re facing some type of ridicule at work, school or home.

My only anchor of safety whether the times are bitter or sweet is on my knees in prayer and in the Word of God. I have found I am always in need of a soft place to land, especially since my mom passed away. The only place I have found is on my knees in prayer at the precious feet of Jesus.    

I have found that to be even more true over the last few days with the outcome of my doctor visits. I’m sorry to report that the procedure that was done on my neck last Thursday was not successful. However, I understand I provided a lot of comic relief for Tony and the nurses as I tried to do a stripe tease and some other antics while medicated and sleep deprived.  

My visit with the nutritionist in Atlanta was very successful. She picked up on some things that had not been looked at by other doctors. Dr. Saviano also quickly recognized that things were very complicated and began to break things down into categories so that I could understand what I needed to do on my own to start the healing process.

We are starting a new way of eating at the Hathcock’s and right now it feels like a bitter way of life.  It’s a real sacrifice giving up things I’ve been use to eating my entire life. But if I stay with the program Dr. Saviano says that within three weeks I should start to feel some better and eventually I’ll be able to get off a lot of the medications I am on now. That will be the sweetest feeling I can imagine.

So as you take this delicious dessert recipe may the Lord bless you with insight to His goodness for you and your family while you are making it for everyone’s enjoyment. From the first bite to the last may you taste the sweetness and saltness then say a silent prayer for God’s wonderful presence in every circumstance.

My Scripture

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season. Ps. 1:3

My Prayer

Dear Lord, keep reminding me to be thankful in the sweet and salty times of life because You will bring all things together at just the right moment. Help me to always to remember there are others who are suffering and struggling and need Your healing touch. I know You are gracious and kind, faithful and true and You will never leave Your children begging for bread just as Your Holy Word says. Help me to be that tree that is planted by the water of  Life, so that I can have strong roots and produce good fruit in my service for You, my precious Savior.

“Dependent on Him”

My Scripture

You will keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on you, for it is trusting in you. Isaiah 26:3

My Story

As I try to describe for you all that has been going on physically, emotionally and spiritually for me over the last few weeks, I find myself at a loss for words without it sounding like I’m whining. Then it hits me–why not start out by sharing with you the lifeline that has been carrying me through another difficult period?   

I love the words of Isaiah 26:3, especially where it says, “…the mind that is dependent on you.”  The last few months have required just that out of me and Tony. I have been in such severe pain at times with my stomach that I’ve been in tears as I walked the floor in the middle of the night not knowing what else to do to stop the pain. Tony and I’ve called upon the Lord for guidance in this situation and asked for the touch of His healing hand.  Then with all the faith we could muster we placed our trust in the Lord.

The hardest part about the last month are the things I’ve missed out on. I’ve been unable to attend church for months, but missing Easter Sunday was really disappointing, I was unable to attend one of the best writer’s conferences on the east coast this past week at Ridgecrest Conference Center, and I had to delay celebrating Mother’s Day with my mother-in-law because I was very sick on Mother’s Day weekend. But the worse has been the pain I’ve seen in Tony’s eyes as he has felt so helpless as he has watched me suffered the severe pain in my stomach and now in my neck. 

I’d trade all I possess in a heartbeat to be “normal” and make life easier on my family and friends. (I’m sure if Tony didn’t have to buy groceries again in my place it wouldn’t hurt his feelings.) However, I know in my heart that my life is in God’s hands and my healing will come in His time and purpose. It’s easy to take your eyes off the goal when you’re in so much pain, yet despite my health circumstances I realize I’ve been extremely blessed in my life. I have a wonderful Christian husband who loves me very much and is always fighting for my best life. I’m surrounded by loving friends who are constantly praying for me and help me whenever I need assistance of any kind.

God always provides what I need just when I need it. My job is to keep TRUSTING Him and be DEPENDENT on Him. How about you?

My Prayer

Father, forgive me when my faith waivers and I question your wisdom. I do trust you and I’ll follow you wherever you lead me. Ordain my steps so that they glorify you in everything I do. I adore you. I pray I honor you with my life.

Prayer Requests: I will see specialists about infection in my stomach on 5/20 and 6/7; I’ll also see specialist about neck on 5/20 – pray for wisdom and guidance for doctors.

“Jesus Take The Wheel”

My Story

It’s been a long time since I’ve given you an update on the happenings at The Hathcock household. Life has not been pretty the last few weeks. I’ve been sick with several different issues, as I call them. Thank goodness God gave me a wonderful husband whose been a great nurse, cheerleader and companion.

I’m glad Tony still honors his vows for better or worse because he got quite a dose of me at my worse over the past month. Let’s just say I didn’t always have my top model look on. I had every bad hair day known to man kind, lived in P.J.’s for a few days, and on a couple of days my teeth were questionable thanks to a sinus infection that hung on for over three weeks. I required three antibiotics and six weeks of Prednisone before I started to feel human again.

I’m also having severe stomach pain and digestive problems. Based on what we’ve been told in the past, Tony and I feel like it is due to a systemic yeast overgrowth throughout my body.

