Thursday, September 13, 2012

Cancer/Life Update (90 Days into Chemo)

I haven't written a cancer/life update in a few weeks so I wanted to give you guys an update before i go for chemo treatment #5 tomorrow!


My visit to Maine back in early August was FANTASTIC!!  I got to see so many people and reconnect with a few I hadn’t seen or talked to in a while.  My friends have been amazing; Nick & Ashley, I want to thank you again so much for paying for my flight up to Maine.  You both ROCK!!  Thank you again to everyone who were my chauffeurs while I was in Maine and to everyone who made the time to see me!  (Jaime, Maddy, and Rich Stevens, Nick, Ashley, Ben, Ashton, Barbie, Jordan, Chelsea, Natalie, Nichole, Linda, Robin, Phyllis, Rachel, Sammie, Max, Rachael, Dawn, Jackie, Rhiannon, Tammy, Ross, Liz, Nate, and Tia… I think that is everybody lol).  Thanks for making this guy feel so loved!  =)  My schedule was packed though and I think I pushed myself too much while I was up there and it could have played a part into why my white blood levels were too low when I went for my fourth treatment on August 17th.

My Dad and I drove through the night from Portland into Baltimore and got there with an hour to spare before my 8am phlebotomy time.  As some of you saw on my facebook page; we had some issues with me receiving my fourth treatment.  It was the first time my blood levels hadn’t be good enough for chemo; specifically my neutrophils.  As you can see from the picture below, they were PRETTY DANG LOW!!



I couldn’t find my most recent results that included the day when I actually received my fourth treatment, which was on Thursday August 23rd, 6 days after when I should have had it, but I do remember that my neutrophils had gone up to 950/cu mm.  In order for me to receive chemo they need to be at the very least 500/cu mm.

This fourth treatment was pretty hard for me to “stomach”.  I have noticed that each treatment has gotten progressively harder for me to handle mentally and physically.  It’s kind of like my mind and body have synced up and fully understand what the drugs are doing to me.  I get anxious and a bit unsettled going to the hospital now; just the thought of the chemo drugs gives me that weird chemo taste in my mouth and makes me feel a little nauseous.   The smell of the office and even looking at the drugs bothers me.  I couldn’t watch her inject the “red devil” or the vincristine sulfate and hold to close my eyes and hold my Dads hand.  I actually need to move on from writing about it because it’s just making me feel sick, yuck!  My nurse noticed my evident discomfort this last time around and asked me what was wrong and I explained to her what I just wrote above.  She told me that this is actually pretty common with patients receiving what I am receiving and many tend to throw up before treatments #5 and #6.  She said that she could prescribe me an anti-anxiety drug that would also give me temporary amnesia which helps a lot with my next two treatments.  My first thought was, “oh great, another drug to add to my repertoire; I don’t really want any more drugs in my body”.  However, after discussing it with my parents and family more, we have decided to give it a shot.  I am someone who doesn’t like to take drugs; and even more so now because I have so many in my system.  Even before all of this, if I got a headache, I would more often than not, just drink more water and take it easy rather than pop a couple Advil.  If the headache lasted more than one day, then I would take an Advil but only half the recommended dosage and that would normally do that trick.  I think I am sensitive to drugs so I don’t need a lot.  I did get a nice surprise to have Janice visit me with my Dad this time around.  I love her, she is just so awesome; definitely one of my best friends.  She is such a blessing to have in my life.  Other than that, the chemo went smoothly.  I did need to come back the next day though for a Neulasta shot.  This is a shot that I needed to have within 24 hours of my chemo treatment because my neutrophils and white blood cells had been so low.  Neulasta is injected into my left tricep and is supposed to “jump start” my bone marrow to produce more white blood cells.  We’ll see tomorrow if it works.  There can be some side effects with it, but all I noticed was that my arms and chest (specifically my ribs) were sensitive and tender to the touch for about 3 or 4 days during my first week after the treatment.  We’ll see if it worked tomorrow afternoon when I get my blood results back.  I hope it did, because I really want to visit Maine again in two weeks for Ben & Barbie’s wedding.  I already missed one wedding this summer; I do not want to miss two, especially because I was a groomsman in both of them.

