Are you “good” enough for heaven?

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There’s an old joke about two hunters in the woods being chased by a bear. One hunter yells out to the other as he runs past, “I don’t have to be faster than the bear, I just have to beat you!” Unfortunately, most people think the same is true about gaining entrance to heaven. Just do better than the others, be good and it will all work out fine.

The problem this presents is:
Who says how much goodness is required?
Who is keeping score?
And at any given moment, how can I know where I stand?

Does that mean as long as we are better than Adolf Hitler or Attila the Hun we’ve got a shot? But what if we have to be as good as a Mother Theresa or Billy Graham? Okay, maybe our chances aren’t as good.

The Bible goes to the real issue with God and sets it straight for us. None of us deserves to go to Heaven because we are all sinners. Think about this…the designer and creator of the universe (God) also made the rules and the way for salvation because He knew we would sin, and no matter how hard we try we would never reach perfection. Yes, we can be pretty good, but our being good doesn’t result in purity and holiness. With God it’s not just how bad we are, it’s how good we’re not. Romans 3:23 tells us, “Everyone has sinned. No one measures up to God’s glory.” There is no way, through our own “goodness” that we can ever stand in front of a Holy God. We tend to rank sins, but God says sin is sin. Sometimes that doesn’t sound fair. Don’t all the “good” people deserve to go to Heaven? Then again who defines fair and what makes one deserving? Even Jesus said no one is good except God alone (Mark 10:18). Hmm, okay, this is getting a little tougher.

So, how do you know you can get into Heaven? God didn’t make it difficult for us. God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son. Whoever puts his trust in God’s Son will not be lost but will have life that lasts forever (John 3:16). Jesus willingly sacrificed His sinless life through dying on the cross for our sins. Three days after the death of Jesus Christ, He rose again and because Jesus triumphed over death, hell, and the grave, He holds the keys to eternal life. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Because of the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ, He gave us the way to have a relationship with our holy and pure God. What do you do? The apostle Paul put it pretty plainly, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).

There are not a long list of things you had to do before you can be forgiven. It was all done for you. That is grace–God giving us something we need but don’t deserve. We cannot measure up to God’s goodness, but we can give up and accept Jesus as our Savior, and when we do, the cross bridges the gap, the door is opened, and we can stand clothed in the Holy righteousness of Jesus Christ — “I am the door, and the person who enters through me will be saved…” (John 10:9).

Will you pray this simple prayer from your heart acknowledging His death for your salvation? “Lord Jesus, I’m the sinner you came to save and I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Please take control of my life and make me the kind of person You want me to be.” In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

True Christianity is life-changing and life-altering. Your new life is being changed from the inside out. In following and obedience, you will find more life (here now and forever) than you can imagine. Now that you belong to Jesus, He wants to live His life though you. The God who made you, loves you more than anyone ever could or will, wants the world to see His Son living in you. Sounds like a great deal to me!

The One who wants to be with you forever and loves you with an unfailing love.  A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is a spark that cannot be extinguished, a safe harbor in the storms of life, hope and peace that never ends, joy midst sorrow, and life everlasting.

What’s next? Find a good Bible-teaching church and when you feel it’s time, talk to your pastor about being baptized. Begin to share with others what has taken place in your life, and take time to pray (talk with God).  Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). Christianity is a personal relationship with the Creator and lover of your soul. 

Now you’re fit for Heaven and believe me, it won’t be a place where we sit around with little angel wings bored to tears playing harps. Heaven is a vibrant, exciting, peaceful, ecstatic place of fellowship, love, and never-ending joy.

“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”~ Ephesians 2:4-9

Relationship with Jesus

Lisa Buffaloe’s Lyme Disease Journey

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Lisa Buffaloe’s Lyme Disease Journey and 
Lyme Disease Information

Lisa’s Lyme Disease journey began in October 2000 when a nauseating dizziness sent her on a journey through twenty plus doctors as her health spiraled out of control. Diagnosis ranged from Labyrinthitis, rheumatoid arthritis, swollen jugular vein, autoimmune inner ear disease, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, and a few interesting and strange ones.

Her body seemed to be in a self-destruct mode with kidney infections, kidney stones, hearing problems, constant use of steroids to try and stop the unending dizziness, tumors, cysts covering her liver and kidneys, numbness, headaches, bleeding problems, eye problems, nerve damage, and the list went on and on as surgery and hospitalizations were required.

Six years later, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Once diagnosed, Lisa began treatment in January 2006 with IV antibiotics for thirty days. After that point, Lisa assumed she would be well and continued ignoring symptoms.


Fortunately, Lisa met Natalie Nichols who referred her to a Lyme disease specialist. Further treatments were started with continual oral antibiotics and supplements. When Lisa’s health didn’t improve she was switched to IV antibiotics in April, 2007 using a picc line (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter threaded through a vein in the arm up into a large vein near the heart.)

A blood infection forced the removal of her line the last week of August 2007. A temporary IV line was used to fight the infection until September, 2007.

Oral antibiotics and an anti-malaria drug were used until January 2008.

