Do you ever have one of those days when everything seems to go wrong? In fact
did you ever have one of those weeks? Or maybe one of those months or even
years when everything goes wrong?
I have had a debilitating disease for 13 years.---steadily losing control of my body. From the outside, it looks hopeless.
When my wife and I were married and took the vows promising we would be true in sickness or in health, we did not imagine what that actually meant.
When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1994, my life was turned upside down. I didn't want to face what multiple sclerosis did and it began debilitating me immediately, taking me quickly to a cane. However, God had other plans and He resurrected me through diet and lots of prayers of many people so I could put away my cane and live more normally for the next four years.
But, God allowed the disease to come back and now it’s at the point where I am a dependent.
Where is God?
Has God abandoned me? Is God unable to heal me? Of course not. In fact, He gives something greater to me than healing---He gives Himself! He gave Himself for us all through His Son’s death on the cross AND He gives Himself through the constant presence and indwelling Holy Spirit who is our “Comforter.”
He promises us in His Word in Romans 8 that He will never “leave us or forsake us.” Nothing can separate us from His love!
“For I am persuaded neither death or life, nor angels or rulers, nor things present or things to come, nor powers, nor height or depth, nor any other created thing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s a promise that we can stand on and trust forever.
When Everything Seems to Go Wrong
This July, I was making great progress with the use of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. I was increasing my weightlifting, my swimming strokes, my walking, my memory was getting better---- everything was improving. The first time in many years!
But then things began to go more wrong than ever. As I headed to the chiropractor, a man who wasn't watching in a Mac truck ran into the back of my mini-van. The truck is owned by a gigantic construction company and they are now denying liability, claiming I somehow hit the truck!
Our John Deere tractor and rototiller broke down. Our furnace and a/c died and I fell down from the heat. It cost us $12,000 to replace! Our bathroom water pipe burst upstairs and flooded the ceiling, and it turns out that our whole plumbing in our house is faulty and needs to be replaced to the tune of thousands of dollars!
My one hobby of collecting tropical fish was brought almost to an end that same month when we woke up to find 25 fish dead due to an imbalance in the water. Expenses became due for one of my children’s college education. My air conditioning went out on my minivan, which is necessary for me in the heat, and cost $1300 to replace. Then my brakes went out which cost $600. I hit a pot hole, which cost more money.
Where was God now? He was right there giving me the “peace that passes all understanding” Philippians 4:7 and His sustaining grace. And he used these crisis to give me the opportunity to share the gospel in full with the plumber, the 2 pet shop workers who tested my tank water, our neighbor who looked at our tractor, the furnace installer and more!
From Bad to Worse!
Then, on my way to help my son at Wal-Mart pick up something he had ordered and was looking forward to, I slipped in the rain off my car door and slammed my head onto the pavement causing a concussion and extreme dizziness for the next week and a half.
A week later, I fell at church while standing singing a worship song, into a sharp chair rail, and it pierced and spread my ribs. I covered my mouth to muffle my screaming as the church folks near me watched and cried. It caused such excruciating pain for the next couple of weeks that every time I moved my upper body to pull myself to stand, sit, lay down, etc. I could hardly bear it---my mind was on the edge of insanity.
Within a week from that time, I was in the bathroom and fell against the scooter, hit the controls, went flying into the wall, only to get catapulted into a wood box. I blackened my eye and scraped my forehead, and messed up my neck again. But the trouble did not stop there… my passport renewal didn’t come through so I had to cancel my flight to Canada where I was speaking in September. I ended up having to drive all the way there (about 11 hours)!
After coming back from a grueling (being up till 2 AM every night for four nights in a row), although successful trip, I came back to the office only to stand up in my chair, which rolled back, causing me to fall backwards and hit my head again. I got blood all over the carpet but I cried out and God kept the dizziness mostly away. I had to go to the chiropractor about eight times during that couple of weeks period and once to the emergency room.
Keeping Your Eyes Fixed On Jesus Christ
Through all that time, God hadn't abandoned me---He sustained so I could working full time, teach government class to 10 home school high schoolers, teach Bible class to 5 of my children, campaign for godly candidates, go to church, travel and speak, and survive each day. In fact, even though I've lost many of the great gains with the hyperbolic oxygen chamber, I’m now finally starting to regain.
God is teaching me to look at a cup half full, not half empty. That is the secret to keeping your eyes on Jesus Christ, I believe. We need to look for His cup of blessing in the midst of the pain.
