A Family of Faith

Ma Boon is a 63 year old lady (far left) was diagnosed with end stage colon cancer 3 months ago. She was told she only a few months to live. She heard from somewhere that the Christian God was a healing God. So she had her husband drive her around until they found a Christian. They found Joy and her little church where they prayed for her. When she came in to the church her husband carried her in on a mat. Ma Boon was skin and bone and unable to walk. They prayed for her and she left. One month later she walked in remarkably better. Three months later she came back looking "fat" and healthy and back to work. It was obvious a miracle had been done. Her doctor was amazed because he gave her no hope. He offered some minor medication (telling her chemo was not worth a try at the stage) and she didn't take them because she said she had faith that her God would heal her. When she came for a check up later the doctor could find no more cancer. 

Husband and wife (second the the left and far right) came to Christ about 20 years ago when a missionary came to their village and taught them about God. He discovered that God had called him and had chosen him. They had a son who was very sick. From four years old to 19 years old he was in and out of the hospital with thalassemia. Mom and dad had to take him to Bangkok for many transfusions and treatments. They were troubled because they were simple uneducated people who didn't know anything about medicine. But soon they learned more about God and that he was the great physician. When their son was about 19 the doctor said he needed his spleen out. But the boy learned from the Bible that every organ in the Bible is important so he felt led that he should keep his spleen. They signed him out of the hospital and asked The Lord to heal him. Now 6 years later he is healthy, married, jaundice free, and he no longer needs transfusions. God did a miracle in his life too. They led their niece Bang ( second the the right) to The Lord and it was Bang who led Ma Boon to The Lord. A great family of faith.

One of the many amazing stories and testimonies from mobile clinic this week. What faith can do!!

To Our Faithful Followers

Dear Friends and Family,

   Our apologies for not keeping this blog updated as we should.  Doug and I are going to make a concerted effort to keep this blog full of our stories of how the Lord has worked among our various ministries.  We want you to be informed and able to pray for us specifically.  We covet your prayers.  Here are a few things that are new for us.

Thai Country Trim now has a face book page and we have an Etsy shop where we are selling a few items. Just use our name to find us and face book and there is a link to the Etsy shop there.

The clinic has a new website that is still being built but you can find us on www.bangklabaptistclinic.org     

Thank you for you prayers and your patients with us as we try again to make this blog a priority.

Doug and Cheryl



Saturday Night Devotions

Peter 3:10-11

     For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit.  Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.

     Peter begins the verse with an attention grabber.  Do you want to love your life?  Everyone wants to love their life – to feel enthused about their day, to feel fulfilled by their efforts and relationships, to find meaning and purpose and appreciation… and on and on.  Interestingly, different people enjoy some matters more than others.  Some enjoy work, some enjoy sports, some enjoy lounging alone or with friends.  It is fascinating, then, to see that this recommendation is made to everyone, regardless of their career, gender, or personality.  Peter says that no matter who you are or what you enjoy, if you want to have a great life, if you want to love your life, this is what you do:  First of all, you guard your tongue.  Perhaps this is not the suggestion we suspected.  But Peter joins James in teaching us that if want to enjoy life – not just help others enjoy their lives – but if we want to enjoy our life, we must control our tongue.  Don’t say mean things, don’t say rude things, don’t say vulgar things, and don’t say false things.  Peter boldly claims that if we will control our tongue, we will love life.  Secondly, Peter says that if we “would love life and see good days,” we should “turn away from evil and do good.”  Do no wrong – and not just that, but do good things for people.  If we will turn from sin and do good for others Peter claims that we will love life.  Perhaps not the formula others have proposed, but Peter is certain of his claim.  Thirdly, Peter says that if we want to love life we should “seek peace.”  In fact, we should “pursue” peace -- track it down, hunt it down, never lose the scent until we are at peace with those around us.  If we will intently pursue peaceful relations with others Peter claims that we will love life.  There it is, Peter’s secret for “good days” and loving life: control your tongue, turn from sin, do good things for people, and maintain peace in our relationships.  Perhaps just as fascinating as Peter’s claim that doing these things will result in a wonderful life is the fact that the idea is not original with him!  He is quoting from Psalm 34:12-14 in making this tremendous claim.  So we see that God’s plan for providing man with a wonderful life has not changed over time.  The key to loving life was the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament, and logic dictates that this same key will open this great door in our day. 

Saturday Night Devotions

 

 

I Peter 3:9

     Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.

     We are plainly called to be a blessing to others – and not only those who bless us, but bless even those who cause us pain.  Luke 6:28 says, “Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”  We are first called to bless those who curse us because that is the example Jesus gave us.  This same line “not returning reviling for reviling” was used to describe Jesus in I Peter 2:23.  As if that were not enough (and certainly it should be), the verse adds further impetus to blessing those around us by stating that we should bless others “that you may inherit a blessing.”  Let us first of all be diligent in being a blessing to those in our church.  Then let us seek to bless those who intentionally bring us distress, as in this verse, because doing so allows us to “inherit a blessing.”  If we did not realize it before now, let us take note that God blesses those who bless others.  Sometimes that blessing comes in heaven, sometimes His blessing comes to us right away.  “Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered (Proverbs 11:25, ESV).”

