First, let me start with this: My God is not a cosmic killjoy waiting for me to screw up so that he can sit on his throne and smite me, refuse to bless me, love me, or forgive me. It is actually the opposite. Because He loves me so much, He has saved me from the shame and torment of hell, whether it be hell on earth or an eternal hell. Therefore, the way I live my life is not a choice. It is the amazing power of God, His grace love and mercy that lives in me and daily directs my steps.
Before Christ, there was no guarantee on my future. With Christ I have the guarantee that either way, this ends well for me.
Following is the email I recieved (bolded portions are the email):
I cannot grasp this line of thinking, Heather. I would much rather not believe in anything than to believe god would have the power to heal my daughter but “choose” not to, or the power to heal me. Or that he is so all-knowing that he knows your struggles and piles more and more on top of you just to try to teach you something. That is sick.
The answer to the question is that Adam and Eve sinned. Simple as that. I don’t feel this is God “knowing my struggles and piling more and more on top of me just to try to teach me something.†But I have a personal relationship with my God, just like I have a personal relationship with my husband and children. You said “I would much rather not believe in anything than to believe that God would have the power to heal my daughter but ‘choose’ not to or the power to heal me†Do you know any one this earth that doesn’t have an illness, either emotional or physical? Do you know anyone on this earth who has lived forever? We all must face disease and heartbreak, and again, it is because of the Garden of Eden. I can understand how if you don’t believe anything in the bible, that would be something difficult for you to grasp, I really do. But you asked a question and I am answering it as directly and graciously as I can.
Do you walk around piling more pain on your children so they know the value of your love? No. Use common sense.
Well, you and I see “piling more pain” in a totally different light. If you mean do I love them enough to direct them and discipline them for things they do wrong.. I absolutely do. In the quest for them to understand how deep my love is for them, I absolutely do. But then again, I dont look at my cancer or my daughters disablilities as a “Punishment”. And I dont view Christ in the light that you view him in.
Have you read the book of Job? So many horrible things happen to Job. The one thing that Job said that sticks out in my heart and mind is the following:
“Though he (satan) slay me, yet will I hope in Him (Christ)â€
I can understand how that would be hard to believe for a non believer. I understand how you would question how a gracious and loving God could allow bad things to happen to people. But they happen to believers and non believers alike. It doesn’t matter if you do or don’t believe in my God. The world is a sick and evil place. We have turned what could have been a wonderful and glorious place into what it has become today, through our selfish desires, wants and needs. How can God sit back and watch all of this happening, He hasn’t. I believe in heaven, I believe that no matter what, this ends well for me. I believe that he has given people to who choose to believe in Him and his mercy a way out.
What do you believe in?
Do you know the most frustrating thing for people like me?
Here is what I see in your posts:
- god allowed you to have cancer.
- he allowed your daughter to have a fatal illness.
- he allowed your other children to suffer along with you and your family and those who care about you.
We have to admit that there is something called “cause and effectâ€. That the actions of ourselves and others directly impact the world around us. Pollution, Greed, disease, etc. Do I believe that God desired for me to have cancer. Absolutely not. That wasn’t His perfect will for my life. His perfect will was changed in the Garden of Eden. Man sinned. End of story, end of perfection.
But he gives us a thing called “Freewillâ€
He does intervene in our lives. He has shown His power at many times through out past history. But there is a limit to this intervention: He has allowed man freewill, and He allows man to use that freewill — for good or evil
And I do believe that He gives me the grace and the strength to face this. I do believe that he gives my daughter, even though she is young and mentally disabled the ability to affect others around her in a deep and personal way. I do believe that we all have stories to tell, and it is up to us to choose how we tell those stories. I choose hope. I choose grace. I choose God.
Then he requires you to thank him for all the horrible things you’re going through and apologize to him for being a normal human being and being upset by it.
