CMDA | On the Side Archives

When you begin a journey in your life, very rarely do you know how it will turn out, or how many different twists and turns, surprises and hardships you may encounter. What you can know is that God IS faithful, always. Throughout this whole process, He has proven Himself faithful to me many times.

When my husband Joshua and I met, he was in his second year of medical school at Temple in Philadelphia. I came there for a summer medical mission’s program that he would also be involved in. Even though I had no medical background whatsoever, (I did not even attend college), I knew that God was calling me to attend that summer program. Within a few short days, I met Josh, fell in love with him and felt led to stay in Philly as the administrative assistant of the Medical Campus Outreach program there. We were married his third year of medical school, and had our first child just before match day in his fourth year.

Well, I did not know what to expect as far as residency. I knew it would be hard in many ways. We were leaving Philadelphia to go to Pittsburgh with a tiny baby, no family nearby and a couple of friends in the area. As soon as we arrived, we attended a get-together for all of the new residents. That night, a women with a very somber look on her face, approached me. She asked what I was there for. When I told her my husband was starting residency, she took one look at the baby in my arms, looked back at me, and said, "Well, you’ll be a single parent." and walked away. I stood there for a moment shocked, and then walked outside so my husband wouldn’t see me crying. He followed me outside and asked me what had happened. After sharing my interaction, I expressed to him that I could not go into residency believing that this is what it would be like for us. I knew that if God had called us to do this, then I must believe that He would bring fruit in our lives because of it. I d! ecided and prayed then and there that I would walk forward purposefully, trusting the Lord to take the hardships, and turn them into something beautiful. I am grateful to that woman for being so upfront with her apparent bitterness. It served as a valuable lesson of choice to me: I could choose to focus on the hardships and be tempted by bitterness, or I could choose to focus and rely on His strength, and come through in victory.

There were times during residency that were harder than anything either of us wanted to go through. I know you all have experienced similar times. Many long hours spent apart from your husband, many meals eating alone with kids (we had three at this point), many tears thinking that you can’t make it another day. Yet, I can honestly say, that in my times of fear and loneliness, the Lord made Himself extremely real and extremely sufficient.

Toward the end of residency we found out we were expecting our fourth child. Joshua had also been accepted to do a fellowship here at Mayo in Hospital Medicine. At this point, we were very excited to know the next step (and hopefully final one of training), and a little nervous about such an unknown place as Minnesota. Again, with family even further away, it would be an adventure. The weekend we were to move, my mom called to say goodbye. She had been battling cancer for 11 years, and at that point, they did not think she would make it through the day. My husband and kids and I packed up and flew out that afternoon to be with her. Our friends finished packing us up, and literally moved us when we were gone. I -with all my siblings and their families- stayed with her and my father for about 6 weeks, with Joshua coming back and forth as he needed to begin fellowship. This was an amazing time together and my mom lived for another 3 months. It was also amazing for us, in tha! t even though I had not met anyone here yet, when we got home there were bags of groceries and note cards waiting for us at the door from my leaders of Side By Side, LeeAnn, Sarah and Kristi. What a tangible expression of love and provision.

There were a few passages that really held me up during residency. Romans 4:19 speaks about Abraham saying:

"Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.”

We face many hard things as women and as wives to doctors: loneliness, discouragements, sense of failure, sense of inadequacy, sense of single - parenthood but this verse encourages us in that Abraham did not try to cover the facts. He knew what he was up against, he knew the seeming impossibilities before him, but chose to not consider it a barrier for God to work His purposes. We know full well the hardships that we are up against: the temptation to lower our expectations, to dumb down our dreams and to "settle" for the children to just go to bed on time. God desires to show Himself faithful. Pray for and trust Him for fruit during these times.

Another story that struck me is the passage in Daniel that speaks about the three men thrown into the fiery furnace for not bowing to the king. It says that not only were they not burned, but there was no smell of smoke on them. This has been one of my prayers during these years of training. That not only would we not be burned by these trials, but that there would be no smell of smoke on me or my husband or my children. That bitterness would not be allowed to take root. That we would choose to rejoice.

