DARE

I wrote this blog a couple of weeks ago when I thought this sweet little boy had died, but he rallied for a few more days. So since writing this I have come across ONE case of what I call a BIBLICAL healing. Recently a friend of ours, a missionary, told us his story. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer a few years ago had surgery chemo, the works and was doing fine. Then on a CAT scan, it showed a mass in his lung. He was scheduled for a trip to Kenya and the doctor told him to go on, somewhat implying it could be his last trip...There in Kenya, he was prayed for by about 30 pastors, and liberally anointed with oil. He felt something when they prayed and some of the problems he had been having with chemo immediately were resolved. His hands and feet had split open and were painful. They were healed. When he got back to America, he had a biopsy planned. They went in and found dead tissue in that area. He had a CAT scan done and there was a hole that matched exactly to the mass that was previously seen on the CAT scan. Since that time, about 2 years ago, the hole has gradually been filling in with healthy NEW lung tissue! This guy is a for real person who does NOT exxagrate or lie. He also does not go spouting off about this, I actually had to ask him my famous question "Do you know of any BIBLICAL healings" I've known him for years but did not know this part of the story.

However this is the only case I know of....Now you can read my angry blog. I'm not angry at all at God just foolishness in the church.


A sweet little 2 yr old boy died recently. I've been following his updates on caring bridges, his family is a friend of a friend. He had leukemia most of his short life. His parents come across as the sweetest, most loving family. They found out in October that he only had weeks to live following his 2nd transplant. Even though I knew his death was near, I'm so angry that he had to die!! I'm just bawling about this little guy, that I've never met, and for his parents.

On his caring bridges page, I was reading some of the responses and some kook who didn't have the backbone to sign his/her name wrote all this stupid crap about speaking words of faith over him and he'd be healed...what an idiot!

I DARE anyone reading this to send me a DOCUMENTED case of Biblical healing! Not some story, not someone who went into remission after chemo but a healing like in the Bible where there was no medical intervention and yet the person was completely healed after prayer. I'm not talking about a cold that went away or someone quit throwing up from a stomach virus. Nor am I talking about things that can be explained like someone taking a long time to get pregnant....I want to see the real deal~ A complete total instantaneous healing just like in the Bible!

My church teaches that healing is provided for in the atonement, yet I'm 44 years old and I've never seen a documented healing. Maybe God doesn't move like that anymore. I'm not doubting His ability, I'm just saying that IT AIN'T HAPPENING" Go ahead and prove me wrong but I want to see a COMPLETE HEALING! Not "I'm a little better"


Show me "The blind who see, the deaf who hear, the retarded child healed, new limbs, new eyes, cancer free....I've seen 3 wonderful young Christians who were in ministry die in the past year of cancer despite thousands of prayers.

I don't believe anyone can show me proof cause if it was out there, the person who was healed would be on all the christian tv shows, in the christian magazines, even in secular magazines. I feel like the christian world is like the little children's fable "The Emperor Has No Clothes" Everyone says all the spiritual things but it's empty air, false silly words and people still are dying...

I guess what makes me so angry is the false hope and the empty promises that the Charismatic/Pentecostals are so fond of! Shut the heck up!!!! I can accept the fact that the Bible says "It is appointed unto man once to die and after comes the judgement" I understand that death entered into the world by man's disobedience and that one day there will be no more dying. I can totally accept that. What I can NOT accept is foolishness from Christians! And I'm talking about mainstream Pentecostals not necessarily "Word of Faith" people~don't get me started there. The so called middle of the roads folks are strange enough!

Put up or shut up! Stop saying things that are not Bibically true nor are they even happening today!

I think we need to honestly look at the issues of healing. I'm proud of our denomination and the fact that it does seem some leaders are being more honest about the issues of healing. I recently saw a video that was a round table discussion regarding healing and it was very balanced. I'm sure some would say, we're backing away from the faith...NO I just think we are being honest!!!

So send me documentation....I'm waiting!

DISCLAIMER; These are my thoughts as I honestly look at the issue of healing. I do not represent my husband or our church.

Merry Christmas newsletter '09

Merry Christmas ‘09

Another year has come and gone and here we are at the end of 2009. It has been another busy year for us, a year in which we have seen God’s faithfulness! We are still pastoring in Zephyrhills Fl, but not Branchborough Assembly of God…now Jon pastors Grace Church (new name-same location) We love the name change. It reflects the spirit of the church and the message God has given Jon, the grace of God. This year we bought a church bus and have started a bus ministry. God has also sent us a children’s pastor and a youth pastor! What a blessing! We have also added some new families to our church this year. It’s been a good year.