A brief respite from medications caused a downturn in health, and antibiotics were resumed mid-March of 2008.

Other than fatigue and deteriorating neck discs, 2009 was relatively quiet health-wise. Another bleeding problem surfaced in March 2010, and an ultrasound and mammogram warranted the need for her seventh surgery.

A month after surgery, symptoms remained reasonably quiet. Then her health again started to steadily decline. Fatigue built as every joint and bone hurt. Antibiotics were resumed on a temporary basis. Please read about Lisa’s healing in 2011 … Faith To Believe

For more articles on Lisa’s Lyme Disease journey, please link to …

Guideposts Magazine, A Time of Renewal

Lyme-Over The Edge, 23 Doctors 23 Opinions

 Lyme Disease Information 

The information below is compiled through various sites…

Lyme disease is found in many countries worldwide, and has been reported in 49 states in the United States. While a “bulls-eye” rash is diagnostic for Lyme disease, the types of rashes vary greatly. Further, a significant number of patients do not recall any rash or tick-bite.

When the initial bacterial infection occurs after a tick bite, people may develop a rash and experience a flu-like illness. Often the rash is a red ring resembling a bulls-eye, but occasionally the rash may be red all the way across. The key is whether the rash enlarges or gets bigger, not if it is a red ring or solid red.

Symptoms can appear quickly or develop over time. Since Lyme is a multi-system disease, the list of symptoms is long, and it is common to see symptoms affecting multiple systems. Early in the illness Lyme disease can be confused with the flu, but as the disease progresses it can lead to cardiac, musculoskeletal, neurological, and/or other system involvement.

According to the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), “Lyme disease is the latest great imitator and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of MS, ALS, seizure and other neurological conditions, as well as arthritis, CFS, Gulf war syndrome, ADHD, hypochondriasis, fibromyalgia, somatization disorder and patients with various difficult-to-diagnose multi-system syndromes.” Not only can Lyme disease be incorrectly diagnosed as other conditions, it can also occur concurrently with other conditions or be diagnosed incorrectly.

Lyme disease is treated with antibiotics, either orally or intravenously. Prompt and thorough treatment early in the illness is the most effective method for preventing a persistent, disabling condition. Patients with chronic Lyme disease often experience severe headaches, fatigue, pain, insomnia, and memory problems.

Chronic Lyme disease can render people completely disabled. There is no known cure for chronic Lyme disease, and its treatment is surrounded by much controversy. However, many patients find improvements when treated long term, either for Lyme disease bacterial infection and/or for the presence of co-infection.Lyme disease (LD) is a multi-system bacterial infection caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdoferi (Bb). The causative agent, Borrelia burgdorferi, is a type of spirochete. Spirochetes are long, thin, spiral-shaped bacteria. The bacterium is able to move around the body through the bloodstream and between tissue. It can also invade tissue, replicate, and leave the cell-destroying the cell as it emerges. Sometimes, as the bacterium emerges, the cell wall collapses around the bacterium, forming a “cloaking device”. This action may aid the bacteria’s ability to hide from the immune system response. Immune difficulties are further complicated by the fact that spirochete can constantly keep changing genetic information expressed in its surface proteins. Just as viruses change from year to year, we know Lyme bacteria mutates. There are a number of organisms that can shift their surface protein in a matter of hours and that is how they evade detection and patients test negative. These organisms attach themselves to proteins and conceal themselves– creating a cloaking mechanism that defies detection. This allows them to get where they want to go– the nervous system. Once they are inside a cell, the immune system can’t see them.Pictures and slides showing bacteria transforming into cysts, spawning and starting the cycle again.
 
Borreliosis patients with a chronic infection most commonly have pain, tiredness, brain or thinking problems, blurry vision and neurological (nerve) problems. Borreliosis can cause any symptom and any disease. In addition to other symptoms, Borreliosis patients usually also have hypercoagulation (thrombophilia), endocrinopathies (hormone deficiencies), toxic metal elevations, deficiencies of essential amino acids and essential fatty acids, and also vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Borreliosis patients are usually low in iodine, have allergies, dead infected bone (osteonecrosis) in the jaw, have neurotransmitter deficiencies, and may have chemical sensitivities.

Pain is the number one problem for most patients with Borreliosis. Any part of the body can hurt, including the head, neck, eyes, ears, jaw, arms, hands, chest, abdomen, back, legs, feet, muscles and joints. This pain is sometimes worse than pain caused by surgery. Morphine may not help.

Tiredness or fatigue is the second most common symptom of Borreliosis. If you divided the pain symptoms into specific categories such as headache or joint pain, then fatigue would become the number one symptom. This tiredness has often been misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome. Fatigue can be so severe that the fatigue is described as complete exhaustion. Many are so tired that they lose their jobs and cannot help at home. They may also attempt a minor physical activity like walking to the mailbox or taking out the trash and become so tired that they have to go to bed.

The third most common symptom is brain or cognitive problems. Common symptoms or diseases include memory loss, decreased mental concentration, mood swings, irritability, depression, anxiety, panic disorder, manic-depressive illness (bipolar), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), paranoia, schizophrenia, and “brain fog”.