Saturday Night Devotions

I Peter 3:8

     Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous.

     Peter now turns from relationships in the home to relationships in the church.  It was to Peter that Jesus gave the appeal to “Feed my sheep” and now Peter passes that encouragement on to us.  He calls on us to be of one mind – not just unified in vision, but unified in the sense that we see the need to do all we can to look out for one another’s wellbeing.  As best we can we want to know our brother’s state of mind so that we can do what we can to add to his joy and his peace of mind.  We are to have sympathy, pity, courtesy, and compassion for all in the church.  If our thoughts toward are other believers tend to be harsh and critical, and it is difficult to remember the last time we provided encouragement for anyone in the church, we are in disobedience to this passage.  Let us avoid the temptation to be the church critic, and instead strive to be the church caretaker, not for the church grounds, but for the church people.  

Saturday Night Devotions

I Peter 3:7

     Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

     Peter gave 6 verses of recommendations to wives and here gives his single verse of counsel to husbands.  He begins by admonishing husbands to live with their wives “with understanding.”  It is often made a matter of humor that men don’t understand women, but the humor ends with I Peter 3:7.  Men are here given the clear admonition to understand the needs, emotions, values, challenges, desires, and dreams of the wife God has given them.  If we admit that we do not understand any of these matters of our wife we are compelled here to fix that.  We are called to be men, not boys or beasts – and living without understanding our wife is unmanly.  Psalm 32:9 says, “Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.”  Similarly, Psalm 49:20 says, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.”  Let us then stand like men and increase our understanding of our wives.  It is not just for the sake of our wife’s happiness that we seek understanding, it is for ours as well.  Proverbs 3:13 says, “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding.”  And Proverbs 2:11 promises, “Discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you (ESV).”

    After being compelled to understand our wife, we are next told to give her honor, “as to the weaker vessel.”  In general, women do not have the physical strength of the husband.  Since that is so, men ought to respect, even marvel with appreciation all that women accomplish in their day.  Women who meet the needs of the family and community are doubly worthy of receiving honor from their husbands.  Husbands are not called here to honor their wives despite their weaker frame, but because of their weaker nature.  When a woman’s work load equals or exceeds her husbands, though she has less physical strength than he does, she is worthy of honor.  Romans 13:7 calls on us to give honor to whom honor is due, and Peter reminds us here that this certainly includes our wife.  Perhaps there are many ways to honor our wife, but Proverbs 31:28 mentions that a virtuous wife is praised by her husband.  Let us seek opportunity at home to privately praise our wife for her godly attributes, as well as seek appropriate opportunity to compliment her in public.

     After giving us this counsel to understand and honor our wife, Peter then gives us just cause for doing so.  He says first of all that we should honor and understand our wife because we are “heirs together of the grace of life.”  That is, our blessings from God, the grace that we receive from Him is bound up together in a single package.  A husband cannot hope to be richly blessed by God yet have his wife sadly miss out on the blessings.  When God blesses, He blesses the husband and wife together.  If we allow problems to creep into our marriage relationship, we will find problems creeping into our relationship with God.  We must see here that we are “heirs together.”  In many ways, what God gives the husband, He gives to the wife just the same.   He spells it out even more clearly in the next line, “that your prayers may not be hindered.”  Peter is saying, if you take care of your wife’s needs, God will take care of yours.  If you are the answer to your wife’s prayers, God will be the answer to yours.  If we fail our wife, however, we will find that our prayers fail with God – a frightening prospect.  Since the blessings that we receive from God are caught up inseparably from the blessings our wife receives from God, and since our prayers to God are hindered when our relationship with our wife is weakened, let us make all effort to make our marriage relationship a vital priority.   

Saturday night Devotions

I Peter 3:5-6

     For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.

     For those with a desire to please God, it is helpful to have godly examples to follow, and Peter now gives godly women of today an example to help them see what it looks like to have a life that is pleasing to God.  He points to Sarah.  God had given her the name and title of “princess,” for that is what Sarah means, but the high esteem which God shows her does not cause her to decrease her respect for her husband, and in Genesis 18:12 she calls Abraham “my lord.”  Peter gives this as his only specific example of Sarah’s submissive attitude, and it seems to be enough.  She called her husband her lord and she “obeyed” him even when his plans were doubtful at best as when he told her to tell people she was his sister in Genesis 12.  Sarah is wonderfully blessed by the Lord (Genesis 17:16) and we are told here that women of today can become her daughters and thus heirs to her blessings if they “do good and are not afraid with any terror.”  Somehow Peter connects doing good with not being afraid.  Solomon did so too.  In Proverbs 3:25 Solomon says, “Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes.”  Then in Proverbs 3:27 he says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so.”  Sarah is the only one listed by name, but she is not our only example.  Peter says that all “the holy women who trusted in God” acted like this.  May the holy women of our day be encouraged to continue in this example to show submission, good works, and fearlessness, that they, too, might become daughters of Sarah, and like her, provide shining examples for the next generation to follow.