"Twas the Night before Jesus Came" poem

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Our family was able to spend time together and it was wonderful. This is a poem I heard a few days ago and I'm just now finding the time to post it. Now yes, I do realize Christmas has passed, but the meaning of this poem was too good not to share.
I hope you enjoy reading, "Twas the Night before Jesus Came"

'Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house
Not a creature was praying, not one in the house.
Their Bibles were lain on the shelf with care
In hopes that Jesus would not come in there.
The children were dresseing to crawl into bed,
Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head,
And Mom in her rocker with baby on her lap
Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.
When out of the East there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash!
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray
I knew in a moment that this must be THE DAY!
The light of His face made me cover my heard
It was Jesus! Returning just like He had said.
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth,
I cried when I saw Him in spite of myself.
In the Book of Life which He held in His hand
Was written the name of every saved man.
He spoke not a word as He searched for my name;
When He said, "it's not here," my head hung in shame.
The people whose names had been written with love
He gathered to take to His Father above.
With those who were ready He rose without sound
While all of the rest were left standing around.
I fell to my knees, but it was too late;
I had waited too long and thus sealed my fate.
I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight.
Oh, if only I had been ready tonight.
In the words of this poem the meaning is clear;
The coming of Jesus is soon drawing near,
We'll find that the Bible was true after all.

I pray that each of you will be able to experience the true love of Jesus and accept Him as your personal Savior. Try to follow Him everyday that you live. He is always there for you and me.

Update on my life

       Well, I can’t believe that I have not posted anything since this summer. I'm so sorry. I have written some devotionals but I just have not posted any of them. I will definitely have more time after I finish all my nursing finals in two weeks to do more with my blog. I can’t wait to be done with this semester. I will be one step closer to graduation and being able to help many individuals and hopefully being able to do some missions work.
       During Thanksgiving break I got to follow my friend who is an OBGYN doctor for the entire day. I got to see many interesting surgeries, procedures, and my first c-section. It was very interesting and a lot of fun. This semester I had my white coat ceremony. I also got to give flu shots, injections, and other medications because I was able to pass my administration of meds exam and my medication calculation exam with 100%. Our class has also had many other interesting experiences. Something else new that happened was my initiation into the Phi Alpha Eta honors society.
        School, clinicals, and work has kept me very busy this past semester. I have not been able to do much sign language teaching and interpreting in the school systems this semester because my nursing school has consumed my life. I have still been teaching piano for my 7^th year. I’ve continued tutoring in various subjects such as math and science, along with occasionally babysitting. Next summer I will probably not be lifeguarding at the pool, but I will teach private swim lessons again.
        Before I started my school I had my 21^st birthday. I wanted a cake shaped like a Bible with a verse on it. My mom is very talented in cake decorating and made me one.  Also, my sister turned 20 years old and has been working at a vet clinic.

          A few days before my birthday I had to have a check up on the very rare angiomyolipoma tumor I had removed when I was 14 years old. Unfortunately another tumor has showed up on my kidney, but thankfully it is a slow growing tumor and non cancerous. The only major concern is making sure that I don’t bleed to death internally. If you want to read the full story of how the Lord was with me when I had the first tumor you can go to this link on my blog. http://callaway4.blogspot.com/2012/02/faith-in-jesus-my-tumor-story.html Even though I don’t know what the future holds I believe that the Lord Jesus will see me through this new tumor just as He did with the first tumor. I am thankful that He spared my life when the doctors were unsure as to whether I would survive and I believe He will do it again.
        During the fall, I got to go to the Father/Son Campout in Oakland IL. All the ladies are invited for the guest speakers and the Sunday church service. My family and I got to meet Ken Bevel, who played in the movie Courageous and Fireproof. He was very nice and prayed with us. We also got to meet many nice people and old friends while we were there.
       Our family also volunteered two different times at the Pioneer Indpendence Village in Oakland for the Trials and Tribulations event and the Christmas in the Village event. We dressed up and I portrayed the schoolteacher. We had a great time being able to pretend.

                                                                  (My family)
       Well, that gives you all somewhat of an update on what has been going on. I will be posting more hopefully soon. Thank you to everyone who reads my blogs. I’ve enjoyed being able to hear from many of you throughout the entire world. God bless you all.

               
               
               

My summer life...

So I thought I would give you all an update as to what has been going on with me this summer. My job with teaching the deaf and hard of hearing students ended in May. I had lots of fun going to the schools and teaching them. All the kids brought so much joy to my life. I love being able to work and play with children!

I have started my junior school year at Lakeview College of Nursing already this summer. It has kept me quite busy with 6 papers a week, many chapters of reading, along with tests, quizzes, 4 big library research terms papers, and many other assignments. In the end, all this hard work will pay off. I have started my fifth year of lifeguarding at the pool and have been teaching swim lessons again. I have continued to teach piano along with babysitting regularly.  I am now also a math/science tutor.