Jon finally received his transfer from Lake Correctional in Clermont, a hour’s drive away, to Zephyrhills Correctional. He is blessed to work with some staff he has worked with before. ZCI is a great prison and a very unique as it has a hospice wing, as well as chronically ill inmates and ones who are dealing with mental health issues. He has a Sunday morning service that averages about 70 inmates. He is thrilled to be there! And thrilled to be free from a 2 hour daily commute!!
Jon and I celebrated our 20th anniversary this past October 12th! WOW-so glad we’ve had each other to go through life with. Our whole meting/dating/eloping is a crazy story but God knew what He was doing, putting the two of us together! We didn’t really get to do any big trip but maybe next summer!

In other news…Stephen is now in 8th grade and back at Zephyrhills Christian Academy. He is doing GREAT and is gearing up for basketball season. We’ve been really pleased with his grades, he’s keeping an A-B average in everything and really putting a lot of effort into everything. Knowing that high school is coming up next year, he is very motivated. He’d like to be dual enrolled for 11th and 12th grade in the community college and he knows he has to hit the ground running to be able to meet that goal! He also wants to get a job now that he is 14 yrs old so he’ll be looking after basketball season. Also he had a great summer, he went to youth camp two times with two different sets of friends.

Shad is now 6 yrs old and in kindergarten at Zephyrhills Christian, where he is making straight A’s, keeping an average of 95 and above. He loves school and hates to miss a day! We thought he’d do good but it is amazing how well he is doing. Shad got glasses this year. He looks like a little professor when he remembers to wear them. He is so outgoing, all the kids at school know him, from the minute he gets out of the van, he’s yelling “hi” to someone.

Sam ,5 yrs old, is also in kindergarten, but on a home bound program through the school system. His teachers come out to the home four days a week and work with him. Sam has had another challenging year, what’s new? This year we found out he has kenotic hypoglycemia, so severe it caused him to have a terrible seizure in May and has put him in the hospital almost every month since then. We have began to have to check his blood sugars and in order to keep them up he has recently been given CORNSTARCH-crazy huh? But it works! We put it in his bottle of Pedisure and it keeps his sugar stable Thank God!!! The doctor feels he will out grow it but at this point he is still so tiny. He is the size of a 2 ½ year old and he hasn’t grown much in the past 2 years. For our Xmas picture, he is wearing the same pair of jeans he wore 2 yrs ago…24 month size. Part of Peter’s Anomaly is short statue but he seems to be smaller than most kids with it. He is our little baby boy and we adore our midget Also this year in August, we learned that the retina in his left eye has totally detached causing him to be black blind in that eye. That was hard for us to hear as we have fought SO hard for that little eye and the little bit of sight he had in it. With a child that has such a small amount of sight, you fight for everything! However his right eye has done well and he gets around so good with it. Almost every day he does something to amaze us, something we wouldn’t have thought he could do This year we also learned that he is deaf in his left ear and has some hearing loss in his right. He will be having some more tests to determine exactly how bad it is. We probably won’t be able to do hearing aids, even if they’d work, cause Sam can’t stand anything touching his head. The reason we are doing the testing is just to see how bad it is and if it’s something that could get worse.
Just recently we were told he may have Tardive Dyskinesia, a form of Parkinson’s that was caused by taking REGLAN for his reflux when he was younger. He has uncontrollable movements that are not neurological seizures so this may be the complex answer to that. There is nothing that can be done for him but it shouldn’t get any worse. We hate that a medicine could have caused this!

So you may wonder why we are happy and thankful after the year we’ve had…we know why…we serve a faithful God who is with us through it all. Having a child with health issues, opens us to a world of families/children that we didn’t really know existed, and it makes us cherish each moment! We love the normal times when they come and we trust God when those harder times hit. No matter what we realize this world is not our home, we’re only passing through and it’s gonna be alright…one day everything is gonna be alright. Living our life in the light of eternity makes it easier to accept the rough spots…”cause there is coming a day, when no heartaches will come, no more clouds in the sky, no more tears will dim the eye, all is peace forever more on that happy golden shore, what a day, glorious day, that will be, What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see…” We look forward to that day!

We hope each of you will have a wonderful Christmas and a great 2010! We love hearing from each of you. This year we have discovered FACEBOOK and love how that keeps us connected with friends all over the world. You can reach both of us on FB but Jon doesn’t keep up with it as much as I do You can also email us at theclanton5@aol.com . I have also started a blog that you are welcomed to read my blog address is www.myreallifebyyvonne.blogspot.com/ I love writing on it but be warned that sometimes it’s a bit raw. You can also check out the website I have for Peter’s anomaly (what Sam has) It’s not really complete but I have people from all over the world contacting me regarding it www.petersanomaly.com and last but not least, the church’s website is www.gracechurchofzephryhills.org . You can listen to Jon’s sermons weekly on there. And of course our home number is 352 567 6208. Hope to hear from you all this year!

Merry Christmas from the Clanton Family

More and More Christmas pics!