Isaiah 55 says, "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come; buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance…".

There are many times as a wife and mother that I want to do things by my own energy, with my own resources, to know that my strength is capable and enough. Wow. How many times have I been laid low, and discovered that my strength is next to nothing.

The Lord is telling me to bring my lack, my "nothing" before Him and use it to buy wine and milk. How?! Because it is never my "money" or "energy" that accomplishes…it is His. Where it says, "Why do you spend money for what is not bread," I sensed Him telling me, "Why do you spend your energy on what will not last ...(laundry, cleaning, worrying), spend it on what will last… come to me, stand beside your husband, equip you children." We all know that there are things that just need to get done and always will, but the challenge to us is finding where the first-fruits of our time and energy and thoughts are going toward. May Christ be glorified when we choose to give Him our best!

Jennie La Brin is married to Joshua, a Hospitalist who will soon be working at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a stay at home mom to four children and expected to deliver her 5th child two weeks after the move.

Fill the Gap

by Cassie Porterfield

It was 6:00 p.m. I racked my brain to know where he might be - John knew that I was headed out for dessert with the girls for my birthday. Now it was 6:15 and I tried his cell phone. At 6:30, the phone rang. Unfortunately, he had to go to the OR for an emergency case and was so sorry that he wasn’t going to be there to keep the kids. He felt horrible because he just knew he would be done in plenty of time; after all, they didn’t have any cases scheduled for that day. So, I called my forever faithful back-up friend, Jody Magera to see if she would keep the kiddos. She was happy to keep them, so I took them on over. Thirty minutes later when my two friends and I arrived at the restaurant, there were several others waiting for us, as well, to celebrate my birthday…including Jody. So now Jim, Jody's Urologist husband, had four kids, instead of two, and that bunch – friends though they were- were all under the age of four and not calm in the least.

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

Friends are God’s lifeline to us here on earth. As medical wives, many of us know the uncertainty that comes with our husband’s schedule. Although they may have the best of intentions, life or death scenarios sometimes take precedent when we are perhaps planning for them to be around. And although it can be frustrating, God uses them each day with the unique skills he has given to them.

When my husband was in medical school, we were a part of a couple’s group called Christian Medical Ministries that provided support and encouragement to medical students and residents. I learned during those four years that I was not always going to have John available when I needed him to be. God provided me with a group of friends and mentor women that "filled in the gap." When he was in residency in Rochester, God used Side By Side to fill the same need in my life by surrounding me with people that understand what it is like to go places alone and sometimes have plans fall through. Since we often fill in the gap for our husbands at home, friends can really be a lifesaver in filling in some of the gaps for us.

A friend loves at all times…. Proverbs 17:17

Now that my husband is done with his training and we have moved back to Birmingham, we seem to have entered a different phase of life. Luckily, he is home more than during medical school and residency, and I am not as surrounded by medical spouses as in the past phases of life. However, there is still great comfort in those lifeline friends that were literally my family when he was in training. They are still on speed dial on my phone and those first 9-10 months after we moved back to Alabama, I needed and missed them desperately. I would call them just to feel "normal" because we had all been through so much together. Actually, Jody and I were doing the same thing again… moving to a place we had lived before and not feeling like we fit anywhere at all. We longed for those Friday mornings at Side By Side with our family that understood us completely. As a year approaches, I finally feel more settled, but realize that it is my turn to reach out where I live now. We recent! ly attended the same couple’s group that we went to back in medical school days, and I realized that I need to reach out to these younger ladies and be an encouragement to them as all those people along the way were an encouragement to me.

As medical wives, we can all provide so much for one another in the way of friendship, support and encouragement that will lighten the load. Be open to include others in your homes that do not have anyone to eat with one night. Be that person that is willing to take a friend’s children anytime day or night. Trade out so you and your husband can have a date sometime. Find out from others what their husband’s schedule is and get together to make it a fun weekend. Keep the doors open even if someone’s spouse cannot make it. Our husbands can do their work easier knowing that we are loved and cared for and that we are also helping others. And if you are in a new phase like me, make sure you don’t forget where you have been and reach out to those that might need someone to fill the gap in their life.

