god?

 Dear Sweet, Aloha, 

and all who wrote on this question of God, what wonderful answers.  It is about faith. God's heart breaks at our suffering and man has free will and God does no interfere.  I believe we all chose to come here and learn certain lessons.  But as mere mortals it is a lot harder than we ever believed when we were making these plans.

I too was given a death sentence but unlike the 21 year old had already lived a full life but did not want to die.  I on the other hand, turned to God for strength and he gave it to me.  There was no hope for me and my friends and family all around the world constantly held me up in prayer.

God directed my husband (who did not have these beliefs) to a natural supplement to try as I was litteraly  on my very last with all system failure.  It worked and here I am to speak with you all. God saw fit to let me live and that will seem so unfair to you Sweet.  We are here to learn lessons and some are very bitter but it is how we handle them that makes us strong.  I had tough things happen in my life that enabled me to be the strongest when I needed it. All you other wonderful people who are fighting the fight I ask for God's help for you daily. To those still in active cancer a special blessing of healing, to those like me we still have to be careful every day. So yes this is a wonderful forum for comfort and help.

God bless you all and especially Sweet !  Elaine 

On 3/7/2007 Aloha Wahine wrote:

Dear Sweet,

I've been thinking about you and Russel lately.  How are you doing?  Please do not be afraid of this website.  This website is a healthy outlook for people who depend on eachother to get through the day.  I hope you are having better days.  Take Care & God Bless. Aloha, Paulette

Dear Sweet:

You ask the age old questions.....What and who is GOD?  I don't know....I believe in the truth, whatever that is.  Everyone's truth is their own and they must find it themselves.

My daughter has an aggressive cancer.  Her prognosis is very bad.  My level of heartbreak and fear is unspeakable.  I want to die with her or before her, not after her.  It's hard for me to imagine any meaning to life without her in it.

After much prayer and begging for her life, I have come to the conclusion that I believe in the truth.....whatever that is.  We are all connected somehow in this world and we will all be connected in whatever reality exists after we leave here.  Death is a natural occurence and happens to us all.  We avoid the topic, but the reality is always with us.  I wish I had words that could give you comfort, but I don't.  It is something you have to find within yourself and I have only been able to achieve a very small amount.... 

I will tell you what thoughts give me some level of comfort......

 Death is a reality of life.......

Death is not something to fear...but a new beginning in a reality that we can only imagine....Most fear of the unknown turns out to be nothing to fear at all and if we succumb to fear or sadness, we miss out on living. We are not meant to be here merely to survive, but to live and experience as much as possible in our time.  To share experience with those we love and all those that come after.

In death we are...... we exist.  I don't know how, when, where or why, but my truth is ......we, our essence, our souls, our whatever, exist on some plane or in some dimension that we cannot now fathom.  But whatever this plane or dimension is, it will be natural.  Many people call this Heaven.  I don't know......as I said, I believe in the truth, whatever that is.

Death really has no power over us.  Only what we allow.....

Live today.  Be true to yourself and others.  My truth is..you take with you,  in death and in life, your love, your emotions, your character, your wisdom, your strength..... everything that makes you...... you.  And your part of the connection, of which we are all a part, is very important, in death as well as in life.  

You see, we have connected.  Your letter touched me and now, I hope, I have touched you.  And we both have touched others and they have touched us.  I leave you with a quote I read somewhere.

"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, but spiritual beings on a human journey"

On 2/28/2007 Madeline Ruth wrote:

Dear Sweet, I saw your post and just had to respond to you. I am so sorry that you and your boyfriend are going through so much pain. My mother recently died of a Grade IV brain tumor, and she and I often discussed the spiritual part of dealing with the disease and life and death in general. One thing that she told me, that she had taught me her entire life, is that it is so very important that each of us know what we believe, so that when tragedy strikes, our faith is in tact, and we don't begin to question our beliefs at our most vulnerable time in life. Sweet, God doesn't cure cancer....it has other causes. Some we know, and some we do not know. And, in the same respect, God isn't going to pick and choose who He cures of cancer. If He were going to intervene to prevent our pain and suffering here on earth, then surely, He would have intervened and save His only son from being murdered on the cross. There is a book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, that is very good, that you may want to read. I read it and it gave comfort to me. I think the most important thing for you to remember is that God hurts WITH you. He doesn't come down and make everything okay by taking away the suffering or the hardship, but HE helps you to deal with these things that happen in life, by being faithful to you and by being your comfort. Prayer is a comfort to you. It is communicating with God. Praying that something will turn out a certain way, doesn't mean that God will wave a magic wand and fix everything. But...God is always there, He loves you, and He walks beside you every step of the way, and in knowing this and feeling this presence, you will gain strength and peace to get through the difficult times in life. If everything were perfect in this world, we would'nt need God. A friend told me once, that the reason these horrible things happen in our lives is because this isn't Heaven. That's a good point. We live in an imperfect world where bad things happen, and sometimes there just is no good reason and it has no meaning. The most important thing is that we give these things meaning by using our experiences to help others who go through similar situations. That's the only meaning we can give to such awful tragedy. Remember Job in the Old Testament? I have always believed that Job is a parable. Some people believe that there really was a Job. But, the most important thing about Job is the message. No matter what happens to us in our lives and no matter how bad it is, we must always be faithful to God, and He will be ever faithful to us in return. It's all in how we handle things in life. That's what makes the difference. I know that it's hard to pray and not ask "why?" Try to pray that God give you peace and strength. Tell Him how you hurt and ask for comfort. And then hopefully, you will receive the "peace that passeth all understanding", which is peace in your heart in spite of not understanding the circumstances. I'm so sorry for you grief and sorrow as your boyfriend travels this journey. How fortunate he is to have someone like you care so much about him.