I am still taking piano, trying to improve my sign language interpreting skills, and our family has still been singing at different churches and nursing homes.

If I have free time, then I like to hang out with all my friends and also try to find some time for myself to just relax a little bit. Lol J

Even though my life is busy, God has been so good to help me get to this point in my life. I thank him for allowing me to have work and being able to go through nursing school, even though it is difficult and consumes a lot of my time. I praise Him for the overflowing joy he gives me every day!

Church

Here recently it seems as though several people think I go to church “too much.” I feel that if you can’t give God time down here on earth to praise and worship Him, then why would you want to go to Heaven because that is all you are going to be doing when you get there? If people do go to church then I hear some people say how it is too long, or too boring, or whatever excuse the devils gives to them.

I pray every day that my friend’s who don’t know God, don’t go to church, or don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ that God will convict their souls and do whatever it takes to get them to turn their lives around even if it means lots and lots of trials and tribulations for them.  

It breaks my heart when people say how they hate going to church or do not like going to church. Now, I am not saying that going to church is going to make you a Christian, because some people just go to church and don’t really have a relationship with the Lord. The most important thing is that you have a relationship with Jesus!  The Bible says in Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” Church is a place where we can uplift and fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a place to worship the Lord and grow spiritually. We should think of it as a privilege and freedom to go to church here in America. Some people in other countries have to go to church in secret for the sake of possibly dying for their faith. Some people unfortunately are shut in and cannot get out of their homes to go to church, but I feel that if you are able bodied then you should go to church and praise the Lord.

If you do not have a church family, then pray about it and start looking.  

Listen and enjoy...

This is a really awesome video I found on you tube a long time ago that I thought I would share with all of you. The message is so true. I hope that you will all be blessed.

Stop and listen...

Okay, for those of you who know me personally you already realize that I like to talk a lot. Here recently, I have been trying to not talk as much and let others around me talk instead. When you stop and listen you can learn from other people’s stories or whatever.
This concept of me talking a lot got me to thinking how I am sometimes talking to God and not letting Him speak to me. This is because I do not always give Him time to communicate to me because I am doing all the talking. I have a prayer and Bible reading journal. Usually when I pray I have all these different requests along with different praises that have happened throughout the day. However, when I am praying I started to notice how many times I would just be asking for things… and thanking God too. I was doing all the talking and I was not really stopping to listen to God’s voice. I am really trying to make more of a conscious effort in letting others in my life (especially the Lord) to have a chance and speak to me instead of me talking during most of the conversation.

I would encourage you this week to stop and listen to what God wants you to hear. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Matthew 11:15

I Found Mr. Right....

He knows the desires of my heart
He will never leave me
He is Perfect
He is a Prince
He opens the door for me
He walks on water
He died for me
He loves me
He gives me eternal life
He shines like the sun

-He is Jesus!
Isaiah 62:5 "As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you."

This is the sweatshirt I got for Christmas and it says everything that I have typed above on the top.  My mom saw it at the Christian store and then showed it to me. I thought it was really awesome especially because everyone thinks at this age I should have a boyfriend. I am perfectly fine being single if God wants me to be at this point in my life. I will not let that make me sad at all. If you are single this Valentines Day, don't worry about it (besides God has someone just right for you in His timing). So many people are searching trying to find that special someone to show them attention and love on Valentines Day this year, but how about we show love and attention towards God. Have a true relationship with the one who loves you more than anyone on earth ever could. God loves you!

Faith in Jesus: My tumor story

Here is a story I want to share with all of you about a rare tumor I had and the faith I needed to get through everything. I wrote this paper and also gave this speech at EIU last year in two different classes except I had to add some information to the end to make the story up to date.

Having Faith in Jesus

               People put their faith in so many things. Everyone has faith in something. Sometimes people have faith in sports, relationships with friends, various religions, amongst other things. I however believe that having faith in Jesus Christ is the most important.

                I have been raised in a Christian home. Throughout my life I have been taught to have faith in the Lord, knowing that He will always be there for me no matter what. There are several things that God has done and provided for me. The Lord has shown Himself to me in so many areas of my life. He has answered so many of my prayers. I have also been healed several times.

                 Throughout my life, my faith has been tested. I remember one instance so clearly where I was faced with a serious life situation. It was three weeks after my Grandpa had passed away. I was two weeks away from turning thirteen years old. I was rolling on the floor in so much pain. I went to the doctor’s office. There were three different things going on. I had a touch of the flu, and getting ready to start my first menstrual cycle. One of the other things was that I had was this strange knot in my belly button. It caused the doctors to do a cat scan. It was at that moment I was told that I had a very rare tumor called angiomyolipoma that was located on my left kidney. The knot on my belly button was not related to the tumor. The doctor’s did not know what it was and why it mysteriously came and went away. It was a miracle that it was even discovered. This particular type of tumor consisted of fat, muscle, and blood supply. The blood supply feeding this tumor was very serious because they told me I could “bleed out.” That basically meant that I could bleed to death internally. My tumor turned out to be non cancerous.