Love one another deeply from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God. I Peter 2:22-23

Cassie Porterfield resides in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband John, an endocrine surgeon at UAB, and her three children- John (8), Hallie (6), and Natalie (3), and is eternally grateful for all the wonderful ladies who God has sent over the years to fill in the gaps in her life.

July Devotion

A Time to Yield Strength

by Carol Mason Shrader

When my triplets were three, my son Benjamin had surgery at the Mayo Clinic’s St. Mary’s Hospital. In preparation for the surgery, all three children met with Mayo Clinic's Child Life Specialist. Things were going smoothly as she held up a picture of a man in a white coat and tie with a stethoscope around his neck and asked who this was. All three chorused, "The doctor." Then she held up a picture of the same man in blue scrubs, wearing a surgical cap and mask and asked them who this was. They all three chorused, “Daddy!”

In those years of residency, that was how they saw their Daddy -- wearing his blue scrubs and either coming or going from the operating room. Many nights we had family meals in the hospital cafeteria, squeezing in as much time with him as his pager would allow. Some days, he would call and say he was going to have about 15 minutes to say hello – we’d jump in the car and head to a back entrance to grab a hug from our favorite guy. There was not a huge quantity of time with Daddy but we really emphasized the quality! So the routine in our home was set by me. Mealtimes were held at the child-sized table in our dining room that seated four – three little ones and a mommy that could fit into the seat. And conversation at mealtimes was instigated, dominated and controlled by my trio as they went from three-, four-, five-, to six-year-olds.

As they grew and decisions had to be made regarding school, activities, etc, I was the one in charge. I visited the schools, met with the extra-curricular instructors, etc. Though I told Wade about each visit, each meeting and each idea, the ultimate decisions were mine. His plate was full. His time at home precious.

Through all of the medical school and residency years, I longed for the day when training done, Wade would be home for meals, would be available for parent-teacher conferences, would be once-again the main decision-maker in our home. I prayed for patience to reach that day. I prayed for sustenance for Wade in training and sustenance for me as I raised our family. And I waited. A funny thing happened when he was finally finished. I realized, sometimes, we get used to being the one in charge.

Training over, Wade’s schedule DOES allow for more family time – oh, not as much as I would like (is it ever as much as we would like?), but more than residency by far. We’ve had to progress to a grown-up table so that everyone can be seated together during mealtime. The kids don’t get total control of the conversation anymore. I don’t get total control of the decision-making anymore. And sometimes, I confess, that is a struggle.

Ephesians 5:22-24 states, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."

Often times, dear ones, we get so adept at building our lives around the training schedule of our sweet husbands, that we build them completely out of the role of husband and father. It is important to relinquish control back to our guys when they are ready for that control. Fitting them back into the family portrait is often a challenge during and following training. As women, we find the strength to keep our family moving forward, but equally important is handing the reins back to our men.

Ephesians 5 continues with a final word to husbands and wives in verse 33, "However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."

Rest assured that it is not an accident that husbands are told to love while wives are told to respect. The author of the word, our creator, knows exactly what is most important to us – he made us that way! While we need love and affection, our men need our respect. Ladies, there is no better way to show your husbands your respect than by letting them back in to the family equation. Making sure they are part of the decision making in regards to your children, making sure that they are part of the dinner conversation – welcomed back in!

May you be sustained in whatever your current season – may God help you if you are currently trying to juggle the major family decisions alone, giving your husband the ability to focus on his training; and may God help you if you are currently trying to fit him back in, allowing him to retake his God-given role of being the head of your household.

Carol Mason Shrader lives in Phoenix, Arizona where she and her children (Benjamin, Mason , Claire, and Cate) have no idea where Daddy’s cafeteria is located at Phoenix Children’s Hospital because he makes it home for dinner almost every night!