I disagree, and I will tell you why. Christ didn’t cause this. Mans sin did. He doesn’t want me to apologize for being upset about it, it simply is what it is. It sucks, I know that and He knows that. He gives me the tools to cope with it, whether you believe in them or not, I believe in them. Every person has the ability to choose who they will serve, man or God. You know who I choose.
Then you spend your time begging and pleading with him to do something about all this pain only to come to your realization that he wants you to go through it so you can supposedly “grow” spiritually.
I disagree, and I will tell you why again. I do not spend all of my time begging and pleading with him “to do something about all this painâ€. I face cancer and my daughter’s illness daily, just like many other people face their trials daily. I don’t claim to know all the answers, but I do know one thing, I could NOT face this with out Christ. I don’t get up in the morning and start my day with “begging God†to do what I want him to do. I live my life the best I know how and am extremely thankful for every minute of every day that I have left on this earth. I don’t look at my daughter and think of her as a mistake, or a source of pain in my life. I don’t think she looks at her life as “painful†either. I look at her and see a wonderful, beautiful, amazing child who happens to have some disabilities, but don’t we all? Every single one of us is not void of emotional or physical disabilities.
It is how we choose to face those “disabilities†that makes or breaks us.
Because you’re right, he’s never going to heal your daughter and you know that. Maybe man-made medicine will one day heal her and I hope it does. She deserves to live
And that is where you are wrong 
I know that she will be healed, along with myself, my husband my other children… every single person that chooses Christ will be healed one day. We all have afflictions, remember?
God has not healed your cancer. Without chemo and radiation you’d be dead (or close to it) by now.
That is not god. That is men who studied science. And I’ve heard the argument that god gave these doctors the wisdom. Whatever. Most doctors are atheists to begin with.
How do you know? How do you know that my cancer has not been healed? How do you know that God didn’t give these doctors wisdom?
How do you know that “Most doctors are atheists to begin with� I can tell you EVERY. SINGLE. DOCTOR. I have come into contact with, starting with my daughter’s doctors and ending with my cancer doctors believe wholeheartedly in Christ.
Then you must recognize that you don’t deserve his supposed grace that you can never quite pinpoint what it is to begin with. You must feel guilty about absolutely everything you’ve ever done wrong.
That is the difference between a non believer and a believer. Our wrong doings are tossed as far as the east is from the west. We don’t feel guilty about past sins, at least we shouldn’t feel guilty over them. It is by our own choosing that we feel guilty, not by Gods choosing. He desires us to live a life free of guilt and shame.
And I can pinpoint his grace daily in my life. 
And then when something good happens you attribute it to god and claim you didn’t deserve such goodness. And it’s very important to say you don’t deserve it otherwise god will either never bless you again or possibly in some way smite you for being prideful.
I don’t know what god you are talking about, but that sounds nothing like my God. He isn’t sitting up on his throne, ready to “smite†anyone. Where do you get that? Through out my blog I have talked about Gods goodness, His faithfulness, never once have I mentioned his “smite-fullness†Never once have I mentioned having a fear that he will never bless me again if I am not thankful for my blessings.
In the end you must thank him for it all and if you don’t jump through all of these hoops then you just might end up with god writing you off forever and you’ll end up with Satan torturing you in hell for all eternity anyway.
We have a different perspective on this reality, and that is okay. I am not going to argue with you about this because in the end we both agree on the outcome, we just don’t agree on the process.
I would think this life journey you’re on would be much easier without all of this drama.
I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.” – Revelation 21:3-5 (The Message)
That doesn’t sound like “Drama†to me…
Let me ask you this question:
What if your wrong?
Dear Heather,
I have been reading your blog for a few months now and I have been blessed over and over by your frank words and positive attitude.
I’m especially concerned about the reader who commented that they “used to be a Christian” and that God was causing all our suffering. What happened to that person to cause such anger and misplaced blame? They claimed inconsistencies but my bible studies over the last year have shown me how connected the Old and New Testaments are. Of course our relationship with God changed once Jesus came and paid the ultimate price. Thank God HE did!