Now me having to push back my fourth treatment was not something I was happy about.  I had been planning for over a month for Ben to fly down to Virginia so that he and I, and my cousins Chad and Josh could go to the Redskins vs. Colts preseason game on Saturday August 25th.  Even though this wasn’t the smartest idea to still go, I pretty much sheer willed myself to go.  Ben was still flying in and these were AMAZING seats that my cousin got us for the game.  They are called “Dream Seats” and we sat two rows up from the field.  We also got free hot dogs, peanuts, water, sodas, and cookies up through the third quarter of the game; BONUS!  The prednisone makes me really hungry that first week of chemo so it was perfect for me haha.  I think I ballooned up to 170lbs that week but my weight gain has been pretty steady besides that week.  I have gained about 20lbs since starting chemo which is encouraging; I consistently weigh about 162lbs now.  It was a great game and the ‘Skins won which made it even better; we were even on NFL.com highlights of the RG3 to Moss touchdown since it happened right in front of our seats.  Thanks again Chad; you’re the man broham!  =)

After that weekend though I had to just rest; I was weak and very tired after that game for about a week.  I started to feel better eventually and did another workout class with Janice.  It’s fun and is actually a pretty darn good workout.  My legs felt like cement and were sore for 3 days after.  Against my own stubbornness, I decided to skip my 3 mile run this week; I don’t want to push my body too hard.  I need my white blood cells to be high enough for treatment this time around because I really want to get back up to Maine for the wedding.

I also need to give a HUGE shout-out to my man Cody who has been starting another fundraiser for me in Maine.  He has been putting a lot of time and work into it.  I also have had done two interviews; one over Skype and the other over the phone with "The Free Press" (my college's newspaper) and the "The Bangor Daily News" respectively.  They are doing stories on me to help promote the fundraiser as well as to promote Lymphoma awareness.  It affects younger men more than anyone else for some reason so I want to spread that knowledge to other guys in their twenties. 

 
Thanks Cody, you are such a GREAT friend!!

I have been getting more involved at my church and I am really excited about it!  I am going to be co-leading a new connection group for 17-26 year olds with the pastors’ daughter.  It is going to be based off of this great book I am currently reading titled Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero. 

It explores the following:  You can’t be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. Even though Peter was the pastor of a growing church, he did what most people do:

·         Avoid conflict in the name of Christianity
·         Ignore anger, sadness, and fear
·         Use God to “run” from God
·         Live without boundaries

Eventually God awakened him to a biblical integration of emotional health, a relationship with Jesus, and the classic practices of contemplative spirituality. It created nothing short of a spiritual revolution, utterly transforming him and his church.  In this book Scazzero outlines his journey and the signs of emotionally unhealthy spirituality. Then he provides seven biblical, reality-tested ways to break through to the revolutionary life Christ meant for you.  The combination of emotional health and contemplative spirituality, he says, unleashes the Holy Spirit inside us so that we might experientially know the power of an authentic life in Christ”. 

One of my favorite excerpts so far from my reading is the following:

God made us as whole people, in his image (see Genesis 1:27). That image includes physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and social dimensions.  Ignoring any aspect of who we are as men and women made in God’s image always results in destructive consequences; in our relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves. If you meet someone, for example, who is mentally challenged or physically disabled, his or her lack of mental or physical development is readily apparent. An autistic child in a crowded playground standing alone for hours without interacting with other children stands out.  Emotional underdevelopment, however, is not so obvious when we first meet people. Over time, as we become involved with them, that reality becomes readily apparent.  I had ignored the “emotional component” in my seeking of God for seventeen years. The spiritual-discipleship approaches of the churches and ministries that had shaped me did not have the language, theology, or training to help me in this area. It didn’t matter how many books I read or seminars I attended in the other areas; physical, social, intellectual, spiritual. It didn’t matter how many years passed, whether seventeen or another thirty. I would remain an emotional infant until this was exposed and transformed through Jesus Christ. The spiritual foundation upon which I had built my life (and had taught others) was cracked. There was no hiding it from those closest to me.  I had been taught that the way to approach life was through fact, faith, and feelings, in that order. As a result, anger, for example, was simply not important to my walk with God. In fact, it was dangerous and needed to be suppressed. Most people are either “stuffers” or “inflictors” of their anger. Some are both, stuffing it until they finally explode onto others. I was a classic stuffer, asking God to take away my “bad” feelings and make me like Christ.  My failure to “pay attention to God” and to what was going on inside me caused me to miss many gifts. He was lovingly coming and speaking to me, seeking to get me to change. I just wasn’t listening. I never expected God to meet me through feelings such as sadness, depression, and anger.  When I finally discovered the link between emotional and spiritual health, a Copernican revolution began for me and there was no going back. This revolutionary link transformed my personal journey with Christ, my marriage, parenting, and, ultimately, New Life Fellowship Church where I pastor.  