What is Jesus Christ doing through this? We need to think and ask what opportunity is He making available to us so that we can glorify Him. We have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and as we do that we begin to see Jesus in all circumstances. We will be able to say “all things work together for good and to those who love God and work according to His purpose” and really believe it and God did that. He promises that He will give us the peace that passes all understanding, He tells us that as we "keep our eyes fixed on Jesus we run that race with endurance." He says that we are to "take joy in our tribulations and trials" and relish the fact that we've been included in the “fellowship of the suffering”.
The disciples rejoiced when they were beaten in the towns and stoned for the sake of Christ. Can we do any less?
When we go through times of suffering Satan attacks his hardest. He wants us to give up, he wants us to wait, he wants us to curse God, he wants to neutralize us so we focus on our problems.
But we must once again put on the full armor God and securely fasten the “helmet of salvation” knowing that we are going to heaven and no one can stop us or “snatch us from His Hand.” We need to mentally and spiritually put on the “breastplate of righteousness” against the whole world, and certainly against the bad circumstances that come our way. We must “gird our loins with truth” and not listen to Satan’s lies to give up and think that we are nothing but a waste of flesh.
We have to “keep our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel” and “be ready in and out of season to give a defense and tell of the hope that is within us.” God makes it so clear: “How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things and proclaims salvation. Who says our God reigns.”
We must hold up “the shield of faith” standing on God’s truth and thereby deflect Satan’s fiery darts which He is sure to send our way. Finally, we must wield our sword, the WORD OF GOD, and cut through the trouble, horror, despair or enemy before us.
Ephesians 6:13-18.
Yes, we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, but how do we do this. Let’s look at a few examples I cited above.
How To Keep Your Eyes Fixed on Jesus Christ
When our plumbing went out and the plumber came out late at night, I had another opportunity to share the gospel with this stranger and spent a half hour doing so. He received the Bible and materials I gave him. I did not fix my eyes on the problem and cost, but on what Jesus was doing in arranging a meeting!
When I fell and hit my head and got a concussion, I felt like throwing up and despairing, but instead I prayed began looking for Jesus. So I began speaking the Word of God verse after verse on my way to the CAT scan room and back to the despondent nurse. She ended up accepting Christ! God showed me the Divine missionary trip He set up!
As I fell in my own bathroom and blackened my eye, I learned while I was lying on my back in great pain to say, “blessed be the name of the Lord, You give and take away, blessed be Your name.” I found I could say this even though I was suffering and in pain. I had finally crossed the threshold of learning to praise God when physically there was nothing to praise Him about----like Paul and Silas when they praised God "in the midnight hour" chained in prison after a horrible beating. I praised Him with my heart even though my feelings were dashed.
As expense after expense came upon us, as our material things broke down from our car, furnace, to our piping, it gave Him an opportunity to provide and help us trust Him even more. And one by one, He has helped us to pay for many of the things in ways that I didn't know could happen. God was having me earn money in ways I didn't expect.
He held me up through the love of my incredible wife Tracy, faithful son Jesse, dependable son John and always loving and supporting daughters Bethany, Megan, Susanna, Charity and Amy.
Yes, God is with us--- Emmanuel. He will never leave us nor forsake us. When "we humble ourselves, He will lift us up. "And as I came to my wit’s end in trying to determine how we were going to finance all these calamities, and how I was going to be able to survive all my falls, when I needed my upper body to move and every movement for weeks I was in excruciating pain-God provided.
He rallied me once again. He enabled me to go to New Mexico from Sunday to Sunday and minister to many and be ministered to. He enabled me to speak and participate with the homeschool leaders, planning for legislation and do mediation. He enabled me to make the flight and spend some quality time with a lot of His people.
He enabled me at the 11th hour to find an 18-year old young man who was able to drive me to Canada where we saw Niagara Falls on the way and had a great blessed time of ministry in Canada. He enabled me to spread His Gospel through many tracts from New Mexico to all the way up to Canada through Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Canada. He enabled me to share His truth in the hospital, which was a place I wasn't even planning on going.
There is one set of footprints behind me--and they are not mine--there my Father God's!
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that He is showing once again that He is REAL and He speaks loudly from our lives if we will only let Him. He has opportunity for us to be a witness if we only see it. He asked us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not on our problems so we can feel value and worth.
Ask, persevere, endure, and He will open a way. Praise God for His mercies that know no end.
Maranatha! Maranatha! Come Lord quickly, but in the meantime let us be faithful to our mission and be good Christian soldiers. Let us never give up. Let us trust Him and obey. And one day He will say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
I have had a debilitating disease for 13 years.---steadily losing control of my body. From the outside, it looks hopeless.
When my wife and I were married and took the vows promising we would be true in sickness or in health, we did not imagine what that actually meant.