I hope these comments don’t get you down. You are a blessing and I am learning from you.. Thank you for sharing your life with us and risking being open to critique.
With love to a sister in Christ,
Mindy
Heather: Very well said and very good answers! I have been reading, but haven’t commented for a while. I did notice one thing. Most of the people who disagree with you and attack you hide behind anonymous. I, too, was dx with cancer shortly after you were and you have helped me tremendously on this journey. And it is truly a journey. It changes you forever. And, to be honest, only one of my doctors is a non-believer. When I talk about God he just listens, but doesn’t comment. I know that God can and has used this blog to encourage and help others grow. Me being one of them. I, too, am praying for a miracle in my life that I will be healed here on earth. But, I know, ultimately, my “true” healing will be the day I meet Jesus at the pearly gates. Every born again believers healing truly is in Heaven and no place else. Know I am supporting you all the way and I Do pray for you daily even if you don’t hear from me.
Blessings,
Shari
and all God’s children said Amen.
You are amazing Heather! A phrase from Third Day’s song, Cry Out to Jesus kept coming to my mind while I was reading this post and the responses:
“There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
Love for the broken heart
There is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He’ll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus”
Hi Heather, I don’t think I’ve posted here, but not sure. I read your blog all the time and have followed your story since you found out you had cancer. I gotta admit, sometimes I get angry at you for having so much faith and I don’t!
But in the end you always give me some kind of inspiration to take with me. I pray for you. That may sound funny coming from me because I don’t even feel like I have authority to pray for someone else, but my life is finally getting on track again after 2 suicide attempts and a really bad 2007. (this makes me think I have posted here because some of your friends have made comments on my old blog before) But you know, you always stay strong and I admire you a lot.
Katie
I’ve read through a lot of the responses to anonymous’ comment. I have bit of a different perspective here. Don’t you all think that maybe God directed her/him to you to try to help discern God to that person. Whether it worked or not? Obviously, it didn’t since they posted another comment stating that fact. But, I believe God tries His best to get His message and He guides them to those who best serve His message.
Heather, you are a wonderful instrument of the Lord. Please know that God isn’t trying to “hurt” you with this email, but strengthen you with the knowledge that you could help lead a lost lamb to Him.
God Bless you!
I love your dads comment. He is right, all for the Glory of God. God bless you Heather on this Lords day. I hope it is a great one!!!
Heather–
All I can say is, “You go, girl!” What a perfect answer. It is so, so sad to imagine life without our awesome and holy God.
Wow Heather,
I take one day off from the computer and come back to find a whole lot going on. I loved your gracious response to the email, as always, by anonymous people. If what they say is true, and they “used” to be a christian, but have gone their own way in belief, I can totally understand their anger and frustration with a terminal illness, and turning their back on the only One who can help. Your answers are a blessing in turning that person around, but it is a choice isn’t it? I agree with your dad, that God is saying “That’s my girl”. I would rather have trials with Jesus, than no trials and being without Him. I love you girl, and thank you for sharing your heart with us. I love Emma too and know God is using her in my life.!
Love, Laurie in Ca.
You rock gracious Heather!
God Bless you for your sweet and tactful reply. May your reply be a seed planted.
Heather,
You handled that with a lot of grace. I’m awfully proud of you. I think I might have owed the cuss jar a few thousand dollars.
I don’t know a lot, you can ask most people who know me and they will agree. But, a couple of things I have come to accept are that usually people who try to stay anonn. are hiding out of embarrassment due to the results of their own choices. Secondly, jealously often breeds contempt. My daughter have placed herself in a position to be seen by all, so that Jesus can be known by more, period. She has never claimed to be anything other then weak, flawed, broken, and loved. I only ask that those who are attracted to this situation, weigh the words being expressed, and see the hearts they reveal, nothing more, nothing less. Pray as you are lead.
I am Heathers Dad, and I am amazed at how the Lord shines here!