^pretty awesome huh!?  I love it because I feel like I have encountered a lot of Christians in my journey so far that think (not always consciously) that once they accept Christ into their lives, they all of a sudden can’t be “human” anymore.  Listen, our humanity will not leave us in this life and the sooner we can accept that simple fact and everything that pertains to that knowledge, we can start on the road of recovery and truly begin to understand, as much as humanly possible, God’s AMAZING GRACE in our lives.  Does that mean that we should continue to be the same people we were before knowing Christ or “being” of this world; no of course not.  God calls us to be set apart from the world and that we are new creations in Christ; but we will never be perfect examples of Him.  If that were possible, we would have never needed Jesus in the first place.  He gave us a living example of how we should STRIVE to live our lives, but never expected us to do it without falling short from time to time; for we were saved by GRACE not by our works or deeds.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is; His good, pleasing and perfect will.” – Romans 12:2

“Anyone who believes in Christ is a new creation. The old is gone! The new has come!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17

“God’s grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn’t come from anything you do. It is God’s gift.” - Ephesians 2:8

Also, this devotional from Jesus Calling was a great reminder that God is the Great Physician and it brought me encouragement and inspiration recently.

“I AM A GOD WHO HEALS. I heal broken bodies, broken minds, broken hearts, broken lives, and broken relationships. My very Presence has immense healing powers. You cannot live close to Me without experiencing some degree of healing. However, it is also true that you have not because you ask not. You receive the healing that flows naturally from My Presence, whether you seek it or not. But there is more; much more, available to those who ask.  The first step in receiving healing is to live ever so close to Me. The benefits of this practice are too numerous to list. As you grow more and more intimate with Me, I reveal My will to you more directly. When the time is right, I prompt you to ask for healing of some brokenness in you or in another person. The healing may be instantaneous, or it may be a process. That is up to Me. Your part is to trust Me fully and to thank Me for the restoration that has begun.  I rarely heal all the brokenness in a person's life. Even My servant Paul was told, "My grace is sufficient for you," when he sought healing for the thorn in his flesh. Nonetheless, much healing is available to those whose lives are intimately interwoven with Mine. Ask, and you will receive.  Check out the verses Psalm 103:3; James 4:2; 2 Corinthians 12:7-9; Matthew 7:7 as they all correspond to this devotional.

I also have volunteered working in the office a couple times doing various things they need done and last Thursday while I was there I had mentioned to Ryan, the music minister, if he had heard the new Matthew West single “Forgiveness”.  He checked out and was so moved by it that he added it to last Sunday’s worship service.  He also asked me to join them for practice later that night.  Now I reminded him that I was only working on one good vocal cord because of the tumor in my chest and that even before then, I wasn’t the greatest singer.  He insisted though that I just come and that my unique energy would be very welcomed.  I hesitantly and reluctantly agreed.  I got back there later that night and Ryan looked like he had been crying; he said that he kept listening to the song all afternoon and realized that there was no way he could teach us this song or sing it if he didn’t let go of the bitterness he had been holding on for the past 4 years against a few old friends.  He called each one of them up and forgave them all and asked them all for forgiveness as well.  I was so happy to hear that; it just made me smile and I gave him a big hug!  HALLELUJAH, GOD IS SO GOOD!!!  He told me that it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.  He had been freed from the pain in his past!  I was so happy for him and I gotta tell you, the worship practice was SO MUCH FUN!!  I came home so happy and full of joy and energy.  I really love praising God; no doubt about it!  The rest of the band members wanted me to join them that Sunday for both 9am and 11am services.  I was so nervous when I got on stage for the first service, I was almost literally jumping up and down and I made sure I told the AV guy to keep my mic turned down low.  I was definitely up there more to use my “body” as an instrument praising the Lord.  The worship at this church is a little stagnant to be honest and so I was hoping by me being up there, I could bring a little more life into the praising.  In no way am I trying to float my boat because everyone was AMAZING during both services; the church has some really talented people in it’s worship team; but when I had a few people after each service come up to me and tell me that they loved my worship and that I was an inspiration to them; it truly made my day!  I love how God is using my cancer into something good; not just in my own life but in the lives of others.  I gotta say that it brought SO MUCH joy.  The three songs we sang are the last three listed below on this blog’s playlist and directly below are the lyrics to “Forgiveness” that moved me and many other people that day.

It's the hardest thing to give away
And the last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those that don't deserve

It's the opposite of how you feel
When the pain they caused is just to real
It takes everything you have just to say the word...

