I have to be honest. I was broken hearted when I read this weeks note! I did NOT want to post it and I think you all will understand why. Satan counterfeits everything from Jesus. A sermon, power, a book. Gods power is available to
all of us Eph 6:10 says be strong in HIM and in His mighty power. Jesus teaches the true sermon on the mount in Mathew 5,6, and 7 in HIS WORD. I shared with my dad when I spoke to him on Friday that sooo many people had prayed for him on Thursday and I believe
that is why he felt so much better on Friday. (This was before he ever wrote this note)
As I prayed, cried out to the Lord asking for the deceit to be revealed and Truth to be received by my dad, it was in that time that I knew I should ask you all to come in agreement with me. I read a story posted on the
InCourage website written by SarahMae about her mother who was an alcoholic and only had 2 months to live. She heard the voice of God clearly telling her to put down her Vodka which she did and has since surpassed her doctors diagnosis and 10 months later is still here and living for HIM! It gave me great hope and has encouraged me to continue to believe that my dad can also accept Jesus! His gift of Salvation, His Forgiveness and life Everlasting!
My dad knows that I post his notes but he does not read my blog. I am not sure why. He has seen his prayer button and I would read comments to him from each of you which he appreciates and is very humbled by but for whatever reason he doesn't read my blog. Anyway ~ here is his note.
Doug Woods: "The Sermon on the Mount" by Emmet Fox
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"The Sermon on the Mount" by Emmet FoxShare
Yesterday at 10:07pm
I’ve been out of pocket this week – mostly because of fatigue. I couldn’t even muster the energy to get on Facebook. I think the accumulated radiation treatments took their toll on my energy. I worked each day, but then I spent the evenings resting and trying to get my energy back. My best day was today – after yesterday’s chemotherapy treatment. I felt the best I’ve felt all week.
Fortunately, yesterday’s chemotherapy treatment went without a hitch again. I did react to the sedative they gave me. It was the first time the sedative had an effect on me. The way I knew things weren’t going well was when it took me an hour to write a 4-line email to my assistant. I couldn’t get my fingers to type correctly and I kept starting over and making errors. After I finished that one email I shut my laptop down and didn’t work anymore.
This week I finished 5 more radiation treatments (bringing the total to 23 of the planned 28) and another chemotherapy treatment (for a total of 5 of the planned 8). I will have my next chemotherapy treatment this coming Wednesday and my final radiation treatment will be on Friday. After this week’s chemotherapy treatment, I will have two more – each three weeks apart.
Besides fatigue, my throat is still sore from the radiation and I still have a cough. For my throat, I am taking some medication before I eat. It helps. For the cough, I take some medication when I go to bed. At least it allows me to get some sleep.
Barbie and I made some progress on preparing for the EMDR but we didn’t get started on the actual process. Hopefully, we will do something this weekend. I am very anxious to start as I feel there are some big rewards that will come from the going through the process.
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Personally, one of the most important books I think I ever read is a book by Dr. Emmet Fox entitled “The Sermon on the Mount”. I read this book about five times during my second year of sobriety. It had a profound impact on my life and how I viewed and dealt with things. Dr. Fox’s book was very influential in formulating many of my views. I picked it up again this week and began to read it again.
Just to sidetrack a minute…I think that the period around the mid-1930s was a remarkable period. There is so much correlation among the great thinkers of that period. Some of the people who lived at that time were Dr. Fox, Carl Jung, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob (AA’s co-founders). One thing I think is remarkable is that they all had a hand in the formation of AA and in a couple of cases they did not know their actions contributed to the formation of the organization.
Back to “The Sermon on the Mount”: The following statement by Dr. Fox is one of the transforming statements that had an impact on me. Dr Fox wrote: There is “a source of universal power that is rightfully yours. ‘This Power’ is the real source of all things that exist. It needs only to flow into your being and transform itself into health, into true prosperity, into inspiration, or into anything else you may be needing. The Power is there. It is present everywhere. It belongs to nobody in particular because it belongs to all. It is waiting at all times for men and women to call it into use – not merely in crisis, but in every problem however small every day of your life.”
Dr Fox continues: “The fact that most people do not suspect the existence of the Power does not change the fact that it is there.”
It was the idea that this Power was available to me (and everyone else) that opened my eyes to the possibility that I could open myself and let It transform me. All I had to do was to “seek systematically to destroy in myself everything which I knew should not be there, things such as selfishness, pride, vanity, sensuality, self-righteousness, jealousy, self-pity, resentment, condemnation, and so forth – not feeding them or nourishing them by giving into them, but starving them to death by refusing them expression.” Obviously, I fall far short of achieving this lofty goal, but it is something I work toward each day. When I am aware of one of these defects, I try to not give into it and by doing so I grow.
This approach applies to how I deal with this cancer. I don’t fall into self-pity – nor do I give into fear. I have no resentments about this disease. I know the Power is available to me and I am trying to let it transform me into health, true prosperity, and anything else the Power thinks I need. I have come to trust this Power and let It work in my life in any way It thinks best. I expect to continue this approach and attitude as I deal with this tumor.
Doug Woods
Please join me in praying for the TRUTH to be revealed to my Dad. JESUS the one and only is the teacher of all of these things and the giver of life, the healer. He alone will show us how to live, renew our minds, and how to die to our flesh by giving us HIS nature. It is in HIm that we grow and it is in HIM that we have Power!
Love and blessings to you all
