Rica Salam has been attending Calvary Baptist Church since October 2013 and resides in Arlington, TX with her husband and kids.  Rica not only lends her vocal talents to the Calvary choir, but also volunteers in the Park area of Kid City as well as the Member Care ministry.  In her spare time, Rica enjoys playing video and board games with her family, gardening, home improvement projects, trying new recipes, and playing with her grandchildren.

Sovereign Over Us

My former pastor taught me to pray “Lord, help me to want only what you want!” I’d been praying this way for some time and it has brought me closer to God. Praying this way changed my life. My tendency to control everything and everyone was almost non-existent. I found relief in knowing that I didn’t have to have the answer to everything. Pastor Loveless teaches us to “seek His face!” This is so very powerful and necessary to get and remain in alignment with God.

About three years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. Multiple Myeloma is a cancer where abnormal plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow interfering with normal blood cells. The abnormal cells multiply so fast, they pile up onto the bones causing legions or tumors that thin the bones. My doctor told me my remission could be achieved quickly through chemotherapy. I didn’t ask God; I made the decision immediately! I want this gone now! There were other methods that were mentioned that would have taken up to 10-12 months before remission. Nope. Give me the fast stuff. I would sit for two hours twice a week with the IV drip hooked to my chest during my lunch break, then head back to work. I felt reasonably well, no nausea, no hair loss.

Just as the doctor said, I went into remission within six weeks, but the treatments left me with severe neuropathy. Sometimes in the middle of a conversation I would scream out in agonizing pain. I was taking 12 (7.5 mg) hydrocodone pills a day; two at a time. I was eating them like Skittles. I guess my pain was so severe, the medication didn’t have the normal narcotic-like effect on me. I was taking eight pills during my eight hour work day without any problem. No one knew I was even taking them.

I’d read everything I could get my hands on about Multiple Myeloma and neuropathy. I’d sit at the computer and cry, not cry, and cry again. They say Multiple Myeloma is incurable, but treatable. After three years I’m getting along much better. Now, I can wear some of the shoes I like, I can run and jump and play volleyball (somewhat). I look in the mirror now and see “me” again.

One day I was having chest pain while at work. I knew it probably was nothing, but to satisfy my co-workers, I let them take me to the ER. After hours of testing and waiting, the ER doctor came into the room where my husband and I were waiting. He said “Mrs. Salam, good news is there is nothing wrong with your heart. No signs of stress or scaring that we can find. The MRI technician said “but hey guys, come and look at her bones!!” WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY BONES?? WHAT?!! My oncologist never mentioned a problem with my bones, but the MRI Tech was fascinated with my bones for some reason.  He didn’t even know about the Multiple Myeloma.  I told my oncologist about the incident.  He suggested doing a bone scan, however, I opted not to do it.  I don’t want to know.  That’s God’s business.

As my husband and I walked to my car, we didn’t talk. I got into my car and watched as my husband walked to his car. Satan right then showed me how I would look having to get around using a walker, then in a wheelchair, then my funeral. I couldn’t fix this. I am a fixer! I just wanted to get home. I was alone; extreme anxiety overwhelmed me. My vision became blurry, my eyes were filling with tears.

I remember my right hand was in my purse searching for my phone. I knew I needed to put it on the charger. When I pulled it out, the screen was white and the text was black. It read “I AM THE LORD THY GOD. I WILL TAKE YOU BY YOUR RIGHT HAND AND SAY TO YOU, DO NOT FEAR, I WILL HELP YOU." (Isaiah 41:13).

Anxiety?? What anxiety?? It was as though none of this ever happened. I felt absolute calm, peace, love, and power. I KNEW HE WAS WITH ME! HE WAITED UNTIL I WAS ALONE BEFORE HE LET ME KNOW HE WAS THERE FOR ME! HE’D ALWAYS BEEN THERE! He always IS there… closer than the air we breathe.

I am speaking about the very same God who was with Noah, Moses, David, and Job. He said I am the Lord thy God. He started out by telling me who was He was! He told me not to be afraid, Satan is a liar! He didn’t say He would heal my body, He said I WILL HELP YOU! My God is sovereign!! All things work for His purpose.

God knows all things past, present, and future. There is no limit to His knowledge, for God knows everything completely before it even happens (Rom 11:33). “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." (Rom 8:28). Because He is sovereign and He loves me, nothing will ever come into my life that He doesn’t declare or allow. No matter what we face, we can take comfort in the fact that God knows and is in control.

I never believed you had to attend a church to serve God. I’ve loved the Lord and have worshiped Him most of my life without going to church, but God led me to Calvary. I sincerely know I have a loving family here. People that care about me, and I them. Cancer is not my burden; it’s my gift. I wanted the instant solution, the quick fix, but some things cannot be disposed of so swiftly; they can only be accepted. And not accepted with resignation, but with gratitude!

David Huffstutler | March 7th, 2016 | (c) Copyright Religious Affections Ministries

I have a friend who came to America from Haiti many years ago. His name is Franco Wakhisi and he is an incredible runner. Which, makes sense since he is Haitian. About two years ago, my then girlfriend/ now wife, Jessica, came down to the Keys to visit me one summer, and it just so happened that the week she was there was the week the Keys Ultramarathon was taking place, and Franco was running in it. So we get this phone call and my dad says, “Hey, Franco is going to be passing by our house. A bunch of us are going out to cheer him on, you should come too!” So Jessica and I went out to where our group of friends were waiting by the road to cheer on Franco. As he passed by us, he stopped to give sweaty hugs to everybody, eat a banana, put some lotion on his feet, and change his socks. He thanked everybody for coming and then shot off again. This guy, along with over 100 other runners, started that morning before the sun came up and kept running until the sun went down. My friend, Franco, finished a 100 mile ultramarathon that took 22 hours to run, and got 11th place out of 105 runners!

Talk about an incredible act of athleticism! This guy is a serious runner with serious determination! But really, we’re all runners, aren’t we? Just in a different way. At some point in our lives every one of us has done, or is doing the same thing as Jonah: Running from God’s command. At first, it was probably uncomfortable. You felt the conviction of it and you felt guilty. But that selfish nature inside of you wants you to keep going. And soon it started to get easier. And you began to have a selfish pleasure about it. But this kind of running doesn’t lead to healthier living. This kind of running, like with Jonah, leads to personal destruction.



Here’s the saddest part of it all. Jonah didn’t just run from God’s command to love people. When he fled, he ran from the very presence of God. You need to remember that. When God calls you to something, and you choose to run, you’re not just running from the call. You’re running from God Himself. because you cannot stay in His presence if you are disobeying His command. You can’t choose to rebel against his commands and still believe you two are on good terms. It doesn’t work like that.

When temptation comes, you’ve got to determine now that you will not run from the command. Determine now, that you will choose to stay by God’s side. 

But why? Maybe you’re asking what the big deal is anyway. I mean, you’re comfortable with your spirituality now, right? At least you’re not as bad as most of the others kids at school, right? But that’s the thing about your relationship with God; He’s not comparing you to the other kids. Your relationship with Him is personal. So while you may think you’re ok because you’re better than so-and-so, God isn’t feeling the same. It’s like a husband saying his marriage is amazing while the wife says they’re just barely surviving.

Next post we’re going to jump into the first verses of Jonah’s story, and I’m going to explain the why: Why should I even want to stay by God’s side if He’s going to command me to do things I don’t want to do? And why is it so difficult for me to do what’s right and stop running away when it gets tough? For now, you just need to take some time to define your relationship with God, not by what you like to think it is, but by the way He defines it. Have you remained close by His side even through the difficult commands?

This story ends where it began…at the Father’s House.