Because of Grace
Greg
Dearest sister,
Thank you for sharing this post with us…
I just have 2 thoughts ~
First,
I Peter 3:15-16
“…you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But you must do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak evil against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.” NLT
Heather…you HAVE done this!!
Second,
Matthew 11:15
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
~Dear Anonymous,
May I encourage you to hear what Heather has shared with you and with us all…it was truly out of a heart of love. It’s your choice, up to you. That is the great thing about God…He gives us the choice to come to Him! I am sorry you feel that there are mean-spirited comments here. I am sure that was not anyone’s intent to be so. It is so hard to express emotion in the written word.
I do pray that you may you know the Truth and be set free!~
Heather, love you dear sister…keep on pressing you one moment at a time! I am AMENING with you all the ways!!
Love and hugs!
xoxox
~sorry, it was to “keep pressing on one moment at a time”!~
Bless you Heather….that you continue to share, encourage and show others the Truth with a gentle spirit.
donna
praise God for the conviction of the people who leave these comments. it’s unfortunate, though, that they wouldn’t understand your faith because they are non-believers. only believers can know and understand God. for the comment-ers, i only pray they continue to have convictions that would draw them to their knees and acknowledge the Most High God as sovereign over every and anything.
Heather , You did an excellent job defending your fait, stating the truth, being tender hearted and respectful. I’m sure you make God smile.
What if you’re wrong? What if there’s more? What if there’s hope you never dreamed of hoping for? What if you jump? Just close your eyes. What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise? What if he’s more than enough? What if it’s love?
-Nichole Nordeman
Beautiful post. I loved each and every one of your answers and I agree with them wholeheartedly.
You are an amazing and strong woman and I applaud your strength.
Well Said My dear sweet sister!!!! you know Heather I have mentioned that I have a life threatening illness chronic illness, and like you I know without the Lord in my life It would be so easy to give up and not have hope. Somethings in life will never been known to us, or even answers to the question why… until we get to heaven. Like Job said to his wife when she wanted him to curse God..he said.. “should we only praise him only through the good and not the bad??? The person who responded I see always suffers from a terminal illness, I know the Lord has put it on my heart to pray for him or her and why should responses like this even surprise you and I.. we don’t need to justify our faith and trust in the Lord.. I pray this person will make things right with the Lord before his or her life on earth ends.. Lord have mercy on their soul…. Joyful
Anon…
You said,
“Just so you know, I have a terminal illness myself (not cancer) and if I am wrong and your god is who you claim, then hopefully he is not a self-absorbed sadist and will forgive me for being wrong.”
He will. Just ask Him. He loves you very much and always has. We all sin and Christians are far from perfect. That is why we need Him so much. You are never asked to jump through hoops for Him. He simply asks that you love Him above everything else.
He sees your needs. Let Him help. Ask Him.
May God reveal Himself to this person. May they see Him in all His glory, for once we’ve done that, our questions and doubts seem of little importance.
I don’t think we live in any more fear of our heavenly father then we did of our earthly father when we were children. God has given us a choice as to whether we follow him or follow satin. We need to show a little more compassion to those who do not believe as we do in our Father. When others are hurting, disappointed, unhappy, or struggling, they strike out at those who (to them) seem to have it all. Now believe me, having cancer is not exactly what you plan for your life(at least I didn’t) and I’m sure that Heather didn’t either, however, it happened and we learned to deal with it. We could sit and feel sorry for ourselves, cry “why me Lord” what did I do to deserve this? But that isn’t the way we deal with it. I for one felt that rather then punishing me, there was something God wanted from me that kept me here on this earth. I don’t always understand why he spared me, but I am grateful and thank him daily for my continued life here on this earth. I still struggle with my faith, that is only human, but I know that he is there with me every step of the way.
We need to be thankful that there are those who are questioning our faith in God, it helps keep us on our toes and aware that there are others stuggling and need our daily prayers that they to find the contentment, faith and love that we have in our heavenly father.
