Blog Category: Uncategorized

By admin,

Please pray for Ian. He has been incredibly tired the past few weeks and is undergoing some testing to determine what is causing. Could be a simple fix or could be more serious.

Thank you.

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By admin,

Found these old shots on facebook and couldn’t resist. Thanks, Doug.






Every picture is bittersweet.

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By admin,

A few people have asked where to send wedding gifts. By no means at all is this post meant as an ask to our readers- please don’t misunderstand. We just don’t have any other way to communicate with the few people who have asked through comments.

For the few people who did leave a comment about gifts, they can be sent to:
Ian Murphy
Sovereign Grace Church
1220 Wayne Avenue
Indiana, Pa. 15701.
If it is a monetary gift, please write Murphy Wedding in the memo.
Thank you. That sure was an awkward post to write! 🙂

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Counting the Cost

By admin,

Marriage is a huge decision. Every couple pursuing marriage must count the costs of a lifetime commitment. For some couples the cost can be as big as giving up a career to move to a new place, or as “small” as giving up holiday traditions to make new ones with in-laws.

The cost of our marriage seems more extreme. And it’s not a “picture perfect” wedding that it sometimes feels like the rest of the world has or will have. Ian has a brain injury. Steve died from cancer. We have very little financial means. It’s a possibility we won’t be able to have children. The list of the “costs” goes on for awhile.
But all of these costs could happen in every single marriage. It’s just that we know them in advance. There are no guarantees that anyone will ever be spared of these hardships and “costs.” What’s guaranteed is that we will have troubles.
So, I guess that logically brings us to why would we get married? Well, as simple as it is, because we love each other. And we enjoy each other. And we believe that Ian was created to be my husband and me to be his helper. Our marriage will look way different than we imagined four years ago. But it must mean something that I can’t look at Ian without smiling. And that he has struggled every day for three years to get better- for me.
I hope this doesn’t sound preachy. (no offense to our pastors who read this:) ) This is just the truth that I have to come back to at the end of the day through our engagement, as we wrestle through all of the costs and blessings this marriage will bring. Our marriage could last one month, five years, fifty years, until one of us goes to be with God. The most wonderful thing I can think of doing while anxiously waiting for that to happen, is to go through this crazy lifetime, as long or short as it may be, as husband and wife.
Thank you for always praying. I can’t believe people still read what I have to write after three years…….wow.
Larissa

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By admin,

Several people have asked through comments- we’re getting married on August 28th, 2010- Steve’s birthday.

Thank you for your continued prayers.
I&L

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By admin,

2008 Christmas card.
We’re going away until the 28th so we won’t be posting anything new.
Hope everyone has a nice holiday.
Ian and Larissa

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A (Very) Short List of What Steve Taught Me About Suffering….

By admin,

1. God is sovereign

2. Joy in God and sorrow are two different things and can Biblically co-exist.

3. I shouldn’t discount my emotions- they are God-given and life would be so boring without them. I also shouldn’t put too much stake in them either, since they change as easily as the wind.

4. Ian’s afflication may or may not be a form of discipline from God. This is not something that we should dwell on. We probably won’t know until heaven anyway. And what does it matter? No matter why it came to us, we should not change our response. And even if it is discipline, how does my suffering compare to hell, which is the ultimate discipline and punishment that I deserve? Knowing that doesn’t change sadness, but it should affect my view of the gospel.

5. Affliction will change everything about our lives- the way we think, decisions that we make, how we approach our relationships.

6. The cause and outcome of our suffering is not based solely on us. We are called to respond in faith, but God is not waiting on us to muster enough faith, and then plans on healing Ian as a result. If that is what we believed, we would’ve been completely rattled by Steve’s death. Steve always taught us- even through his own cancer- that trying to believe ourselves into health makes us too big and God too small. God doesn’t need anything from us to be able to heal and perform miracles.

7. God may not heal, like He didn’t with Steve, and we have to be ok with that.

8. God will provide.

9. Grief cannot be solved through pat answers or other “brain trauma and cancer stories.” Grief will always follow us because our lives will never be the same. Affliction is guaranteed- earthly prosperity is not.

10. This will all make sense in heaven.

So Steve gets it now.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. And we miss him like crazy. I’ve only known Steve for less than five years. For three of those, he held all of our hands as he walked us through our suffering. Now I’m trying to do it without him.

Thank you for praying.

Larissa

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By admin,

When from my dying bed
My ransomed soul shall rise,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
Shall rend the vaulted skies

Jesus paid it all
All to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down
All down at Jesus’ feet.

-Elvina Hall

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By admin,

Please pray for Ian’s clarity of thought. Pray that God would help him to place all of the memories of his life into the correct timeframe and that he be able to recall his life accurately.

Thank you for praying.

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