Forgiveness
Forgiveness

It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It's always anger's own worst enemy
Even when the jury and the judge
Say you gotta right to hold a grudge
It's the whisper in your ear saying 'Set It Free'

Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Forgiveness, Forgiveness

Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible

Forgiveness, Forgiveness

Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness

It'll clear the bitterness away
It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what it's power can do
So, let it go and be amazed
By what you see through eyes of grace
The prisoner that it really frees is you

Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Forgiveness, Forgiveness

Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness

I want to finally set it free
So show me how to see what Your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me
Forgiveness, Forgiveness



I am pretty nervous for tomorrow; I really just hate chemotherapy and am nervous for how the Lorazepam is going to affect me.  I could really use your prayers tomorrow!!  God is continuing to bless me because along with my Mom, Janice and Ryan are gonna visit me in the hospital tomorrow.  #SOTHANKFUL

Many of the devotionals in Jesus Calling have been helping me through this battle; especially this one before tomorrow. 

“TRUST ME in the midst of a messy day. Your inner calm, your Peace in My Presence, need not be shaken by what is going on around you. Though you live in this temporal world, your innermost being is rooted and grounded in eternity. When you start to feel stressed, detach yourself from the disturbances around you. Instead of desperately striving to maintain order and control in your little world, relax and remember that circumstances cannot touch My Peace.  Seek My Face, and I will share My mind with you, opening your eyes to see things from My perspective. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not be afraid. The Peace I give is sufficient for you”.  Check out the verses John 16:33; Psalm 105:4; John 14:27 as they all correspond to this devotional.

This upcoming week, I challenge you all to seek Forgiveness.  Ask for forgiveness from those you have hurt, seek forgiveness from those who have hurt you, and above all do both in prayer with God.  It isn’t worth it to hold onto the bitterness and pain that weigh you down.  Forgiveness does not justify what the person did in any way, but without it, you can be holding down that person AS WELL AS yourself.  And if needed, do it more than once.  God calls us to forgive as many times as we have to.

“Then Peter came to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I forgive him, up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you, not seven times but seventy times seven!” - Matthew 18:21-22

I love you all!

God Bless

-Matthew    =)


Blog Playlist:
Lecrae ft. Suzy Rock – No Regrets  <----CANNOT GET ENOUGH OF THIS JAM!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

My Faith Journey

My friend Erin asked me this about a month ago: “I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing a little more of your faith journey. You seem to have a very strong relationship with God and I'm curious about how that came about” and I thought to myself that it would be a good thing for me to write about in my blog.  Fair warning, I am a very open guy (probably too much for my own good at times) so this is going to get pretty personal; but I hope instead of judging me, you realize that just because I am a Christian, it doesn’t make me “divine”, but rather I hope it shows you my acknowledgement of being a sinner and that I need the constant salvation of Jesus to break the chains of sin that “hold me down” in this world and that I need His help and guidance through His Word to become the person I want to be; the person I was born to be.  Through my memory I will do the best I can to illustrate how my faith came to be; so here goes!


My earliest memory of me experiencing God and Christianity was when I was around 8 years.  I remember my mother had been going to church without me when I would be with my Dad every other weekend and eventually she brought me with her.  I remember not wanting to go; having to wake up early and my mom taking me away from my precious cartoon watching time.  Believe it or not, I was quite shy for a lot of my childhood.  I didn’t want to go to Sunday school and preferred to stay with my mother in the normal “adult” service.  My mother did make me go to Sunday school sometimes but I was just too shy to really want to hang out with the other kids; I was definitely a momma’s boy.  I feel like a lot boys who grow up with single mothers end up having a really close relationship with their mother and for me, I just didn’t want to leave her side a lot as a young kid.  I don’t really remember too much from those early days, but my mother tells me that there were times that I would sing and dance during worship and sometimes she would just look down at me and see my face being lit up!

Much to my mother’s dismay, I rarely paid attention to the pastor’s sermons.  Even as I got older I just never was too interested in what they were saying; either that or thanks to my ADD I just couldn’t stay focused on the sermon.  I would get bored and end up doodling or something to help me pass the time.  It makes a lot of sense actually; to this day, I really don’t enjoy long lectures unless I am really into the subject (which these days in church, I certainly am), but I am a kinesthetic learner, which means that I learn by doing things; hands on, otherwise I tend to lose interest.  I do remember though around the time of me being in fifth grade, so 11-12 years old I would read a lot of the book of Revelations during sermons.  Now I know that might seem kind of strange seeing as Revelations is somewhat of a dark book as it talks about the end of the world and Jesus’s return.  I think I simply just found it really interesting at the time; like a really crazy fantasy novel and it therefore held onto my short attention span lol.