And remember, God doesn’t give us anymore the we can deal with.
Thank you Heather for putting your faith in to words that anyone could understand, whether they want to or not. And yes, without our doctors and modern medicine, we probably wouldn’t be here today, however, God provides all that we need in our treatments and that is all we need.
May you all have a blessed week.
Hugs N Prayers,
Norma
Gracious and articulate, sister! Laurie
Appreciate your thoughts Heather. God’s Word will not return void.
Praying for you annonymous.
I have been a christian for over thirty years and came from a family of non believers. I was in torment concerning my mom and dad and prayed for them daily pleading with God to save them.
My mom is now in heaven she passed away 6 months ago. It was love that showed her the way. My mom did not love me in a way that showed me anything in life but God told me one day when I was going to the island to see her, “Marie, you are going to see your mom and dad to give love not to receive it” and that is what I did, I gave and forgave.
It is only when we show the love of Christ that we are affective.
I can understand in a way the comments, questions that this person is leaving, he is not saved and does not know the love of God,I pray he will see it on this website.
Again Heather you answered in a way that left this person open to come back and see what God can do in lives of people who love God even when walking in a path where we ask “why”?
We can show him that we are concerned about him as well. We most love them into the kingdom.
Praying for you Heather.
Praying for you and for annon. Fight the good fight and keep the faith.
Hey Heather,
I am about to go to bed so I can’t read all these comments tonight. Just wanted to thank you for taking the time to answer that persons comment. He/she is hurting for the truth or he/she would not have posted to your blog in the first place. And even though he/she won’t admit to understanding anything you said, you planted a seed. and that is all God wants us to do. He will do the conviction.
I love your post it is so inspirational to me. Thank you again and God bless you and yours.
AMEN!!!
What gracious answers you have given Heather, what gracious spirit you have shown. God bless you.
Liza
Heather, This post is PROOF that God is working in you to make you more like Christ. You go, girl!
God bless you, Heather. God bless you.
Okay, I would have had to stand back and take a very deep breath and still don’t know if I would have handled commentary on the e-mail as well as you had. However, I appreciate someone e-mailing to ask such questions. Why? Because you are able to clarify points about your faith and through that, perhaps more further demonstrate God’s love for you. My husband and I are of the camp that as Christians, our walk isn’t meant to be an easy one. We have several different reasons for thinking this, which I’ll skip right now (gotta go to work), but if life is a breezy walk in the park, what do you learn? We never wish for the bad stuff to happen, but with God’s grace, love and mercy, we work through it.
Thanks for posting this for all of us to read.
Probably the biggest disconnect that atheists and believers have is that atheists always start with the assumption that it’s all about *this* life. It’s sad, and I think it’s one of the reasons that you see so much cynicism, bitterness and restlessness in the atheist community — since they think that the meaning of life is to make everything happy and comfortable here on earth, they pursue that to the exclusion of everything else…and find that it never works.
Anyway, God bless you Heather, and keep up the good work.
Heather, I really don’t understand why people feel they need to write such unkind letters to you. however I can sense that they are hurting and I feel you did a wonderful job representing our Saviour in this matter. ((Hugs)) I pray they will see that God loves them too.
Heather, I have been reading your blog for over a year now, and like the 85 people before me, I feel compelled to post a coment which I hope you will read. The day after Christmas my 36 year old husband was diagnosed with cancer. The day after New Years, my dad who is not a smoker was diagnosed with lung cancer and is right now in the hospital fighting for his life as I write. My husband and I are believers, but the rest of my family aren’t. We find ourselves answering the same questions and giving an account for the hope that is in us just like you even though we live on the other side of the country. My answer has been similiar to yours, and I want to encourage you. By faith we know that this world is not our home! By faith we know that our God is good and He only does good! His good is that we would be holy like Christ, not that we would always be happy and free from any suffering. This world suffers because of sin and we also suffer along with it sometimes, but Jesus came into the world to show that He has power over sickness and suffering, and one day in heaven there won’t be anymore of it. We have this to hope for and look forward to, and by faith we believe. The sad part is that if God has not opened a non believers eyes, than this world is as good as it gets, and thats what can be so depressing for them. So I will continue to pray for you and the people in your life that ask questions, as well as the people in mine. There is hope, and faith comes by hearing, so continue to give your answers with love. Looking forward to meeting you one day(If not here, than in heaven) Lauren:)
I feel very sad for the person who can’t “get it”. Not angry, just sad.