August Devotion

Fifty is Nifty!
by Sharon Chatwell

OK ... so I turned 50 this year ... the BIG "Five-O". What is the big deal?

After all, I handled 40 alright, and I barely even noticed 30. I mean, who had the time? If you think about it, when you stack up medical school, internship, residency and fellowship along with diapers, kids and carpools, it is a wonder that I even remember my "20 to 30 something" years!

But 50 got my attention. It is like a BIG stop sign right in the middle of the Road of Life; you don’t just go blowing past it. It is a time to pause and to reflect.

And to make this year even more memorable, my husband and I will celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary as well. So, it is a year of BIG celebrations. I have been calling it my "50/25 Year".

It really has been a time for reflection. Not a mid-life crisis, mind you. I already had one of those: I scheduled it. One day, when I was about 40, I made an appointment with my pastor, went in to his office, sat down in the chair, and announced that I was having my mid-life crisis there in his office for the next 20 minutes. I told him that was all the time I could spare for it. He looked at me very calmly from across the desk and said, "OK, go ahead." (What a guy!)

So ... reflection ... not crisis ... and not even panic ... simply this question: "What have I done with the ‘first’ 50 years God has given me and what do I intend to do with the ‘next’ 50?"

I did my own little "performance review". Looking back, I saw that there were a lot of things that I had actually accomplished (see paragraph #2, for starters.) I spent quite a few years just growing up myself, then there were my own children to raise, and somewhere in there was an education and a doctorate, alongside 25 years of marriage to a physician. The last 50 years seem pretty packed when you look at them that way.

But I began to wonder if I had done enough. I mean, couldn’t I have shoe-spooned some more stuff in ... somewhere in between the baby food in the jars and the college graduations? What happened to all of those milliseconds when I was asleep? What about those wasted years (yes, I mean "years") in front of the television? And how about all of those missed opportunities to say something encouraging to others while I was going about the "busyness" of my everyday life?

Suddenly failure seemed to loom before me: It did not seem to matter how much good I had accomplished! Look at what I had failed to do!! What if all the good things I had done did not outweigh the bad things? How much trouble was I actually in?

Praise be to God the Father that our salvation does not depend on our personal successes or failures! Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly tells us: 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.

God is so good!

But, while I realize that my salvation is assured because of grace, I know it is still up to me to be faithful with each day God gives me.

During my time of personal evaluation I noticed one area in my life where I had neglected a gift that God has given me: writing. During the next "Big 5-0" I hope to do something about that. Very soon I hope to launch a website that will be a help and an encouragement to those who work in Sunday Schools or other ministry programs with children and youth. It will feature free lessons and informational how-to articles, based on 20 years of experience working with Little Guys in church. I hope it will bless others.

There is a parable in the Bible which Jesus told about a landowner who goes away for a while, leaving his servants in charge. When the landowner returns he calls his servants to account for their activities in his absence. Then he rewards them depending on their faithfulness. One day, I would like for Jesus to say to me what the landowner says in Matthew 25:23 "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!"

I hope He will have reason to do so. I suppose it depends on how I spend the next 50 years or so. My prayer is that I will be faithful.

God bless you today, no matter how old you are! May you use today well!

Sharon is a wife and a mother who lives and writes in Lincoln, Nebraska. She and her husband, Rick, are planning a trip for their 25th wedding anniversary. She says, "We wanted to go someplace that we needed a passport to get to ... so, we are going to Alaska!"

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September Devotion

Serving Unselfishly
by Cassie Porterfield

It seems impossible that it was twelve years ago that I married my sweet husband. What seems even more impossible is that I met him in 6th grade when my brother dated his sister. No, we did not start dating until high school, but still ... we literally have known each other for 22 years. Time flies. Those first few years we were married, we felt like we were marriage experts. We had attended several Family Life conferences. We knew how to fight fair, and I was being so supportive of his endeavors to become a doctor as he went through medical school. The communication lines were wide open. And then, something strange happened ... we had kids! I had no idea that life would become so much more complicated. By the time, we were halfway through general surgery residency, we had three kids. Not only was our attention now quite divided, we were working with very limited time. The hospital needed him, the kids needed him, I needed him.