I remember into my preteen and early teen years finally starting to go to groups and services that were designed for my age group.  I remember it being fun and I enjoyed the singing and even started to pay attention more to the sermons.  There was a part of me that was just beginning to understand who Jesus was and what He did for me when He died on the cross.  However, I was also being pulled in the other direction; our culture I think playing a large part in that as it tends to be really focused on outward beauty, sex, alcohol and the like.  I was introduced to pornography at a fairly young age and became addicted pretty quickly.  I remember being obsessed with video games and I started to get chubby.  In school, I was still a shy kid until towards the end of eighth grade, except for a few friends I had made in the neighborhood I lived in; and as I was teased a lot for being fat or assumed to be gay in most of middle school, I believe I started to get somewhat depressed and it lead me to turn to pornography and video games even more for “love” and “acceptance”; as those things wouldn’t tease me and they made me feel “good”.  It was like I was being torn between good and evil, and evil was winning many of the battles.  Thanks to God’s grace, I am not really hard on myself for who I was, mainly because of the forgiveness God constantly grants me through the repentance of my sins in His Son’s holy name; but I believe I was just too immature being that young; immature in myself and in my faith to really understand how to live a righteous life. I just was not passionate about my faith.  Church was more like something I went to and learned about Jesus because my mother told me to go and brought me; I pretty much didn’t have a choice in the matter, which in many ways I think is good because I was being taught great things, I just wasn’t absorbing hardly any of it.  I even remember going to the grocery store with my mother after church and sometimes stealing Xbox demo discs from the Xbox magazine in the store; clearly I wasn’t learning much, mostly because of my own ignorance and immaturity. 

There was a big season in my life that really shook things up for me that had me dive into those evils even more; which spanned from the summer before my freshman year of high school into the summer after my freshman year of high school.  My dad moved to Maine and my mother got remarried. (Mom and Dad, I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH, and in no way am I upset at either of you for the choices you both have made in your lives.  They are your lives and you control them); and to clarify these weren’t “bad” choices by my parents, just ones that greatly affected me.  Let’s rewind for a moment to try and have why both of those things impacted me so hugely make sense.  My parents split up when I was 2 years old so I have no memory of my parents being together and never grew up in a normal two parent household.  The interesting thing about the situation though is that both of my parents grew up outside of Washington DC, my mother growing up mostly in Maryland and my father growing up mostly in northern Virginia.  I was born in Oklahoma at a military base as my mother and father met in the Air Force.  After the separation they both moved back to where their families were and by the time their divorce was finalized when I was 5 years old; I had become accustomed to the custody agreement which was me seeing my dad every other weekend.  From my earliest memory, I lived with my mother and I would only see my father every other weekend unless there was a special trip planned or if there was a holiday, which my parents normally spilt those up equally; for example, I would spend every Christmas Eve with my dad and that side of my family in VA and then spend Christmas Day with my mom and that side of my family in MD.  The point of all of this being is that I had just become so accustomed to my dad always being around and in my life, even if it was not every day like most families so when he moved to Maine, it took a big toll on me.  All of sudden there were no “Boys Nights Out” every other Friday night anymore and the fun weekends we would spend together.  I remember the day he left pretty clearly; my mother was dropping me off at the local YMCA because I was a summer camp counselor that year.  As we pulled up I noticed my dad’s car in the parking lot FULL of stuff.  He came out and walked over to the car and said he was on his way up to Maine and wanted to say goodbye as he held back tears.  My mother even started to choke up a bit (which amazed me because most of my memories of my parents interacting had been fighting); I remember my Dad saying to my mother something along the lines of, “I bet you’re happy I won’t be around now”.  I gave my Dad a hug which he returned with a bigger hug than normal, told me how much he loved me and then he left.  The moment seemed to go by fast and my memory probably fails me on the exact details but that is how I remember it for the most part; I think I was too excited about my day at the summer camp.  My dad had briefly mentioned to me that things might be changing soon and that he might move to Maine, but I guess I never thought it would happen or even took the time to think about what that truly meant.  It wasn’t until a few days later and the weekend came that I was supposed to be with my Dad, did it really hit me.  All of sudden my routine of seeing him ended and my world exhibited a huge crack in its foundation.   I remember being in the basement and I just started to bawl my eyes out.  My mother was doing laundry and asked me what was wrong; and I said “my Dad is gone” …even as I reminisce about it now, I can still feel what it felt like; the tears currently in my eyes as I write the words; showing how hard that was to endure for me.  He didn’t die, but it almost felt as such.  He was no longer in the routine of my life and it stung; it was strange and so foreign.  My normal was now abnormal.  If you tack on going through puberty and the "fun and crazy" emotions that come with that, starting high school and doing so in a Christian school for the first time, it was a lot to take on as I started ninth grade.  This year was my “rebellion” year.  For the first time my grades were not A’s and B’s, I started to fight/argue with my mother which hadn’t really happened before; or at least not at the level that it was occurring at then, I would sleep during classes and I just stopped caring about a lot of things.  Being in the Christian school didn’t really do anything for my faith either; I just wasn’t “into it” at all so to speak.  For some reason it just wasn’t impacting me yet, and maybe it’s because I didn’t care about it or it didn’t seem like something valuable to me; yet.  Fast forward through the year and we get to my mother getting remarried.  I was not excited about it at all.  Growing up it had always been mostly just me and my mom; I was the man of our house and I was/am very protective of her.  She knew this guy from the past and they had reconnected but he lived in Florida and I had only met him myself less than a handful of times.  When she told me she was going to marry him, I was pretty shocked but I don’t think I let it really hit me because I was too busy being 15 and being “angry at the world”.  The next big shocker was that my mother was moving us to Florida because it was cheaper to live there and then she could be the mother she had always wanted to be; a stay at home one.  This shocked my system because I was being taken away from the area I grew up in, my friends, and my family who all lived in the same area for much of my life.  I remember after getting to Florida, just feeling really unsettled about living there.  The church we went to down there was actually pretty cool and really relaxed but I just couldn’t shake that living in Florida was not where I should be.  I can’t explain it even to this day, but everything happens for a reason and I know it was all a part of God’s plan.  I started to get this idea that I wanted to “give my dad a chance” and live with him in Maine for the first time in my life and after begging my mother to go, after a month in Florida I was on my way to Maine.  It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make especially because I knew that it was one that killed my mother to let happen; and to this day I think still bothers her a little.  I felt so awful watching my mother cry in the airport as she told me to give her my ticket because it felt wrong for me to leave and she was going to rip it up.  I had to hide from my own mother in the Jacksonville airport on my way to Portland.  I would never wish that feeling on anyone; another one that brings up tears again…