Lovely post, as most of your’s are.
Well, well, well little Miss Heather, I’d say you’ve generated a lot of deep thoughts with your post. I haven’t read everyone’s comments. I did however, read all of Anonymous’. This included the final comment stating that they wouldn’t be back and that they were confirmed in their beliefs about a “self-serving god” and how mean we as Christians are.
Whether they would appreciate it or not, I found myself praying for them while I was in church yesterday. Although they would certainly not agree, satan has them blinded to the truth. It’s not a conscious decision on Anonymous’ part,it just is what it is, because of the fallen world we live in.
I don’t personally know you Heather but I hope you wouldn’t take Anonymous’ decision to not return or their beliefs and opinions of Christians, to heart. You have done what God has called us to do. Spread the Gospel Message of Christ and his sarificial love and the goodness and mercy of God. As our Pastor says,
“Since we don’t get to take the credit when someone comes to Christ we don’t have to take the blame when they don’t!”
My heart truly aches for Anonymous and the way that they have been deceived by the prince of this world. (Those in bondage seldom see it the way those of us who have been liberated from the same bondage, do!)
Like I said before, Thank you for being a vessal that God can use and shine through!
Connie
Heather,
I read your blog and pray for you and your family, friends and all loved ones everyday. I have probably commented once (when some time had elapsed without hearing from you) but I must comment today…After reading this yesterday (Sunday) it has been bugging me that someone would take the time to ‘attack’ you…but after reading your response over and over, a peace that surpasses all understanding is with me and I just prayer that someday soon, your Anonymous commentator will too experience this peace which surpasses all (his/her) understanding. I will add him/her and all others who battle with the feelings expressed to my prayers. I am not sure how hard or easy it was for you to (1) read that comment and (2) respond so graciously bu I want to personally thank you for demonstrating such a gracious and ‘Christ-like’ response…Stay strong….God will continue to bless you.
Have a blessed day! Thank you again!
WOW!! that was well said!! and just what i needed right now when i was questioning God and prayer!! thank you. I am amazed at how strong your love and faith is in God!
if you don’t mind, i am going to link this post on my blog if that is ok?
God Bless!!
Annonymous,
You boldly speak out against a “god” who is hurtful and unmerciful, one who is smiteful. I am thrilled that such a “god” is not the God that we serve. The Alpha and Omega. The merciful and loving God who is not a dictator or puppet master, but One who is compassionate, patient, and sufficient. You also speak of Heather as if she is a pathetic, wimpering, begging woman who is clawing after an entity who eludes her. I am here to attest that she is far from any of those things.
Years ago, our Savior died on a tree for our salvation. Not for our healing, our new car, new job, better husband, nicer in-laws…whatever it is we pray for. He died on a tree for our salvation. The covering for our sins. He was not “rescued” from the tree. His death there had a purpose. I thank God for that purpose every day.
I disagree with you entirely, on every point that you raise about both our God, and Heather.
But I have to ask you this: What kind of person would say the things you have said and actively maneuver to attempt to destroy any faith that is good and harmless to everyone. Why would you so blatantly make an effort to shoot down the faith of someone that has done nothing to you?
I feel sad for you. I really, truly, honestly do. But I would never come to your home and trash your beliefs, faith, hope, dreams, or strength. Not even if you left your door wide open with a flashing invitation to do so.
