A Night Good for the Heart

This past week our Women's Ministry hosted a "Night Good for the Heart." This was an evening that provided great info through a variety of informational tables focusing on a wide range of services and topics, as well as two workshops presented by our Health Ministry team of professionals: 1) Cancer Survivors and 2) Her Heart Health. It was a great example of skilled women using their knowledge to build up the Body ... and the body! :)

The excellent workshops were followed by a carry-in dinner of healthy dishes (even desserts ... yes, it can be done), and we had no guilt in loading up our plates or going for seconds, since the feast was healthy. We were refreshed by a "water bar" of ice water with lemons, limes, and oranges to add for flavor, along with a dispenser full of cold cucumber water. Great food had by all, while motivating us to take good care of the bodies God has given us.

After dinner, one of our women who is a specialist in the area of Alzheimer's shared about the signs and symptoms of the disease. Betsy then described how God knows us intimately, never forgetting His own whom He loves; He even has our name engraved on His hands (Isaiah 49:15,16). She also shared that God does choose to forget, or put away, our sin. He puts it so far as the east is from the west.

Psalm 103:12

¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

When we consider our earthly bodies and all that can go wrong, we may find ourselves filled with fear or dread. One thing we are sure of is that our bodies are all deteriorating, moving towards physical death. It is something that the common man shares with the famous and well known. No one is immune. God's Word gives us great hope, though.

<sup>2 Corinthians 4:16-18

16</sup>Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

That gives me great hope for my physical days now, the days when we experience pain and trouble and disease, the days when we are "wasting away." It is easy to become trapped in the discouragement of those days. But when we know that the "unseen" awaits us, that we can be experiencing spiritual renewal daily, we can live with great peace. In facing earthly struggles, this is where God says, "Come, have a peace!"

Our Night Good for the Heart was full of hope and help, both physically and spiritually!