Now my father is someone that, until recently, never expressed to me that he believed in God or even had any faith.  He didn’t attend church every Sunday and thus neither did I anymore; whatever faith I had was now on hiatus and “on hold” for the next 8 years of my life.  I moved to Maine in August of 2003 and it wasn’t until May of 2011 that my faith started to become “unfrozen” and awaken from its deep DEEP slumber.  During this eight year time span (which wasn’t as bad as the picture I am painting, but I am focusing on the bad for the purpose of showing how badly I needed God in my life), I continued to fall deeper into the many misconceptions of love and happiness in this world.  I turned to sex, drugs, alcohol, and pornography among others which lead to one bad/unhealthy relationship to the next and at its worst (without diving too far into my personal life) minor bouts of depression, slight alcoholism, blackout nights in college, a bad pornography addiction, an insatiable appetite for sex in order to feel loved, and an overnight stay in a hospital which included a psych evaluation; which I passed with flying colors lol, I am not mentally ill, I had just been extremely drunk one night which lead to me saying things and doing things that isn’t truly me but did lead to me being forced to have 8 weeks of counseling.  I say all of this and am so open because I am not afraid to share how bad things got with me on my fruitless quest for love, acceptance, and happiness through the avenues that this world claims they can be found in.  I want people to know my story not so I can have their pity but because I want my life to be an example and a great testimony to how amazing God is and what coming to know Him has done for my life!

Okay, so now we are up to May of 2011.  As some of you have read in my first blog post, I met a really special woman; my current ex-girlfriend and someone who a part of me will always love.  Now I do not want to talk about my relationship with her anymore to respect her wishes and also because that stuff I realize should be private; but I do need to get into it some because she played a HUGE role in my life; specifically to my faith and how I got to where I am today.  We will call my ex-girlfriend “Silver” in this blog.  Without getting too much into things between Silver and I, we were both not in the greatest of places when we met; we were both desperate for love and “ready” for it; but we both fell in love with broken and damaged hearts.  We fought for our relationship many times and even broke up twice throughout the 9 months that we dated, but I think a lot of the time, we didn’t really understand why we were together other than the love we had for one another and us wanting a deep intimate and personal relationship.  Little did we know at the time, but our relationship was part of a much grander plan than we could see at the time.  Silver and I shared pretty much everything to each other and it became really clear to us the more and more that we did share with each other, of how badly we needed a greater love to heal us; we couldn’t “fix” each other.  It lead to Silver’s faith growing and being “re-found” and it lead to mine truly being found for the first time.  I can remember the night very clear when I just surrendered to God.  I was tired of hurting Silver and not being the boyfriend I knew I could be, and should be.  I knew I was better and greater than I was exhibiting and through Silver, I realized how badly I needed and wanted God in my life.  Granted my motifs were solely based off of my love for Silver, to be a better man for her and a better person in general; but it was done out of love.  To truly Love is to know God and I believe in most any circumstance if you are doing something out of love in a pure, honest, righteous and Godly way; you are exhibiting part of God’s character; the most important in my opinion.