God provided for us during his training, even though the days seemed long. Actually, we were amazed at how quickly it all passed when 6 years later, he was finished and we were moving back home to Alabama. This first year “out” has been as much of an adjustment as any. During medical school, then residency, then fellowship, I think I was somewhat prepared for the challenge. I knew he would be limited. There would be a lot of times which I would have to just handle things alone. Luckily, I was in a Side By Side group and everyone was in the same boat, and we were like family to each other. But, although I had heard that things would not be easy, I somehow was not at all prepared for the life after training stage. God is teaching me a lot about submission again, after having been the decision maker for a long time. I realize that there is a lot of room for re-connection with him after this long journey! Do I really have his best in mind? Or have I allowed a strain of selfishness in?

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:9-12

In the book The Love Dare, Kendrick writes, “We live in a world that is enamored with ‘self.’ The culture around us teaches us to focus on appearance, feelings and personal desires as the top priority ... Almost every sinful action ever committed can be traced back to a selfish motive. It is a trait we hate in other people but justify in ourselves ... Loving couples, the ones who are enjoying the full purpose of marriage are bent on taking good care of the other flawed human they get to share life with. That’s because true love looks for ways to say ‘yes.’” ⁽¹⁾

A couple of weeks ago, I reconnected with a wonderful, godly medical wife that was a mentor to me while John was in medical school. I was sharing with her some of the struggles we had had during this first year back in Birmingham. One thing that I mentioned to her was, for me, it had been a little bit of a struggle moving back because I felt somehow I had lost something during those training years and I wasn’t sure what I even liked to do anymore. The past ten years was a bit centered around protecting my husband, and now that he was home, I was struggling to find out what was next for me. Hey, wasn’t it my turn to do something? As a wife and mother that is a few steps ahead in life, she encouraged me to find something that I love - even if it is just a little thing and make sure that I fit it in somehow. Even in the craziness of three young kids and a busy life, to make sure that I was using my gifts as well. I realized something though, through that conversation with her, even though I think she is right about preserving a little something that is my own. God showed me that I really had a strain of selfishness going on in my heart. Deep down, I was succumbing to the temptation to feel somehow justified in discontentment with this new life. God has been reminding me since then to continue to give and serve unselfishly and that he will give me satisfaction in Him if I will allow Him to take over. He will show me where He wants me to be, and He will give me the strength to find that new place. And, He will give me the tools to share life with my husband and love him the way he needs to be loved.

It is so clear to us that God has measured and directed each step of this journey as we look back. Every step of the way has been a testament to His love for us. Places we never thought we would be, but strength for each stretch of the v

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October Devotion

Heart Adjustment
by Carol Shrader

Periodically, I have to sit down and adjust my way of thinking. I find that the direction of my thoughts directly impacts my attitude and therefore can directly affect the atmosphere in my home.

Often, I set my mind on the way my husband’s calling to be a doctor affects me and our children. I moan about the fact that he is not home for dinner every night. I complain that his pager gets so much attention. I whine about the time he spends studying rather than just being with me. The Bible is clear about the effect my behavior has on my husband and our home: “A miserable heart means a miserable life; a cheerful heart fills the day with song.” Proverbs 15:15 (The Message)

Something happened to me this summer that gave me the attitude adjustment I need to fill our days with song:
My 12-year-old son had major hip surgery. Benjamin’s nine-hour surgery went very well. The x-rays look perfect. But less than two days out of surgery, my boy went into respiratory distress that sent the staff running, my heart racing and my sweet son to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. It was a horrible time, my friends. God’s faithfulness was evident as His healing power touched Benjamin and turned him around faster than anyone expected. But the affect on me lingers.