Blurry vision is the fourth most common symptom in borreliosis, but that is with combining all of the various pains together and all of the brain or thinking problems together. The bacteria can inflame any part of the eye (causing conjunctivitis, iritis, uveitis, retinitis and optic neuritis), so having blurry vision as a common symptom is not surprising.

Finally, there are the neurological symptoms. Neurological borreliosis is also known as neuroborreliosis. Patients may experience numbness, tingling, burning, twitching, jerking, and muscle weakness. In addition, they may have seizures, and multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig disease) encephalitis, meningitis, stroke and dementia. As one neurologist who specializes in borreliosis put it, “The chapter on neurological Lyme disease is still being written.

In addition to the above symptoms, there are “red flags.” These include memory loss, twitching around the eyes, Bell’s palsy (in which half of the face droops), tinnitus (which is ringing or buzzing in the ears), symptoms that affect one side of the body more than the other, symptoms that are worse when a patient first gets out of bed or that are worse in the winter.”

288,787 cases of Lyme disease have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control, 1980 – 2007 (06/16/07). There have been 3,294 cases of Lyme Disease Reported to the Centers for Disease Control for the year 2007 (06/16/07). Remember it is conservatively estimated that only one in 10 cases of Lyme disease is actually reported to the CDC – so there may have been at least as many as 2.89 million cases of Lyme disease since 1980 and 32,940 cases in 2007.

Documentary and videos on Lyme Disease

“Under Our Skin, an infectious film about microbes, money and medicine.

“One of the most controversial illnesses in the history of medicine, Lyme disease may be the fastest growing infectious disease in the United States. Yet each year thousands are misdiagnosed – many of them told that their symptoms are “all in their head.” This upcoming documentary investigates the shocking human, medical, and political dimensions of Lyme disease, an emerging epidemic destroying countless numbers of lives. A case study of the dangers of the confluence of money and medicine, the film brings into focus a haunting picture of our healthcare system and its inability to cope with a biological terror under our skin.” https://www.underourskin.com/

Video trailer on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/openeyepictures

Singer/songwriter Lisa Bevill suffers from Lyme Disease, please link to her song and video, “When the Healing Comes” https://youtu.be/Rua0MGxFW0k

Interview with musician Darryl Hall who openly discusses his battle with Lyme disease and tick-borne co-infections… https://www.lymeinfo.net/darylhalllyme.html

Natalie Nichols is a dear friend of mine who has Lyme disease. Please view her video and read her amazing story….https://www.shadesofgrace.org/media-center/

https://www.lymeinfo.net/lymevideos.html

Further Lyme Information

The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit foundation dedicated to public education of the prevention and treatment of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. www.lymenet.org

Brandilyn Collins has established a blog on Lyme Disease and those who suffer with the illness…. http://lyme-overtheedge.blogspot.com/

Rest Ministries is a wonderful source of hope for those with chronic illness…http://restministries.com/

More Medical reports, slides, and information regarding Lyme can be found at http://www.lymeinfo.net/lymefiles.html

http://textbookofbacteriology.net/Lyme.html

Over the Edge

A suspense novel based on Lyme disease and the “Lyme Wars”

Torn from the front lines of medical debate and the author’s own experience with Lyme Disease, Over the Edge is riveting fiction, full of twists and turns—and powerful truths about today’s medical field.
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The information on Lyme disease contained on this page is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease, is for informational purposes only, and should not, in any way, be taken as medical advice. Please consult a licensed health care practitioner for all your health care needs.

 

Faith to Believe

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I sat on the couch under four blankets as a heating pad swaddled my head. Afflicted with a three-day old ice-pick to the skull migraine, a freezing body, and a head that felt like it was about to explode. Not my worse night ever, but man I was miserable. Since 2000 my health issues have ranged from good to horrible. Since this wild ride began, I’ve begged and prayed for healing.

Around 10:45 I was in bed praying, when God’s words whispered in my soul that I was healed.

Be healed, little one.

Heat from head to toe enveloped my body and my migraine was gone. We are talking one awesome experience!

This wasn’t just about a migraine. God’s words encompass more. I didn’t suddenly feel like Popeye after a helping of spinach. I feel so much better, I believe God has healed me, yet I must walk the healing out in faith as a “pick up your mat and walk” moment (see John 5). It’s not just about receiving the healing, but walking in the healing. It’s about the moment-by-moment trust even when unable to leap over buildings in a single bound.

I will pick up my mat and go the distance. I won’t plop back down when I’m afraid or don’t feel good. I will walk in faith and trust Him. I won’t hesitate to share what happened– to say what God has done and promised. I’m picking up my mat and walking, because if we don’t believe, we don’t walk in belief.

God, I believe!

“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. Who is it that is victorious over [that conquers] the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on that fact].” ~ 1 John 5:4 (ESV), 1 John 5:5 (AMP)

I’m believing, praising, and walking!!

Walk in belief

 

From Living Joyfully Free Devotional


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