I groggily looked up at the nurse. “Do you know the results?” I asked.

It was a struggle to form the words, my brain was still muddled from the anesthesia. She told me that she didn’t know. I was wheeled into a recovery room, where they let me have a sip of water. I wanted more, I was parched. Apparently having too much water after a fairly major surgery is a bad thing, though, because they wouldn’t let me have enough.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, my parents were ushered into the room. I looked up into their faces, and I knew. They couldn’t hide the sadness.

“What kind?” I croaked, my voice still parched.

My dad replied with, “Osteosarcoma, bone cancer.”

Those were the three words that rocked my world to its core.

Let me back up a step. It was my junior year of high school. (more…)

The Invitation

By: Debra Weiss, RTF Staff Writer

I feel like God isn’t listening to my prayers.
I don’t think God really answers prayer these days…
I’ve given up praying; God isn’t interested in my problems.

I’ve talked to the teens that have uttered these statements. Once optimistic, they’ve been beaten down by life. A parentsʼ divorce, chronic illness, surgery, depression, addictions, eating disorders, the death of a loved one…the list of their burdens is endless. (more…)

Take it all

For Mr. Tracy, by Judi Weiss, RTF Staff Writer

Trust in the Lord. It sounds easy enough. Especially when everything is going good. The road is even. But what about when a crisis comes your way?

My youth minister, Mr. Tracy, was diagnosed with Hodgkinʼs Lymphoma, known as Hodgkinʼs Disease, in June of 2007. Hodgkinʼs Lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system. A type of cell called the Reed-Sternberg cell is what marks it.

He began seven months of Chemotherapy then a month of radiation. After the treatment, he received what heʼd been waiting for, the clean bill of health.

This past September, the small family was hit with another crisis. The cancer had returned. With his wife Robin behind him, Mr. Tracy began his one month of radiation for the second time. (more…)

Worth It

by B.J. Hamrick, RTF Staff Writer

I’m not the type of girl who likes to be put in a box. But on a warm fall day in the mountains of North Carolina, my friend Laura talked me into it.

Literally.

“It’ll be fun,” she said. “Just crawl in.” (more…)

My Friend, Sarah

by B. J. Hamrick, RTF Staff Writer

When I think of the word bold, I think of Sarah’s red, flaming hair. But beneath her red, flaming hair was a person – someone just like you and me – someone who struggled to be bold in other ways.

“I want to stand up for Jesus at school,” she told us one night during camp devotions. “I want to make a difference.”

She talked about Columbine that night. She talked about the kids who stood up for Jesus when two killers asked the question, “Do you believe in God?” Those kids answered, “Yes”.

Sarah said she wanted to answer yes too. She wanted to see God change lives.

But seeing God change lives wasn’t new to Sarah. Everyone who knew her realized that she loved kids and spent every summer in the projects with them – playing games, telling Bible stories, and simply caring about their lives.

The summer of 2000 was no different. Sarah spent nearly every day teaching kids about God. In between teaching, she gave away extra lunches she packed for the homeless. (more…)

I’ve been praying about this alot, and I haven’t found any help on it…There is the guy who is in my grade (I’m in high school as a junior) and a couple weeks before school started, he sent me a text message saying he likes me, after the couple weeks we have talked to eachother, and now school has started, and he has been avoiding my messages, and hasn’t called me back when he’s said he would. He’s good buddies with my friend, and he tells him he all of a sudden doesn’t have feelings for me now. Now, I can’t stop thinking about him, and once in a while he will still talk about me to my friend, what should I do? I’m so confused! Anna

 

 

(more…)

It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials: through every cloud He brings, He wants us to unlearn something. ~ Oswald Chambers

I read this quote this morning and it stopped me. .

What does this mean? When things are tough, like when I had cancer or when my son was hurt, and things were dark, what did I need to unlearn?

Is God cruel? No. But all the things I trusted weren’t working. I wasn’t strong enough or smart enough to fix it. I didn’t have all the answers, and no one was lining up with a one-two-three formula that would make it all go away.

But I could trust God. No matter the outcome, I had something stable and beautiful and strong. It brought peace into a situation that wasn’t peaceful. It allowed me to celebrate in a time when there was nothing to celebrate. I was able to laugh, to live, and to move forward.

I remember people saying how strong I was in those times, and yet I knew that I was as weak as I had ever been. It wasn’t me. It was my faith in something greater than myself or my situation.

Perhaps what I unlearned during those hard times is my total self-sufficiency. I was strong, but my greater strength came in walking day by day, and at times minute by minute, with Christ.

Crawl

By Derrick Hanisch, Guest Writer, 21

One of my favorite bands is Superchick. Sad, but true. One of my highlights of Sonshine was seeing them perform. I even stood in line to get a poster autographed. It was really cool. Yes, while Superchick does sing about being a one girl revolution, and about how every girl is beautiful, they have some really cool lyrics.

I was listening to their newest CD today. I’ve listened to it a lot, and there’s one song that really stands out to me. It’s called “Crawl”:

How long will this take?
How much can I go through?
My heart, my soul aches
I don’t know what to do
I bend but don’t break
And somehow I’ll get through
’cause I have you (more…)