I just want to add more pictures.

Of all the things I "treasure" in this life, there is nothing that can compare to our family pictures and videos! Actually to me there is no physical thing that means anything to me. you know I'm the "Queen of NO clutter" I don't care about any personal possessions, it could all burn up tomorrow and it all could be replaced EXCEPT for our pictures and videos. I truly treasure them! We have about 40 photo albums from the time we got married to today and 100's of videos. That is so important to me. Although it's sometimes hard for me to look back on pictures of the kids when they were babies, especially Steve, without getting nostalgic and a bit sad that they are growing so fast!!!

Next to my pictures/videos I do like my wardrobe. It's taken me 44 yrs to get my style right and I like most of my clothes. Some are unique, things I've gotten in thrifit stores, that I probalby couldn't find again. The shirt I'm wearing I got at a thrifit shop, name brand (the only thing to buy in a thrift shop) and brand new with the tags still on! It's fun to me, to put together an outfit, shoes, jewerly...I even like to iron. I don't always have the time to do it but it is relaxing to me unless I'm in a rush!

More Xmas pics

I love having pictures of my family! These are great. They were actually easy to do thanks to Rick and his wife and we had fun doing them even though I almost broke my leg...just kidding... These were taken in Lakeland at Hollis Gardens off of Lake Mirror. We took pictures there 2 years ago and what's funny is Sam is wearing the SAME pair of jeans in both pictures! They are size 24 months and he is going to be 6 yrs old in feb! We love our midget!!!!!

I'm thankful that we made it through another year and are all doing ok.

Christmas pictures '09

Wonderful pictures taken by our friend Rick Hencye @Digital Events Photography @ 352 406 0720

Be Real

I've been thinking so really deep thoughts lately. It's somewhat redundant from my posts on Facebook but...

I despise silly Christian slogans...you know what I mean "God won't put more on you than you can bear.." Does anyone in the world but me know the context of that scripture???? It's talking about temptation and how God will make a way of escape, it has nothing to do with problems/burdens etc... I have sworn that the next person who says that to me I'm gonna slap silly or at least give them a theology/bible lesson! I didn't have $20,000 in student loans for nothing!!

Today I watched part of a funeral for a well known pastor who recently died. The funeral seemed so shallow, forgive me, I'm sure his family is hurting but it seemed like they masked it, almost like he wasn't dead. I don't know how to explain it...I've been to funerals that were triumphant and awe inspiring but this big funeral just seemed so dead (ok I couldn't help that) I think the folks couldn't explain WHY this Word of Faith guy had died and not been healed so the funeral was just weird! Be real people~ the guy is dead, you can't hide that!

Do you know what I mean when I say folks aren't real? Christians have such a hard time admitting that God did not come through in the way they wanted Him to do and so they say dumb things to cover their confusion/angry. I've seen it time and time again. People try and explain why bad things happen...there is a simple explanation in the Bible! We live in a fallen world, we will walk through the valley of the shadow of death but we don't have to be alone!!!

Often people say things to me that are so stupid that I really want to slap them silly! I get told all the time I'm a saint~ok anyone out there who really knows me ...would NOT describe me as a saint! Or the person will say "God knew who to give that little boy to" or "Special moms get special babies" Well heck...I don't want to be special!!! I don't want my son to be retarded and blind and partially deaf...Come on why would ANYONE think statements like that bring ANY comfort to my heart???? Do I want to trust a God who would CAUSE something like this to happen to a child? NO of course not!

I'm so glad that the Bible is totally clear on this subject. We live in a fallen world, that's the bottom line as I've stated before in my posts. Man chose to sin and brought disease and death into the world by giving control of their lives over to the devil. God did not create blindness or cancer or even death! I can trust God even when it hurts so much I feel like I can't breath. I know He is with us, holding our hearts and hands, whispering comfort in our ears. This journey we call Life is short, just a dress rehearsal for eternity. Then on that day, we won't be bound by this world, the former things will be done away with and He God Himself will wipe every tear from our eyes! Then we can share with other believers our story of how God brought us through our journey. I believe God's heart is moved by our sorrows.

For some reason my heart has been grieving the last few days over Sam. I don't really understand why now, we don't really have any major issues going on...I don't know...But my heart has hurt so much. I wish he didn't have so many issues, I wish he was a regular little 5 yr old boy going off to kindergarten, getting in trouble for talking in class. I can't even dream of how it would be. It's so far from the reality of his life that I can't even see it in my mind's eye. I wish we had a "normal" future to look forward to for him. That doesn't in any way dim my love for him but I just wish....While I'm typing this, I'm just crying so hard because it really hurts my heart. I don't allow myself to grieve too much, hardly ever because I think it is not productive or healthy. but sometimes reality overwhelms me and it seems more than I can bear in my heart. Sometimes I can't believe that I can go on but I do...what choice do I have? I can't fall out by the side of the road and give up on life just because it's not the way I planned it. If I did that, then I'm not trusting in the goodness of God.

