Archive for category: Resources

By Liane Vierra
Kroc Center, Kapolei HI – Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Division

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

This is the scripture that my youngest daughter, McKenna, used in her first testimony at our church when she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Large B-Cell Lymphoma cancer in July of 2020. She shared in her testimony that she sat in disbelief for a moment and asked God, “Why me?” But then she heard Him say, “Why not you?” As a 26-year-old flight attendant and licensed private pilot, God was calling McKenna to have confidence that He was faithful to His promise in Romans 8:28 and requiring that she would trust Him completely with the six rounds of 120-hour chemo treatments that she would soon endure.

The treatments began in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic when health care facilities were implementing “no visitor” policies. McKenna would need to remain in the hospital for five days at a time, just her and God. She expressed that some days were literally so difficult that she had to close her eyes and imagine Jesus sitting at the edge of her hospital bed or rubbing her back when she needed it most. She acknowledged that it was God who got her through every single day, one day at a time. McKenna also shared a quote in her testimony that stated, “Maybe you were assigned this mountain to show others that it can be moved.” And it couldn’t be any truer she said, because after all, faith can move mountains.

God healed McKenna halfway through her treatment in October of 2020. The softball sized cancer that was located near her heart had vanished. Simultaneously, in His strength, McKenna also obtained her instrument pilot’s license. And in her second testimony at our church she humbly declared, “God did that.” Her prayer was that her life would be used as a living testimony for His glory.

McKenna was advised to complete the second half of her chemo treatments and was now working on her commercial pilot license. It was on July 26, 2021, that my whole world literally changed in an instant. McKenna went on an exploratory flight while on a trip to Alaska. She was a passenger on a single-engine Cessna that tragically crashed in a steep mountainous area of upper Eagle River Valley. We were informed that her journey soaring the skies disconcertingly came to an end, McKenna had been promoted to glory. My heart broke and shattered into a million pieces. How could God allow this to happen?

The Coronavirus disease struck my family shortly after McKenna’s passing which caused my oldest daughter, Taurie, to be admitted in the hospital. As if Covid wasn’t enough to conquer, Taurie was also diagnosed with pneumonia. I found myself once again, in the middle of a pandemic, with another daughter in the hospital. For seven days Taurie fought to get better, while I wrestled with God, begging Him not to take her from my family. She was a wife, and a mother to three young boys. In all the 20 years I served God, there had always been weapons thrown at my family. None quite as sharp as death, and now sickness. How do I flourish in a dark season such as this?

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2

God knew beforehand that these afflictions were heading my way, and in His kindness, guided me to places and people where I would be supported and loved, and able to thrive amidst adversity. The Salvation Army was one of those places. He surrounded me with an army of prayer warriors who prayed fervently, gave generously, and loved extravagantly.

By God’s grace, He sustained me. I eventually realized that lovers of God are not excluded from tragedy and even though I did not comprehend everything I was going through, I needed to trust the teacher. God instructed me to seek His perspective and revealed to me that His purpose was greater than my pain. He educated me about how He could use storms to sift my faith so that particles of unbelief would fall out. God conveyed to me that what I cultivated in tears would give rise to an abundant harvest. That He would use my suffering for His glory, and that He would come through.

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Taurie recovered from Covid and pneumonia and returned safely home to her family. My God is good indeed.

He is life. Although I faced the devastation of losing McKenna, I have grasped that this earth was not her final destination.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” John 11:25

There is an eternal hope because Christ’s resurrection power has the final say. In eternity, death doesn’t win, Jesus does. McKenna is alive in Heaven, and her testimony will live for His glory. Is she a world changer? God knows.

When I focus my life from the standpoint of Truth, it is only then that I can flourish. I have learned that Jesus doesn’t want to be explained away, He just wants to be invited in. He doesn’t ask me to be perfect, just perfectly surrendered to Him. In this valley, and complementary to McKenna’s prayer, God has been providing me the opportunity to display His glory. When I am weak HE IS STRONG. In Truth I can be set free and remain unwavering in my faith.