When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1994, my life was turned upside down. I didn't want to face what multiple sclerosis did and it began debilitating me immediately, taking me quickly to a cane. However, God had other plans and He resurrected me through diet and lots of prayers of many people so I could put away my cane and live more normally for the next four years.
But, God allowed the disease to come back and now it’s at the point where I am a dependent.
Where is God?
Has God abandoned me? Is God unable to heal me? Of course not. In fact, He gives something greater to me than healing---He gives Himself! He gave Himself for us all through His Son’s death on the cross AND He gives Himself through the constant presence and indwelling Holy Spirit who is our “Comforter.”
He promises us in His Word in Romans 8 that He will never “leave us or forsake us.” Nothing can separate us from His love!
“For I am persuaded neither death or life, nor angels or rulers, nor things present or things to come, nor powers, nor height or depth, nor any other created thing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s a promise that we can stand on and trust forever.
When Everything Seems to Go Wrong
This July, I was making great progress with the use of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. I was increasing my weightlifting, my swimming strokes, my walking, my memory was getting better---- everything was improving. The first time in many years!
But then things began to go more wrong than ever. As I headed to the chiropractor, a man who wasn't watching in a Mac truck ran into the back of my mini-van. The truck is owned by a gigantic construction company and they are now denying liability, claiming I somehow hit the truck!
Our John Deere tractor and rototiller broke down. Our furnace and a/c died and I fell down from the heat. It cost us $12,000 to replace! Our bathroom water pipe burst upstairs and flooded the ceiling, and it turns out that our whole plumbing in our house is faulty and needs to be replaced to the tune of thousands of dollars!
My one hobby of collecting tropical fish was brought almost to an end that same month when we woke up to find 25 fish dead due to an imbalance in the water. Expenses became due for one of my children’s college education. My air conditioning went out on my minivan, which is necessary for me in the heat, and cost $1300 to replace. Then my brakes went out which cost $600. I hit a pot hole, which cost more money.
Where was God now? He was right there giving me the “peace that passes all understanding” Philippians 4:7 and His sustaining grace. And he used these crisis to give me the opportunity to share the gospel in full with the plumber, the 2 pet shop workers who tested my tank water, our neighbor who looked at our tractor, the furnace installer and more!
From Bad to Worse!
Then, on my way to help my son at Wal-Mart pick up something he had ordered and was looking forward to, I slipped in the rain off my car door and slammed my head onto the pavement causing a concussion and extreme dizziness for the next week and a half.
A week later, I fell at church while standing singing a worship song, into a sharp chair rail, and it pierced and spread my ribs. I covered my mouth to muffle my screaming as the church folks near me watched and cried. It caused such excruciating pain for the next couple of weeks that every time I moved my upper body to pull myself to stand, sit, lay down, etc. I could hardly bear it---my mind was on the edge of insanity.
Within a week from that time, I was in the bathroom and fell against the scooter, hit the controls, went flying into the wall, only to get catapulted into a wood box. I blackened my eye and scraped my forehead, and messed up my neck again. But the trouble did not stop there… my passport renewal didn’t come through so I had to cancel my flight to Canada where I was speaking in September. I ended up having to drive all the way there (about 11 hours)!
After coming back from a grueling (being up till 2 AM every night for four nights in a row), although successful trip, I came back to the office only to stand up in my chair, which rolled back, causing me to fall backwards and hit my head again. I got blood all over the carpet but I cried out and God kept the dizziness mostly away. I had to go to the chiropractor about eight times during that couple of weeks period and once to the emergency room.
Keeping Your Eyes Fixed On Jesus Christ
Through all that time, God hadn't abandoned me---He sustained so I could working full time, teach government class to 10 home school high schoolers, teach Bible class to 5 of my children, campaign for godly candidates, go to church, travel and speak, and survive each day. In fact, even though I've lost many of the great gains with the hyperbolic oxygen chamber, I’m now finally starting to regain.
God is teaching me to look at a cup half full, not half empty. That is the secret to keeping your eyes on Jesus Christ, I believe. We need to look for His cup of blessing in the midst of the pain.
What is Jesus Christ doing through this? We need to think and ask what opportunity is He making available to us so that we can glorify Him. We have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and as we do that we begin to see Jesus in all circumstances. We will be able to say “all things work together for good and to those who love God and work according to His purpose” and really believe it and God did that. He promises that He will give us the peace that passes all understanding, He tells us that as we "keep our eyes fixed on Jesus we run that race with endurance." He says that we are to "take joy in our tribulations and trials" and relish the fact that we've been included in the “fellowship of the suffering”.