See, we are friends with our surgeon – he is Wade’s partner, after all. Therefore, his wife and children are also our friends. So I knew we were interrupting family time when Dr. Segal was paged to come running back to the hospital because my son was struggling to breathe on that Sunday afternoon. Just like I knew that his pager was interrupting mealtime when they paged him to check on giving Benjamin additional fluids. And I knew that his quality of family time was being affected when I saw the circles beneath his eyes when he checked on Benjamin the morning after he had been placed in the ICU.

I knew. And yet, the relief I felt at having such a caring, time-giving surgeon far out-weighed my concern for his sweet family. I was so thankful to have this doctor who was making sure every detail was getting the utmost attention to bring Benjamin back to his normal self. So thankful that this doctor was called to his profession and had a family who understands. I couldn’t help but leave the hospital changed.

Be assured that I am not perfect. I still want my husband home more than he is. I do. But today, when he is NOT home, I find myself praying for the family that he is ministering to – did their child just have surgery? Is the child in pain and is the mom scared to death? Are they anxious for a calming word from their doctor?

Amazing, the affect this is having on my attitude toward Wade. I have been reminded that this IS a calling. That he is ministering with every patient he encounters and that my job is to ensure when he arrives home that he has a haven, a place where he can re-charge and prepare for the next day.

May I gently remind you, dear ones, that I am not unique? You can rest assured that whether you realize it or not, your husband and your children are being affected by your attitude as well. But may I also remind you that God promises He notices every detail of our lives and He promises that he will not let us down: “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Hebrews 6:10

God will not forget all you do to co-labor with your husbands. My prayer is that you will find rest in this promise as you strive to make your home a haven for your husband, thereby partnering in their work as physicians and helping them do their job to the best of their God-given abilities.

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November Devotion

Garage Sale Mentality
by Sharon Chatwell

Back in the day ... my friend Robin and I used to go to garage sales on Saturdays. There wasn’t much to do in Rochester, MN, especially if you were poor residents’ wives, like we were. Between us we had 4 children under the age of 4, so that meant a lot of car seats. Robin would come pick me up in her roomy car and we would pile in with a thermos of coffee, some Sippy cups full of juice, and a few snacks. Then, armed with a well-marked newspaper, we would take off for a Saturday morning full of fun! Robin always said we were looking for things of “good value!” That meant we wanted nice things at modest prices.

That was a long time ago ... and a long way away. Robin and I have “aged” a bit since then. Our kids no longer drink out of Sippy cups, but I still remember the fun we had digging through the piles of junk, searching, as it were, for buried treasure.

I had my own garage sale recently.

The people at garage sales completely amaze me. Here you are set up in ... well ... a garage ... and you have your very best “junk” around you. You have drug it up from the basement or down out of the attic, intent on just getting it OUT of your house. And then these people come in and look at it and try to decide whether it’s worth them to taking it to THEIR house (where it will no doubt later end up in THEIR garage sale.) They look at what you have, see how much it’s marked, and then immediately try to figure out how much LESS they can pay you for it!!

This is a ridiculous Garage Sale mentality, isn’t it? But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is that it’s infectious! Did you know that you can actually become insulted because someone doesn’t think your junk is worth more!

Say you have something marked for $1, which originally cost you $50. It is still like new, but you are selling it because you know it has only been used once in three years. A person with a Garage Sale mentality comes in, sees it, and says ... “Oh, this is marked $1, so it must not be worth very much! Let me see how much LESS I can pay for it.” Soon you find yourself bargaining with someone over an amount of money that wouldn’t buy either of you a candy bar!!

Now who is ridiculous?

As another example, once at a garage sale I had a perfectly good blender marked very inexpensively. A particularly unpleasant woman came in, picked it up and demanded, “What’s WRONG with this?” “Nothing,” I said, “it works just fine. I just never use it.” “Of course you’d say that,” she remarked, “you just want to get rid of it.” She left the blender sitting there. She didn’t recognize “good value.”