The awesome thing about this type of argument, which is age old and will continue for generations to come, is that God does not have to prove Himself to me. He already has. On that tree. He does not have to give me gifts of healing or fortune or anything on demand to prove His love, His existence, His faithfulness. He did that already. On that tree.
And even for those who are mocking, casting stones, or trying to whittle away at that mustard seed, He did all that was necessary. On that tree.
When I get frustrated by atheism, I just remember that someday every knee will bow, every tongue will confess…
Great job, Heather. May God richly bless you.
Heather, your heart is so beautiful. It is quite evident that you understand what was meant by “have a ready answer when asked.”
Anon: You said in your last comment, “And a lot of the responses proved even further my belief because of the nasty replies.” I’ve read them all and I see no mean-spirited replies. I see prayers, petitions, and yes, some amazements over your attacking Heather. (I know you said it was your opinion, but it was still an attack on her belief, her God and her family.)
In all seriousness and not meaning this question sarcastically, why is it that if you disagree with Heather it’s an opinion, but if others disagree with you, it’s now an attack on you? No one has condemned you to hell. No one has called you dumb or selfish. They are just voicing their opinions as well. I’m just slightly confused at that thinking.
Heather, I am amazed at the wonderful way you answered that email. I know it must have been the Lord speaking through you. That was just awesome…so well thought-out and lovingly stated. I love your conviction.
And…as the wife of a Christian doctor, let me just tell your friend that they could not be more wrong. Many, many doctors are christians. My husband has often said that it is beyond him how anyone could see the intricacies of the human body and not believe in God.
I didn’t read all of the 90+ comments, but I wanted to say something about the “this is Heather’s blog” thing.
This IS Heather’s blog. And, unless I’ve missed something MAJOR along the way, Heather’s life is about serving God and sharing His love for her with others.
I don’t understand how anyone would think someone asking genuine questions that give Heather (or any believer) an opportunity to share their faith is something to “just delete” or “ignore”.
Just because Heather has cancer doesn’t and shouldn’t make her any less a child of God, willing and able to share His love with others. I’m absolutely grieved that anyone could possibly see anonomous’ questions on “heathers blog” as out of place at all…
TO ANNON:
I don’t know if you’re still reading comments, but I wanted to say this:
If God was real, He would be big enough for your questions. Asking these things, although some who claim Christ may disagree, isn’t wrong. Did you read Heather’s other post (the one about Becki?)
I’m so sorry for the reaction you received here. It struck me as harsh. Please know that not everyone who calls themselves Christian condemn those who earnestly seek answers. Keep seeking. Keep asking questions.
If God really is real, He won’t keep Himself hidden from you.
Heather –
the bold print shows what life is like without our Jesus – angry and empty….
your words are so calm and so sweet and so loving even though you were basically being attacked.
YOU have show Christ’s love by your reaction. BLessings to you!
I have been slowly working my way thru your archives from the past to the present, but for some reason I was moved to read this recent blog and I can’t tell you what it has meant to me! About a month or two ago it could have been ME who was writing exactly what Anonymous had written. Those were the questions I was asking myself and beating myself up over! But slowly and surely I have been absorbing what you write and trying to come to terms with a God I thought had abandoned me, when, in fact, it was ME that had abandoned HIM! I know it will be a slow road back to understanding, but I am trying and hope that He will be patient with me and my struggles. I was brought to your blog for a reason and, after reading what you wrote back in September of 2007, where you question whether anyone is getting anything out of what you write, I can attest that I HAVE gotten so much from you and your words. Thank you! You have enabled me to take my first few, tentative steps, back into a church. A place I never thought I would be seen again! Please keep inspiring us!
Wow, I can’t believe that someone would send you an email like that. Although I’ve never been through the battle that you’re fighting, i’ve been through challenges of my own in life. And my faith in God has gotten me through. I read this email that you received and the one thing that struck me is that it must be hopeless to not believe in God… to not believe that there is something better after this life ends. I’m glad that you know the TRUTH.
I’m praying for your family.
Well worded!
kate