The disciples rejoiced when they were beaten in the towns and stoned for the sake of Christ. Can we do any less?
When we go through times of suffering Satan attacks his hardest. He wants us to give up, he wants us to wait, he wants us to curse God, he wants to neutralize us so we focus on our problems.
But we must once again put on the full armor God and securely fasten the “helmet of salvation” knowing that we are going to heaven and no one can stop us or “snatch us from His Hand.” We need to mentally and spiritually put on the “breastplate of righteousness” against the whole world, and certainly against the bad circumstances that come our way. We must “gird our loins with truth” and not listen to Satan’s lies to give up and think that we are nothing but a waste of flesh.
We have to “keep our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel” and “be ready in and out of season to give a defense and tell of the hope that is within us.” God makes it so clear: “How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things and proclaims salvation. Who says our God reigns.”
We must hold up “the shield of faith” standing on God’s truth and thereby deflect Satan’s fiery darts which He is sure to send our way. Finally, we must wield our sword, the WORD OF GOD, and cut through the trouble, horror, despair or enemy before us.
Ephesians 6:13-18.
Yes, we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, but how do we do this. Let’s look at a few examples I cited above.
How To Keep Your Eyes Fixed on Jesus Christ
When our plumbing went out and the plumber came out late at night, I had another opportunity to share the gospel with this stranger and spent a half hour doing so. He received the Bible and materials I gave him. I did not fix my eyes on the problem and cost, but on what Jesus was doing in arranging a meeting!
When I fell and hit my head and got a concussion, I felt like throwing up and despairing, but instead I prayed began looking for Jesus. So I began speaking the Word of God verse after verse on my way to the CAT scan room and back to the despondent nurse. She ended up accepting Christ! God showed me the Divine missionary trip He set up!
As I fell in my own bathroom and blackened my eye, I learned while I was lying on my back in great pain to say, “blessed be the name of the Lord, You give and take away, blessed be Your name.” I found I could say this even though I was suffering and in pain. I had finally crossed the threshold of learning to praise God when physically there was nothing to praise Him about----like Paul and Silas when they praised God "in the midnight hour" chained in prison after a horrible beating. I praised Him with my heart even though my feelings were dashed.
As expense after expense came upon us, as our material things broke down from our car, furnace, to our piping, it gave Him an opportunity to provide and help us trust Him even more. And one by one, He has helped us to pay for many of the things in ways that I didn't know could happen. God was having me earn money in ways I didn't expect.
He held me up through the love of my incredible wife Tracy, faithful son Jesse, dependable son John and always loving and supporting daughters Bethany, Megan, Susanna, Charity and Amy.
Yes, God is with us--- Emmanuel. He will never leave us nor forsake us. When "we humble ourselves, He will lift us up. "And as I came to my wit’s end in trying to determine how we were going to finance all these calamities, and how I was going to be able to survive all my falls, when I needed my upper body to move and every movement for weeks I was in excruciating pain-God provided.
He rallied me once again. He enabled me to go to New Mexico from Sunday to Sunday and minister to many and be ministered to. He enabled me to speak and participate with the homeschool leaders, planning for legislation and do mediation. He enabled me to make the flight and spend some quality time with a lot of His people.
He enabled me at the 11th hour to find an 18-year old young man who was able to drive me to Canada where we saw Niagara Falls on the way and had a great blessed time of ministry in Canada. He enabled me to spread His Gospel through many tracts from New Mexico to all the way up to Canada through Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Canada. He enabled me to share His truth in the hospital, which was a place I wasn't even planning on going.
There is one set of footprints behind me--and they are not mine--there my Father God's!
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that He is showing once again that He is REAL and He speaks loudly from our lives if we will only let Him. He has opportunity for us to be a witness if we only see it. He asked us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not on our problems so we can feel value and worth.
Ask, persevere, endure, and He will open a way. Praise God for His mercies that know no end.
Maranatha! Maranatha! Come Lord quickly, but in the meantime let us be faithful to our mission and be good Christian soldiers. Let us never give up. Let us trust Him and obey. And one day He will say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
And all along the way He will give us the grace sufficient, and through Him we
can be more than conquerors because it is He who saved us and we can truly do
all things through Christ who strengthens us.
I’m still here and He’s still using me. You can count on Him doing the
same for you no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the trouble, no
matter how difficult it is. God is faithful and He’s true to His Word. Praise
His Holy name!
-Chris Klicka
October 10, 2007
October 10, 2007
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All text © 2013 From the Ashes| All Images © 2013 From the Ashes