After thinking about it for a while, I have wondered if that is one of the problems the world has with the Gospel. Do we regard it with a Garage Sale mentality?

Here is Jesus; He is preached “every Sunday” on “every street corner”. The message of God’s saving grace through faith in Jesus Christ is for everyone and it is FREE! Eternal salvation and the assurance of heaven are offered to us by God; No strings attached. What if we, with our Garage Sale mentality, shake our heads and say “If the Gospel was really as great as they say it is, wouldn’t it cost more?”

Although salvation is offered to us freely, it is not cheap.

1 Corinthians 7:23 says, “You were bought at a price.” What was that price? Nothing less than the life of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, sacrificed on the cross for us. We should not treat salvation with disdain, simply because it is offered to us for free. Let’s not be guilty of dealing with God with a Garage Sale mentality.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is an indescribable treasure, a magnificent discovery! It is the very definition of “good value.” I hope that you have already found it!

Wishing each of you “good value” in all that you do! God bless you!

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December Devotion

Living in the Bubble

by Cassie Porterfield

Do any of you live in a bubble like me? Sometimes, I sit back and reflect on the differences my husband John- an endocrine surgeon- and I face as far as the vastly different worlds that we function in. Back in what seems like ages ago, in the time of pre-kids, I used to strive to really see what he was doing as a medical student. He would take me down to the cadaver lab and show me what he was doing in anatomy or I would help him study. One time, I remember practicing with him as he learned to just close one eye, which as you can imagine is pretty crucial as a third year med student beginning clinical rotations and needing to look in people’s eyes, ears and other crevices. After we had children and entered the residency years, I was much less involved and as his brain cells increased, mine seemed to plummet with each pregnancy and nursing child. One can’t just sit in and watch their husband operate on people, but from what I hear from him and others downtown, people actually trust him to cut them open these days. And- as far as I can fathom- he seems to do a pretty good job.

Our worlds are quite different. I live in the land of getting the kids where they need to be and interacting with those people at church, school, gymnastics, baseball, etc. My job is to maintain sanity through housework, cooking meals, managing sibling rivalry, nursing sick ones, and doing laundry. But as I have realized over the years, through all the various stages, I live in a well defined little bubble. My kids go to a Christian school and at church we are surrounded by Christians. All my neighbors are generally friendly people, many of them also Christians. Even at extra-curricular activities, I almost always seem to know people from school or church. Even if your composite doesn’t look just like mine, I am sure that you seek to create the most positive environment for your kids where you feel they will grow and mature.

Now, where does my husband live and breathe each day? His is not the warm, cozy little bubble that mine is. He deals with many families who are in need in various ways, whether physically, emotionally or spiritually. Most of the people that surround him day to day are not like-minded but he interacts with them all the same. They are from many countries, different faiths or no faith at all. Some of them are sick and many of them feel they have no hope. It is quite incredible to hear how open many are to hearing about the Ultimate Healer, the One who can provide for us in ways that no one else can. It is encouraging to hear how he gets to pray with his patients and reach out to them at times when many of them feel helpless and hopeless. When he was gone a lot during med school and residency and I would start feeling alone and a bit sorry for myself, we would invariably get a note from a patient that he had cared for. It always made me realize that God was using him, even during those hard times, and how he was sharing Christ through just caring for his patients, even though he maybe did not feel he was growing very much at the time. Our husbands as doctors can uniquely minister to people around them with the gifts God has given them, and we should pray for them to have these opportunities each day.

So, what does that mean for those of us who live in the comfort zone? There is nothing wrong with surrounding ourselves with like-minded people because God wants us to have fellowship and accountability with believers. However, there are needs around us no matter where we are, and we can pray that God will give us opportunities to reach out and share with those that we encounter everyday, whether it be at the grocery store, the park or a baseball practice. Pray with me that God will provide a moment today that you and I can share Christ with someone who needs to be encouraged by His love, forgiveness and grace.

“Be very careful, then, how you live- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil ... Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 5:15-16; 19-20.