“God is love, and all who live in Love live in God, and God lives in them.” – 1 John 4:16b

Three things will last forever; faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is Love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:13

It was a night towards the end of October in 2011; I was listening to a song by Jars of Clay titled Worlds Apart (the first song in the playlist below of songs that I am listening to as I write this blog post) after getting into a fight with Silver on Skype, as she was living in England for four and half months of our relationship.  As I listen to the song again now, I can remember exactly how it hit me that night; because I can feel the same things again right now… here are the lyrics to the song that moved me to my knees.

“I am the only one to blame for this
Somehow it all ends up the same
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride
I flew too high and like Icarus I collide
With a world I try so hard to leave behind
To rid myself of all but love
to give and die

To turn away and not become
Another nail to pierce the skin of one who loves
more deeply than the oceans,
more abundant than the tears
Of a world embracing every heartache

Can I be the one to sacrifice
Or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow

To love you - take my world apart
To need you - I am on my knees
To love you - take my world apart
To need you - broken on my knees

All said and done I stand alone
Amongst remains of a life I should not own
It takes all I am to believe
In the mercy that covers me

Did you really have to die for me?
All I am for all you are
Because what I need and what I believe are worlds apart

I look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
and wipe away the crimson stains
and dull the nails that still remain
More and more I need you now,
I owe you more each passing hour
the battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain
and wash the feet and cleanse my pride
take the selfish, take the weak,
and all the things I cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
the sin-soaked heart and make it yours
take my world all apart
take it now, take it now
and serve the ones that I despise
speak the words I can't deny
watch the world I used to love
fall to dust and thrown away
I look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
so wipe away the crimson stains
and dull the nails that still remain
so steal my heart and take the pain
take the selfish, take the weak
and all the things I cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
take my world apart, take my world apart
I pray, I pray, I pray
take my world apart”



I was done; I was done trying to live my life without Him.  I was done hurting her and myself.  I broke down in tears and cried, but cried like until this night in my life, I had never cried before.  I literally fell to my knees begging God to forgive me, repeating over and over that I wanted Him in my life and that I needed Him.  That I could/would no longer live my life without Him in it as the Jars of Clay song played on repeat for about an hour.  I cried so hard; there has only been one other time in my life that I cried as hard as I did that night which didn’t happen in my life until roughly 5 months later.  I was saturating the floor and my shirt; the tears just kept flowing and flowing.  It was like I was releasing 23 years of built up pain as I surrendered my heart to my Lord and Savior.  Snot was coming out of my nose and I eventually even just curled up into a ball on the floor as I cried and reached out for God.  It was an intense and amazing experience.

I remember feeling so good about it and so excited to tell Silver about the experience the next day.  A part of me hoped it would not only be a turning point in my life but also in our relationship; which at first it did.  But like I mentioned before, there was too much that needed to be healed and fixed in us than we could do for each other and I was so new in my faith; on fire for it as I am today, but very spiritually immature.  I would say there are parts of me that still are today, but not like I was then.  However, I do feel like God has placed me on the “fast track” in my faith and I feel like I have learned and grown a lot in it through the many trials I have faced since that night in October.  I did notice though, that at first I started to act “holier than thou” and judgmental; WRONG!  Thankfully God has humbled me greatly in those areas and has shown me that who I am called to be is not someone who judges others (and for the record I judge NONE of you reading this, whether you share in my beliefs or not); that judgment is God’s and God’s alone and the main purpose of my life is to love God and love others as God loves us and to be an example of who He is to the best of my abilities as an imperfect person.