I’m sure all these circumstances may sound depressing, but I’ve tried hard to allow God to teach me what He would desire for me to learn during this time of being set aside. I had my days when I wanted to forget it all, but I’d remember the promise Jesus made that He would never forsake me. That was all I needed to keep pressing on and wait for God’s timely lessons.

My first lesson finally came this past weekend through a country song. I love God’s sense of humor. I was watching a country music show when Vince Gill, whom I adore, started singing Carrie Underwood’s first hit, “Jesus Take The Wheel.” As I was listening to the words, I realized how much they paralleled my life and the only way I was truly going to know victory and peace was if I surrendered and let Jesus take the wheel of my pain along with its baggage. The tears started flowing as I worshipped with Carrie and the other ten thousand plus audience members who had their hands and hearts raised worshipping the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit. Isn’t God good to give us those precious, unexpected moments with Him?

I was still on cloud nine the next morning as I thought about God’s lesson on surrender. Little did I know that God had the best yet to come. 

Has God ever answered a prayer for you where there was absolutely no question that it was God who had just provided for you? Well on Monday, Tony and I got to see God’s mighty hand at work and He was gracious enough to give us a miracle.

I was scheduled to have a colonoscopy and an upper G.I. scope on Tuesday but I was having so much stomach pain I knew I’d never be able to go 24 hours without food unless God performed a miracle. It’s really hard for me to let people know that I’m vulnerable or in need. I knew I wrong so I started asking some trusted prayer warriors to lift me up in prayer.

As my day of all liquids started coming to a close, Tony and I looked at each other and said, “You realize we are experiencing a miracle.” A faithful God had carried me through a day that just a few days earlier would never have been possible. However, He wasn’t through working.

I woke up at 4:00 a.m., on Tuesday, in severe pain and for a second I panicked because I knew it’s going to be a long time until my test. Then from deep within my soul I began to sing a song with very simple words, “Victory Shall Be Mine.” I thanked the Lord because I knew that whatever came my way He had already provided for me. It wasn’t long before the pain had subsided and I was able to go back to sleep.

The tests went exactly as God knew they would, just not like I’d hoped they’d go. The upper G.I. scope showed possible yeast infection and other things so we’re waiting on a lot of biopsy results for a possible referral to an infectious disease doctor.

The colonoscopy was unsuccessful–again, for the second time. Don’t ask! All I can say is God knows and He has a plan.

I’ve marked April 25th and 26th with remembrance just like they did in the Old Testament. I don’t want to ever forget the miracle God performed for this needy soul with stomach issues because I’ll be forever thankful that I decided to let Jesus take the wheel.

My Scripture 

You will keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on You,

for it is trusting in You. Isaiah 26:3

My Prayer

Lord, thank you for hearing my pleas and for being a miracle-working God. Thank you for being the resurrected Christ after you bore the stripes for my healing and dying for my sins. You gave everything for me. I want to give everything I have back to You as my offering of praise. 

“Failure Is Not An Option”

My Story

My goal when I started writing my blog was to always share true moments from my life so that you could see God’s gentle hand of grace leading me on my journey of faith. However, I failed to take into account that there would be times when my life would get really messy because of my health.  In the past, I’ve always put a positive spin on things when I’ve faced  health challenges, therefore very few people were aware of how sick I might have been sometimes. Now I find myself struggling to roll back the facade of makeup and smiles and give you a glimpse of the physical and emotional pain that I’ve been experiencing for several weeks.  

I always pray for guidance what God would have me say here in this space, but it wasn’t until last night when I finally realized with a great peace He had one thing for me to share–”you can do all things through me.”  Even though I feel I have no control over any aspect of my life right now I believe there is a lesson to be learned in that for me.

Some of you are aware that I use to be plagued with seizures and at one point I was even hospitalized for a month because of their effects. Once their cause was determined to be daily migraines and I got proper treatment for the migraines I stopped having the seizures.  It had been around three years or so since I had experienced any trouble. I thought I was home free. Then the old mimesis slowly began to rear its ugly head  when I broke my wrist at Christmas.  Over the weeks that followed, I tried to keep things going as best I could but it seemed the harder I tried the further behind I got.  The seizures continued to grow stronger and I felt all the more helpless and overwhelmed.   

Realizing things were going down hill fast I decided with Tony’s help I needed to roll up the sidewalks, close up shop, shut things down for a while until I could get my body and brain in a calmer and healthier state. Which meant pulling back from my friends, church and any activities that required computer work or a lot of work. In other words I would be living a solitary life for a while. This decision was based on years of trial and error and never ever comes easily.

Today the seizures are better and I’m very thankful to say that I’ve had very little activity in the last few days. My task these days is to keep a balance between my pain level and my medications.  To avoid boredom and the crazies, I constantly imagine myself as a walking chemistry experiment that needs to be tinkered with to avoid blowing up the lab.  