Behold I have refined you, but not with silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10

There are days that I wake up and wish that this season was all a bad dream, and there are days that I sit to pray and have no words. In the stillness, nothing but anguish. Then God breaks through the silence and whispers that He has not dropped the pen that He is using to write my testimony. He advises me that when the pen remains in HIs hand, my testimony remains perfect.

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10

Heaven knows that I would rather have my circumstances be changed, but I know that right now, God wants to focus on changing me.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

By Captain Sandra Solis
Location – Cascade Division

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the word “flourish” as, “to grow luxuriantly: Thrive.” Although the word is defined as a verb, an action is to be taken, I have to admit that for some time I did not feel like I was flourishing in my life. 2021 was a particularly difficult year for me. This year was a year of heartbreak, loss and discouragement. In some moments, things just felt stagnant and out of sync and staying still for even a moment felt like a very difficult thing to do. I found myself in a place where I was not certain I would be able to get out of, and I questioned where God was in my life. In a time where staying still was difficult, flourishing just did not feel like it was happening.

How did I find time to grow and flourish and remember who God is? It began by doing the exact thing I always have trouble with. It began by pausing. Pausing whatever I was doing and taking a deep breath -yes, just taking a deep breath and stopping whatever I was doing at that moment, even if it was hard for me to do. By concentrating on my breathing I was able to ground myself and focus on what my next steps were, and what I needed at that specific moment. Sometimes it was just a time of stopping and getting a cup of coffee at my favorite coffee place. These moments became part of my routine to try and figure out or make sense of all that was happening.

The beautiful thing about these pauses was that I did not have to do this on my own, and even more beautiful was the fact that God provided what I needed at that moment. These pauses came in the forms of praying, reaching out to family and friends, encouraging words, prayers that sustained me, a dessert here and there, and taking my dog Oliver out for afternoon walks. So why the deep breaths and taking the time to pause? Because it helped me to calm down, it helps me to refocus on things, and it also helped me gain clarity on the situations.

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV) reads, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” The Lord is with us -this verse is a command and a promise! Although fear can be paralyzing at times, we have the God who loves us and has chosen each one of us and tells us to do not be afraid for He is with us. Fear, worry and doubt are somethings that have come across my mind a lot during this season of my life, and perhaps these are feelings that have crossed your mind too.

In the words of Isaiah, we are reminded that the Lord is with us -strengthening and upholding us. Friends, the Lord that loves us and has chosen us is with us every day and every moment. “Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.” He is our God, He is with us, and we are not alone. “Strengthen, help, uphold,” these are verbs that mean the Lord is active in our lives. He is for us, He helps us and gives us the strength to overcome the valleys in our lives -He is our God, and we are His children.

Flourishing in a season where things did not always feel synchronous was difficult for me. I love when things are in order and things make sense, but this was also a life changing, life transforming time. In the stillness, in the quiet moments, in the moments where deep breaths took more effort than they should, encountering God made those moments more and more peaceful and it became more and more evident that He was with me every step of the way.

Friends, He is with us in every moment of our lives, through the “asynchronous” moments, down in the valleys and atop the mountains. Psalm 46:10 reads, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” I find it difficult to be still for long periods of time. My inability to be still causes me to miss the growth in my life, my ministry and my friendships. There have been moments in my life when I could not see evidence of growth, but God did a work in me, and He showed me luxurious growth done by His righteous right hand and like a flower I flourished.

Flourishing, may not always look like what we had hoped for, planned for, or envisioned at this time in our lives. In some seasons we flourish and in some seasons we feel like we are not. This is when we pray, we grow, we adapt, and we overcome -and sometimes we eat a slice of cake! (or your favorite dessert). Then we continue to walk and trust in the Lord who is with us every step of the way.

I pray, whatever season you may be in now, you find moments to take a deep breath, take a pause, and know that He is God and be reminded in the stillness of life you are flourishing, and the Lord is with you -strengthening you and upholding you with His righteous right hand.