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.” – Luke 6:37

God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?” – James 4:12

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.  For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.” – Matthew 7:1-2

“Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” – Hebrews 12:14-15

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.  Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.  Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.  Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.  When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.  Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them.  Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.  Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!” – Romans 12:9-16

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the Law of Moses?”  Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22:36-40

As Silver and I’s relationship continued to fall through the cracks of the broken foundation it was built on; something still so beautiful and wonderful that only God could design was happening at the same time.  I was falling in love with God.  More and more I wanted to know Him, more and more I began to seek Him and pursue Him in my life.  Even after I moved to be with Silver after she came home from England and we broke up for the last time 3 weeks later and as I stayed there hoping her and I could use our renewed faiths to fill the holes in our hearts, God was working through the pain; just not as I had hoped for.  Silver and I did not work out but God has blessed me enormously through my relationship with her.  It forced me to take a deep hard look at who I was, who I am, and who I want to be.  To see things I couldn’t before.  He blessed me with meeting two amazing people in Maine at a Christian Marriage Conference I went to last November to try and learn how to have a better relationship with Silver and more importantly on how to have a relationship centered upon God.  He blessed me with so many amazing people during my stay in Connecticut; including at least one lifelong friend. 

Even with me being diagnosed with cancer; my faith has grown and God has blessed me in it.  I feel God’s love for me in every new friendship I have made and it has given me an even greater appreciation for the friends I already had; whether they are Christians or not, because I can feel God in them, even if they don’t even know it themselves.  I am just so thankful to God for all He has done.  Even through the fear of this disease, I can feel God’s power overcoming that fear and instilling in me the hope that this season is only temporary and I will be stronger and better than ever after!  I am growing so much as a person and spiritually throughout this time and God has blessed me with some great people here in Maryland and many others spread not only throughout the country but even across the Atlantic.

I wish I could truly explain the joy in my heart that God has brought me; but I honestly can’t because it’s a feeling that really just has to be felt to be understood; no words give it proper justice.  I am falling more and more in love with our Creator and less and less with “creation”.  God has helped me overcome many of the things I used to struggle with.  I haven’t looked at pornography in over 10 months, I have made a commitment to myself and Him to be abstinent until I get married, I haven’t gotten drunk in over 9 months now and I have a new found understanding of what true love is; His love.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I realize that I use that verse a lot; the reason being that it is one of the most important verses in the Bible and one that I know I will need healthy reminders of throughout my life; seeing as I want to love as God loves us!

I also realize that many of you might be offended by my choice to not get drunk anymore; and for me, I just realized that too often I became someone I didn't enjoy being.  Once I beat this cancer; I may have a beer now and then or a glass of wine; but I am vowing to myself to never get drunk again; it just caused more problems than it was worth and I don't want or need any "false temporary solutions or highs" in my life.

"So be careful how you live.  Don't live like fools but like those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.  Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.  Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life.  Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.  And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." - Ephesians 5:15-20

I can honestly say that I feel a greater "high" from praising and worshiping the Lord than I ever had getting drunk; and better yet, it's free and you don't have a hangover the next day!   =)

I am just completely on fire for Christ and wanting to share this feeling with all of those I encounter.  Will I be able to do it perfectly, no; but that doesn’t mean I should stop trying.  I find hope and inspiration in many things.  One of them being in other Christians; such as Ashley Paige and Jefferson Bethke who made these videos below.



DEAR POP CULTURE


COUNTERFEIT GOD'S



And also through my family and the many friends who I am so blessed to have in my life!!!!!

So here I am today, the same Matthew Nelson in some ways, but also a completely new Matthew Nelson in many others.

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17

I thank God for it all, I thank God for the hardships I have experienced in these past 15 months and even the one’s further in the past because they have brought me to where I am today; I also thank Him for any future trials because they have all been and will all be for my good and ultimately have given Him and by His mercy and grace will continue to bring Him glory!   HALLELUJAH!

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.  If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.  But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.  Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.  Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them.  And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field.  The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.  God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.  And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.  Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.  These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.  So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.  Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.  He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.  He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.” – James 1:2-18

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” – Romans 8:28

Ya’ll gotta realize this; God is Always Good!  Even if you can’t tell right away, continue to trust Him, continue to praise Him, and continue to love Him; He never stops loving you!

I am so excited for this new life I am beginning to live and I just want to spread His love to as many people as I can!

I challenge you all this week to seek God in some way, in any way; whether it be attending church, loving someone you haven’t in a while, watching a Christian film, or reading the Bible etc.  You really have nothing to lose; except for your old self but I promise you, the new you is still you and awesome, just even better with God in your lives and hearts and minds!  Take a leap of faith; I PROMISE you that it won’t kill you; but in fact actually give you L I F E!  

I love you all

God Bless,

-Matthew   =)


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