So I guess what I'm saying is don't be a Job's comforter when you try to help folks going through things. Be real, life is hard but it's better sometime to say "I'm so sorry you're going through this" than to try and come up with a dumb reason! Be real admit when your heart is heavy don't just say silly "Christian" slogans. Read the Bible ` Psalms, job many of Paul's writings in the NT, contain writings that are real, that show heartache and confusion but also trust in God.

I don't have all the answers but I know I'm going to hold onto to God's hand through life and trust Him. Why be bitter, does that change anything? Does that help anything? NO Been there, done that, got the tshirt...! It was NOT a fun place to be in! I've found that trusting God through the hard times may not change the hard times but it changes ME!

Journey

Yesterday we took Sam to St Joe's to see Dr Declue, a doctor who specializes in metabolic disorders. He ran some more blood work on Sam and ordered an ultrasound of his liver. The liver may not be storing his sugars correctly and that is something that can be fixed with meds. He also gave me a prescription for a shot if Sam becomes unconscious or has a seizure. The only thing is the shot has to be mixed up...can you see me mixing a shot when Sam is seizing....God I hope I can do it!!! Anyhow he thinks cause Sam is so small (the size of a 2.6 yr old ~even tho he is gonna be 6 yr old in Feb) that's why he is so hypoglycemic. Usually kids grow out of it by now but he has so little fat to draw on that there is no reserve for him. One idea to prevent the episodes is to add CORNSTARCH to his bottles of pedisure. It seems to be helping kids to maintain their sugars better. I had just read that on the Internet so I wasn't surprised. The dietitian is calling me with the amount to start giving him. Maybe that will be all he needs!

So Sam is keeping us on our toes as usual but I love him so much, all this other stuff doesn't matter. WHATEVER it takes to keep him healthy I'll do!!! When it's your child, you learn you can step up to the plate. I can remember all the different things I do or have had to do in the past and the fear I had starting the things...but then you get used to it an just do it!

The biggest step was coming home with him from the NICU on a heart monitor and oxygen and the suction machine. WOW that wa a trip but we made it through...then after his first corneal operation and the doctor explaining to me how to do the eydrops into that little tiny BLOODY eye! Somehow we didn't get the explanation BEFORE the surgery that we'd be doing eyedrops after.....I looked at the doctor like "you're crazy! Surely you are gonna send a nurse home with me...."I truly thought I'd pass out but guess what? I didn't!!! Then the blood sticks! OMG I was shaking the first few times I had to do them. I'm so over that now!!!! It's nothing! So what's the big deal about giving him a shot....I don't know...I feel faint!!!!

Life is a journey~you can NOT control it! but you can control how YOU respond to life's challenges! I want to respond with faith and humor! I laugh at situations alot cause that's the only way to get through things sometimes. If I can find some humor in the situation it helps. You can live your life with all gloom and doom...but who wants to??? Life is gonna be hard, it's scriptural- that means there is plenty of scripture to back me up:) But you can CHOSE to trust God and know that He'll be with you. You can also CHOSE to look on the lighter side when ever possible.

Have you meant people that take themselves and their situations too seriously? I have and it's so stupid! I've been around some who are just going through the natural processes of life and you'd think they had such heavier burdens than anyone else in the world. Then I met families who are REALLY going through some firey trials and they just ooze peace, contentment and faith! I want to be like that!!! We all are gonna face hard times, loss of a loved one, health issues...but we've got to remember this world is not our ultimate home, we're only passing through. If we trust in Jesus, one day it is ALL gonna be alright.

I'm not saying not to be sympathetic of situations. The bible says "weep with those who weep" When you go through a life journey that is hard, it is easier to weep with those who weep. Even if your situations are not the same, the emotions are. I cry so much easier now for others than I ever have before in my life because I KNOW some of the heartache the others are going through. I'm glad my heart is softer to others. I'm glad my heart is moved with compassion for the trials that others go through. But again, this world is not our home. ONE DAY everything is gonna be ok! That's what I hold onto and I think I have the authority to speak into other's lives that same truth~because I go through some rough times that others will never have to face. I don't know why some people can go through trial after trial and other's just face the "normal" trials of life (parents growing older, dying...small health issues...) I don't know some folks have easier lives...it's just life. there's no reason to get angry or bitter....because one day EVERYTHING is gonna be alright!

I look at things so different than I did before I had Sam. I feel blessed even in the midst of a storm. I can't explain that at all. It's certainly NOT because I'm more spiritual or a better person...but trusting God in the midst of life's struggles and truly believing He is in control, is a wonderful place to be at!! I could be bitter but I'm not, I'm so thankful for what I have and the promise of heaven/eternity...