               We then started having check-up in Springfield, IL which is over 2 hours from where we live. Sarah Bush Hospital in Mattoon IL. did not want to take my case and neither did the hospital in Champaign, IL. I got to have the best specialty doctor around this area that was familiar with this type of tumor. At first they said I was going to have to be cut from naval to back and have part of the kidney removed. The doctors, however waited for a new surgical technology to come out to try and remove this tumor. It is called, cryotherapy. It had never been used to treat angiomyolipoma in a pediatric patient. They told us time was on our side and to wait for the tumor to grow a little more while they did more research on my case. Of course this all did not make sense to us why we should wait for it to grow. We had several check ups then one day we went for another 6 month appointment and were not expecting to hear that my tumor had kept growing and the time had come to remove it. When my Mom asked the doctors, “Will she survive?” they replied saying, “Mrs. Callaway, we can’t promise you anything. This is something we have not done on a pediatric patient with angiomyolipoma. We will just do our best.” It was so hard and scary to hear those words that I might not survive. I knew that every surgery had risks involved, but in my eyes this surgery was going to be much more complicated. I needed to have faith that the Lord would be with me and that I would survive.

          I was on every prayer chain imaginable. There were so many prayers to the Lord going up for me. It was during this time that my faith was made stronger. I had to put my life in His hands and just trust in Him. I know I would not be here today if it were not for the Lord.

              When the day of the surgery came, we were all a little worried. I knew however, that I would be okay.  I had a team of five surgeons and the Lord was also with me. There were two main surgeons and three either assisting or observing. The surgery was very long and I had a lot of pain, but I came through it. My surgery went great even though I did have a small amount of bleeding. The bleeding did stop and was very minimal. The new surgical procedure that they used even caused less of a scar. Now I only have three very small incisions, which is amazing and it can hardly be seen now. I had a long road to recovery, but through faith and all those prayers, I did survive.

               I am now written up in the National Medical Journals. I have been studied for years and will continue to be studied for years yet to come throughout my entire life. The doctors said there is a possibility that more of these tumors could form.

               I am now twenty years old. I had another routine check up a few months ago and the doctor told me that it looked like my cat scan showed another tumor had came back, but they were not for sure. All the doctors and radiologists were conferring with each other and then told me I needed to have an ultra sound. The technician scanned and then the pediatric radiologist wanted to also scan me. They tend to think that what they found was just cysts that formed, but they plan to keep a closer eye on it. So far, things seem good and I know that I am a living miracle.

            Having faith in life is sometimes hard. Through my life experiences, I believe that Jesus is real. He has shown Himself to me in so many aspects of my life. By believing in the Lord my faith has been increased. I must continue to have faith in Him.

Update: August 7, 2013
Next week will be 22 (on August 15th). Had a check up yesterday. A new tumor has appeared. Awaiting final results from radiologist.

Update August 22, 2014
I turned 23 years old. My doctor said the tumor has not grown in size. Will follow up in another year. The doctor's have said during this entire time that they would have to figure out a different kind of surgery since the first type of surgery I had would not work. This different surgery would be more invasive and risky since they would have to work on the kidney and the heart. They would have to figure out what blood vessels and arteries in the heart are feeding the tumor and get rid of those in the heart while making sure they don't cut the wrong ones that the rest of my body needs. God has this in His hands.

Update August 25, 2015.
My mom, dad, and I drove to Springfield to have my ultrasound/testing done this morning and then we saw my surgeon, who is a great specialist in the afternoon. My doctor came into my patient room and couldn't believe I was already 24 since I still looked to be 14 years old. Lol. He said my bladder, uterus, ovaries, and kidneys looked good. I did have a cyst on my right ovary, but nothing to be concerned about. He said there were no changes in size to the lesion tumor he was looking at so no surgery necessary at this time. He said if we are lucky it might even be scar tissue or mesh from the first surgery, but it could be a different kind of tumor; however he is unsure. He said the type of tumors are slow growing so we decided that I will be go back in 18 months. Thank you Jesus for a good report.

Cell phone v/s Bible

How many of us carry our Bibles with us wherever we go...let alone take it to church??? I have noticed that many have gotten out of the habit of bringing their Bible even to church because the Scriptures will be presented on a powerpoint. It is important to have our Bibles because I once visited a church and noticed that the Bible scriptures they had on the powerpoint screen was wrong. I noticed it did not seem right because I had memorized that book of the Bible, but just to make sure I was able to check it out right then because I had my Bible with me. Even though I do like the powerpoints it has caused some people to think that they do not need to bring their Bibles and then they are not able to underline scriptures when there is a good verse that stands out to them.There are so many attempts that Satan's tries to use to keep us from picking up our Bible and taking it with us to different places. So many of us carry around other items such as purses, wallets, briefcases, cellphones, etc. Yet how often do we carry around our Bible? And yes, I do realize that most phones do have apps for the Bible which is great!