Madeline,

I understand what you are staying but it is very hard to believe that God is standing by your side.  I say this because every day is a serious struggle for me.  My husband of 2 years (40 years old) died of stomach cancer.  We had some time together as we dated for 8 years before we got married.  I was terrified when the doctors told us that my husband had stomach cancer.  However, after going to several doctors the they let us to believe that there was some hope and that after some pretty ruff days, we would beat this.  I prayed and prayed and prayed for God to heal my husband and give us more time together... not just for one another but for our 14 year old daughter but it never happened.  Even now, I feel just as lost right now as I did when we were handling the arrangements for his funeral.  I pray now and ask for comfort but I dont feel any.  I miss him so much and the thought of going on without him brings tears to my eyes.  What I don't understand is that people openly "thank God" when good things happen ( I myself do it to) but never seem to believe that God had his hand in the hardships of life.  Why is that?  I am so angry that God finally allowed my soul mate and I to marry all to take him away from me 2 years later.  Why would he do that?  I didn't feel lonely before I met and married my husband and now I have an overwhelming feeling of loneliness and have no idea how to get over it.

Janeen

On 3/10/2007 Oranjestad wrote:

Dear Sweet:

You ask the age old questions.....What and who is GOD?  I don't know....I believe in the truth, whatever that is.  Everyone's truth is their own and they must find it themselves.

My daughter has an aggressive cancer.  Her prognosis is very bad.  My level of heartbreak and fear is unspeakable.  I want to die with her or before her, not after her.  It's hard for me to imagine any meaning to life without her in it.

After much prayer and begging for her life, I have come to the conclusion that I believe in the truth.....whatever that is.  We are all connected somehow in this world and we will all be connected in whatever reality exists after we leave here.  Death is a natural occurence and happens to us all.  We avoid the topic, but the reality is always with us.  I wish I had words that could give you comfort, but I don't.  It is something you have to find within yourself and I have only been able to achieve a very small amount.... 

I will tell you what thoughts give me some level of comfort......

 Death is a reality of life.......

Death is not something to fear...but a new beginning in a reality that we can only imagine....Most fear of the unknown turns out to be nothing to fear at all and if we succumb to fear or sadness, we miss out on living. We are not meant to be here merely to survive, but to live and experience as much as possible in our time.  To share experience with those we love and all those that come after.

In death we are...... we exist.  I don't know how, when, where or why, but my truth is ......we, our essence, our souls, our whatever, exist on some plane or in some dimension that we cannot now fathom.  But whatever this plane or dimension is, it will be natural.  Many people call this Heaven.  I don't know......as I said, I believe in the truth, whatever that is.

Death really has no power over us.  Only what we allow.....

Live today.  Be true to yourself and others.  My truth is..you take with you,  in death and in life, your love, your emotions, your character, your wisdom, your strength..... everything that makes you...... you.  And your part of the connection, of which we are all a part, is very important, in death as well as in life.  

You see, we have connected.  Your letter touched me and now, I hope, I have touched you.  And we both have touched others and they have touched us.  I leave you with a quote I read somewhere.

"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, but spiritual beings on a human journey"

I am truly sorry to hear about your daughter's prognosis.  I can't imagine what you must be going through.  I have a daughter as well and worry about her constantly.  My husband passed from stomach cancer in November, 2006.  We talked a lot about death and I believe in the end, he accepted his fate.  I on the other hand prayed and prayed for a different outcome.  Don't get me wrong, my husband wanted to live.  I understand that death is a natural part of life but why does it have to come with such suffering.  My husband was a very active 40 year old man with a world of opportunities still ahead of him and now he is gone.  In Jan. 07 my daughter got really sick.  She is a type 1 diabetic.  I took her to the emergency room, in the same hospital that I took my husband where he ultimately passed and they told my that her condition was too poor and she could not be helped there.  She was transferred to the University of Chicago where I was told if I hadn't have brought her in that she probably wouldn't have made it.  I felt horrible.  I was so busy trying to take care of her mental well-being that I completely snoozed on her physical health.  It has been 4 months now and I don't think I have really grieved his loss yet.  All of this belongings are still in their rightful place, I haven't been able to shut his phone off.  I really don't want to let go because I love him so much.  How am I suppose to let go of the love of my life.  I am starting to tear up as I write this.  Please tell me how I am suppose to go on.  I know I need to be here for my daughter and I want to be, but I would also like him to be here by my side.

Janeen