Praise God to Whom All Blessings (Including Trials) Flow!

As you can see from these pictures I, Pastor Erik, have been ordered to get much rest from my normal responsibilities. For all who know me, resting is probably not the first verb that you would use to describe me...this certainly has been hard for me to do! I have learned to "Be still and know that I am God..." (Ps. 46:10). This past weekend, Bethany and I spent our time resting at her parents house which was a great blessing and a help to my recovery process. This time of recuperation from my appendectomy has been a much longer process than I have anticipated along with 10 1/2 days in the hospital along with 3 ER visits! However, through this time God has taught me SO much about His great working and His ways (His attributes) in my life. I have learned that my God is ALWAYS good no matter what the circumstance may be and that He is a sovereign God whose ways are perfect and best for me no matter what I think or feel (Ps. 100:5; Ps. 18:30). During this time of trial in my life, the Lord has been bringing passages of scripture to my mind constantly and reminding me of these truths as well as the fact that Christ is my life and that life is NOT about me but all about Him (Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:4). God owns my life and He has the right to control and plan every aspect of my life even if it meant for me to have a ruptured appendix for 5-6 days before surgery (Col. 1:15-17). I must submit to His chiseling in my life by yielding my will to His will and my thoughts and ways to His thoughts and ways (Isa. 55:6-8). God has been using this deep valley experience to conform Bethany and I more into the image of His dear Son, Jesus Christ...what else more can we want when the best thing for us is to be more like our Savior so that we can best reflect His likeness and bring Him ALL of the glory in this lost and dying world! I Peter 1:7 says, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" This is truly my desire and testimony of this fiery trial that the Lord has put us in! The trials that God puts into our lives are His expressions and evidences of His great love for us. For each custom made trial that God gives us, He certainly gives us all of the grace that we need (Heb. 4:16)!
     I also have learned about the deep sacrificial love that my dear wife, Bethany, has for me. She has been such a wonderful help meet during this trial in our lives. When I have been discouraged, she would encourage me; when I would sometimes forget what God is like, she would remind me of His attributes; when I would be in pain, she would comfort me; and when I was alone in the hospital, she would be by my side. I love my dear Bethany SO very much and I am SO thankful for her love, devotion, service, compassion, patience, and care for me in this time of sickness in my life. I have seen Christ's love in and through her throughout our almost two years of marriage...and it especially came through during this time of great pain and agony in my life.
    My immediate family members, in-laws, and close friends have also been such a blessing to me. Y'all have given me such wonderful support! The Lord has used your support, phone calls, and letters as a means to help me through this difficult time in my life. It was SO good to have more contact with my parents, my brother, Bethany's parents, and close friends from Greenville, SC...some whom I have not been able to talk with for a while!
     Finally, I have learned that I have a such a wonderful and loving church family! The love of Calkins Baptist Church has been truly overwhelming! They all have showered me with around fifty "get well" cards and have truly gone out of their way to make sure that Bethany and I are well taken care of and get the rest that we need during this time of sickness. Instead of rushing me back to my ministry, they are making sure that I come back close to 100% so that I will not have another relapse. Pastor Jones has been such a wonderful friend and mentor to me and his love for me has truly been demonstrated to use during this time. Also, a big thanks goes out to Kevin and Jackie Knack for taking such good care of Bethany during my second round in the hospital. Bethany and I are truly thankful for our WONDERFUL church family and we are truly grateful for each one of you who have gone out of your way to be such a blessing to us. We certainly have even more of a love and appreciation for Calkins Baptist Church having had to be away from all of you for so long and having seen such great Christ-like love demonstrated toward us during this trial in our lives.
    I will end this testimony of praise with these few verses from Psalm 73:25-28 which best sums up what the Lord has been teaching and of my heart's desire during this time in my life. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works."

To The Praise of His Glory and Grace,
Pastor Erik Hanson

Little improvements around the house can make a huge difference! Erik and I try to invest a little bit each year into our home. We make a list of things that need to be done, set a modest budget then research what all of our possibilities could be. This year our upstairs bathroom, and kitchen lighting came to the top of the priority list. In the bathroom we put down new flooring, molding, and duel button flush toilet. In the kitchen we had an electrician put in four LED lights and a new fan/light. The projects were a lot of fun and we are enjoying them very much. We were also well below our budget!! Thank you Lord.

We thank you all!

 WOW, we are so overwhelmed at your love, prayers and CARDS! We certainly have received a lot. Your kindness is so encouraging. Erik is still getting cards in the mail. I put them on our wall so we wont forget the love you have shown us at this scary time in our lives. A special thanks goes out to Mike krug who encouraged folks from our church to send us cards. We thank you all!!

This is a diagram drawn by one of Erik's piano students. You see, she is home-schooled and her mom thought that since Pastor Erik just had his Appendix out it would be an opportune time to have a lesson with her daughter on the appendix. We love her creativity! I have to say that this is one of the most interesting drawings that we have ever received from a student.....or anyone for that matter. :-)Go Home-schooling!!!

Young Ladies Breakfast Club

The Breakfast club has been so encouraging! At the moment we are going through the book "The Excellent Wife" by Martha Peace.The club is made up of our church ladies (under forty years old). We meet once a month at the volunteered  house of one of our ladies.  First we eat breakfast at nine a.m. , then we discus the assigned chapter and go over the work book, then we have someone give us a tutorial or tips and advice on their area of expertise. For example:  Savvy shopping, CPR, thorough cleaning, stamping, cooking, gardening, cutting and styling hair. In the first photo above, I am holding up my cake from a cake decorating tutorial that Debbie Yanacek gave us. We got decorate our own little cakes! Debbie put so much work into it, she made all the cakes and frosting's. We all had a blast!

Home Again

Erik arrived home on Monday (March 12) in the afternoon. It's so good to have him home! He's doing well and hopes to ease back into his duties slowly so as to not have another relapse. God has been so close to us through this whole thing. We have felt so encouraged by our church family and relatives. Thank you all for your prayers, card's and phone calls. God bless you.

We covet your prayers

These last few weeks have been really rough with Eriks appendicitis and all. He's not recovering as fast as we would both like. Two steps forward one step back.....that just about sums up what we have been able to accomplish on the road to recovery We are both learning and growing through this trial  and hope to count it all joy for we do see Gods hand everyday.Erik has told me many times that he has a greater compassion for those in hospital and a renewed appreciation for his good health. I ,on the other hand, have learned how to pump petrol by myself and how to get to and from hospital. I laugh at myself for learning such things as I should have known long ago. You see, Erik has always taken such good care of me as well as everything concerning the car, that I never had a need to do these mundane tasks before. However, This week and last has been quite the opposite.Through this, God has drawn me closer to him. I could no longer rely on Erik for help. I had to step out on faith more, trust more, pray more and my least favorite of all, fail more. Even though it has not been an easy road, God has been so good to us! Erik and I are be molded at this time and I'm asking for your prayers. This is not only a physical battle but a spiritual one as well.  Pray that we will fight the good fight and end well, glorifying God.

Housewife Harmony

I would like to announce a new blog called Housewife Harmony that Bethany has started. Her purpose for this website is to reach out especially to housewives and young single women. She desires to encourage them both in a practical and spiritual manner. To find out more tips in cooking, cleaning, decorating, and in having a godly relationship with your spouse, please go to http:housewifeharmony.blogspot.com .

Bethany would love to hear tips and feed back from any of you out there.

~Pastor Erik