I remember that last year I had to take this ridiculous Philosophy class. I did not like it at all. I would get so frustrated and upset due to all the wrong religious views that were presented in that class. One time the professor made a comment and asked who agreed with it. I absolutely did not and just shook my head. The professor and I had a time of bouncing off questions and answers between the two of us during the 50 min. class period. (this happened quite often because I never agreed with what was said) One time he said a story from Genesis, but he got it wrong. I unfortunately did NOT have my Bible, but since I had been in activities like Sonlight, Bible Bowl, and Bible Bee I was able to quote the correct Scriptures to prove my point. From that time on I decided to always carry my Bible with me, like I do with my cell phone. It is amazing how many times I have been able to use my Bible for reference in classes, talking to friends, or just being able to read it.

Here is a poem I came across a long time ago.

I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell-phone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if when we forgot it – we turned back to go get it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to Kids as gifts?
What if we never traveled without it?
What if we always referred our friends and acquaintances to it?
What if we used it in case of emergency?

This right here is something to make you go….."Hmm -- where is my Bible?"
Oh, and one more thing:
Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected; because: Jesus already paid the bill.
Makes you stop and think "where are my priorities?”
And no dropped calls!

Too Late...

     Today I was looking up different ones on facebook. I got thinking of my days of being homeschooled and when I was able to do an Abeka DVD program through Pensacola Christian Academy in highschool. I really enjoyed my teachers and had tried looking them up many times to become friends on facebook. I just wanted to say how thankful I was for them being awesome teachers, but at that time I never saw them on facebook because not all my teachers had a facebook page.

     Well, today I happened to type into facebook, Mrs. Sandy Schmuck, one of my favorite teachers who I had for my entire 11^th grade of English.  We always called her "Smiley Schmuck" because of her wonderful personality and smile she had each day. Anyways, while on facebook I came across this page that said “praying for Sandy Schmuck.” It caught my attention immediately and then I saw another page that said “remembering Sandy Schmuck.” I was so grieved to find out that she had died from cancer at age 52 and I never got to tell her how much she influenced me.  It was too late to go back in time to go to Pensacola, Florida to see her, talk with her, or write her a note and become friends on facebook. I told my mom and of course the rest of my family. We were crying and reminiscing about the memories we had of her being our DVD teacher.

     Then my mom said to me, “Well, this is just like a Biblical lesson. Some people may wait to accept the Lord as their Savior and then it will be too late once they die. There will be no turning back and being able to pray for the repentance of their sins and talk to God.” It is so important to not wait to do things like accepting the Lord as your savior. I pray we can all hear those words on the Day of Judgment, “Well done, good and faithful servants…enter through into the joys of the Lord.” Matthew 25:23 I would hate to be the one to hear God say on judgment day, “Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:41

     It may be too late for me to get into contact with my wonderful teacher, but at least we will meet again in Heaven one day. I hope though that for each of you that you will not be too late in accepting Jesus as your personal Savior and creator of the world. Just do your best to love and serve God in all that you do.

James 4:14 "...For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

Thanks Mrs. Schmuck. We will miss you!

The New Year of 2012

Last night I went to church and everyone talked, ate, and played games. We then had a really amazing service with some testimonials, song, with prayer as the New Year rolled in, followed by greeting time, and then concluding with being able to partake in communion. I had such a great time. It is always so awesome to feel the Lord’s presence, joy, peace, grace, and love around me and in me whether I am at church, home, school, or anywhere. I was so glad that New Years Day fell on a Sunday in order to start the New Year off by getting to go to church again.

Now it is officially the year 2012. It’s that time of year to where everyone is reflecting on the past and making New Year’s resolutions. I think the best change anyone could ever make in their life is to accept the Lord as their Savior and serve Him with their whole heart. I have not a clue what all this New Year hold, but I do know that I am going to try to focus even more on the Lord than what I have done. I want to glorify Him with all that is within me.

God has done so many wonderful things for me throughout my life and this past year. I am so thankful to be living and to have good health after having some head injuries which made me forget practically everything I ever knew, to the very rare tumor I had which was removed, and of course there are so many other things I could list. I know that the Lord has had his hand upon me and protected me every day of my life since I was born.  I think of all the blessings he has given to me and it makes me feel so unworthy but very thankful. He has helped me through so much even when I did not seem to have the strength to go on, He was always right there beside me. I am so thankful for all the opportunities He has given to me to encourage and witness to others.

Happy New Year! and God Bless You All.  "Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness." Psalm 65:11