Here are a couple of ways you can help me pray:

* I’ll start a new pain treatment on April 1st that is new to the U.S.  It is given by transfusion and the hope is it will help me manage my pain better and eventually replace some of my other pain medications.

* I’m having some serious G.I. problems. I’m scheduled for an endoscope and colonoscopy on April 12th. I’m already in ALOT of pain and the two-day prep process is going to be even more painful without a divine touch from God.  Also, pray that God will lead me to the right nutritional program for my needs, so that I can start cutting back on so many steroids. 

I know God has a plan for me and that is why I can never give up. No matter how overwhelmed I feel sometimes and how much I would love to crawl up in the fetal position and hide-I refuse to do it. God has given me dreams and hopes yet to be fulfilled and I plan to keep fighting a good fight until the day God calls me home. Failure is not an option.

My Scripture

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

My Prayer

Lord, I need you this day for strength and healing. I long to be normal but You know I might not depend on you as much as I should. You always know exactly what I need, when I need it and how much I need.

I trust you, Sweet Jesus, I trust you. Oh precious Savior, I trust you.

 

“My Hero”

My Story

After being put through the paces of a complete neurological examination, the head neurosurgeon at Duke Hospital, Durham, NC began to describe what I could expect to happen to my body in the healing process over the next few months from the lightning injury I’d suffered months earlier. He even went so far as to tell me how much total recovery I could expect at the end of five years.  Then in his calm easy-going manner, he said something that I’ve never forgotten.

“You do realize that your husband will leave you before this healing process is through?”

The room grew silent as he and the interns with him waited for my response.  My mind suddenly became a DVR that was rewinding and stopping on all the conversations Tony and I had had about our marriage and our commitment to each other in sickness and in health since my accident. 

I sat up straight and looked at this well respected physician in the eye and told him what I knew to be true in my heart.

“Tony has assured me that he loves me and I have complete faith that we’ll be fine,” I said. “But, I plan to go home and discuss everything with him.

With that, the neurosurgeon wished me all the best, asked me to keep him posted on my progress and like a tornado–he and his crew were gone.  

I was quiet on the long ride home reliving the doctor’s words. The closer I got to home the more nervous I became even though I felt fairly confident about Tony’s response to our future’s predictions. There was just a twinge of uncertainty of what he might say once he heard a professional’s point of view.

Later that afternoon I decided I’d sit outside and enjoy the spring day as I waited for Tony to get home from work.  All around me was evidence of  how blessed I was to have a faithful, dependable husband.  I thanked God once again that He had brought us together. Despite the odds being against us because we were so young,  He’d carried us through a lot during our dating years and young married life.

Tony stood by me at the age of 16, when my dad died suddenly and my mom and I moved  in with my grandma. He not only started looking after me but my mom too.

We decided to get married when I was 17 and he was 20. We learned how to live, love and make music together–literally and figuratively as mere teenagers. We always managed to rise above our challenges being  more in love than ever. Then I was electrocuted from a lightning strike to our home and I found myself being tested to the very core of my being. I always thought I was the strong one,  then as we’ve gone through  this trial of faith I’ve seen a strength in Tony that has amazed me. It never fails that when I’m at my weakest God gives him the strength to pray for me and give  wise counsel in areas where I need it.  

Now as I look back over the past 25 years since the doctor’s dire predictions, I understand his point of view with better clarity. We live in a world that failure is expected first when it comes to the commitment between a husband and wife and if you add any kind of major stress to it then a marriage is doomed for sure.  

I realize every day I live how blessed I am to be married to my wonderful husband. His endless support and understanding are a constant reminder of God’s unconditional love for me.  

Tony celebrated a birthday this week and I’m so proud of the man he has become and is becoming. I remember when he turned 18 because it was the first time we celebrated a birthday together. He was unsure of himself back  then and hadn’t yet accepted Christ as his Savior. Now he’s developed so much confidence I have to watch him to make sure he stays out of trouble. The most glorious thing is he loves the Lord and desires to live a life that is Christ like and live completely in His will.

If all this seems a bit self-indulgent you’ll have to forgive me, but today I’m counting my blessings for the man who after 33 years of marriage enjoys laughing with me and holding my hand. He prays for me in the middle of the night when I’m sick and in pain and shares my dreams and cheers me on as if they were his own. I am loved by someone who puts me above himself and is willing to sacrifice life and limb for my needs.

Is he perfect? Not quite, but very close. Does he try? You bet and I’m so glad he’s mine.

My Scripture

“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” 1 Peter 5:22

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…” 1 Peter 5: 25 

My Prayer

Thank you for seeing the future and knowing exactly what I would need years down the road.

Your ways are higher than mine, help me to learn to trust in that knowledge.

You gave me a treasure in Tony, help me to always treasure him.

 You made me with the unique qualities that Tony loves and sometimes drives him crazy, help me to be the kind of wife that edifies You in every area of our home so that it is a safe haven for him to come home to.

 

Final thought…The butterfly photo is sample of Tony’s photography.  Be sure to check his website under “Blogroll”.