EXTRA: How are the Ratzlaff’s Coping | 32

Colleen and Nikki talk with Dale and Carolyn Ratzlaff who are isolated in their home in Arizona as they also continue to face health challenges. Dale and Carolyn talk about the Scriptures that are grounding them during these times. Podcast was published April 5, 2020. Transcription by Gwen Billington.

 

Nikki:  Welcome to Former Adventist podcast.  I’m Nikki Stevenson.

Colleen:  And I’m Colleen Tinker.

Nikki:  Now, as we’ve previously shared, we’re going to be producing an additional episode of the podcast each week as we walk through this COVID-19 pandemic, just to check in with each other and encourage one another.  And today we have Dale and Carolyn Ratzlaff joining us from their home in Arizona.  Welcome, you two.  Thank you for doing this with us.

Carolyn and Dale:  Thank you.

Nikki:  Before we get started, just kind of talking about what this experience has been like, we’d love to hear an update from you, Dale.  How are you guys doing?

Dale:  Well, are you talking about healthwise?

Nikki:  Yes, yes.

Dale:  Well, okay.  It depends on whether I tell you in reality or tell you through the promises of God, and I’d rather tell you through the promises of God.  There are lots of good texts for healing, and what I think of is Jesus said, “All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”  But I got to thinking about that’s just exactly what Abraham – Abraham was told he would have many, many children, and he believed God, even though he couldn’t see it, and it took years for it to happen.  In fact, it didn’t happen in his total lifetime actually, but I believe that I’m healed of cancer, I really do.  And I am still struggling with some pain in my side and back quite a bit.  I’m still struggling with low red blood cells, I’m anemic, and it takes all my energy away.  But other than that, I’m in great shape.

Carolyn:  And his last blood test did show that there are no B cells in the blood, and that is – his diagnosis was B cell lymphoma, so the B cells are gone –

Colleen:  Ohhh.

Nikki:  Oh, that’s great news.

Carolyn:  – but we don’t know about the rest of his body.

Nikki:  Um-hmm.

Colleen:  Good.  How has this isolation and the COVID scare affected you there in Arizona?

Carolyn:  Well, [laughter] we are in isolation.  We’ve been home for almost a month now, and we have a month to go.  I say “home,” I do go out.  In fact, I had to go out this morning, but we’re very cautious when we go out.  Dale hasn’t gone out.  I wear a mask and gloves and hat and throw my clothes in the laundry – I come in the back door right by the washing machine and just throw them in the laundry, and so we’re doing okay as far as that goes, but it was wonderful to be out this morning and see the wildflowers that are blooming, the poppies in the **firebox –

Colleen:  Oh, yes.

Carolyn:  – and there are some pretty yellow flowers, so that felt good, to get out.  But we’re doing fine.  And I’m thankful for our yard because there was a time not too long ago when we thought we shouldn’t have such a big yard, but right now it’s a blessing to be able to get out and walk around the yard and see things.

Colleen:  Oh, for sure!

Nikki:  Right.

Dale:  We go out and still go for a walk.  If we’re feeling good, we’ll go a mile and a half.  If we’re not, we’ll turn around before we get there, but it’s private.  We don’t have to worry about seeing anybody, you know, close by at least.

Carolyn:  But I’m feeling much, much better, and I’m very, very thankful for that.

Colleen:  Good.

Carolyn:  So I have energy again.

Colleen:  Well, good.

Nikki:  Praise God.

Colleen:  The jolt of hearing a diagnosis like you heard about your husband is enough to throw anyone into some sort of a state.

Carolyn:  Right now, there are so many people fearful of so many different things, finances, health, jobs, you know, but we’re not fearful.  I’m not fearful.

Colleen:  Good.

Carolyn:  Just because God’s with us and has promised to be with us, and so we’re cautious, but not fearful.

Nikki:  Um-hmm.

Colleen:  Dale, what about you?  You said there are some thoughts that you’ve had about this virus that you wanted to talk about.

Dale:  Well, yeah.  You know, I think of Job.  All of Job’s “friends” kept saying, “Job, you’ve sinned against God; therefore, God is punishing you.”  But he trusted God, even though he said, “I’ll trust you even if you slay me.”

Colleen:  Um-hmm.

Dale:  And in the end, he was blessed more than in the beginning.  And why God allowed that to happen, we don’t know, and in this situation we’re in right now, I don’t think anybody can say, “Well, this is God’s judgment on sin,” or “This is Satan’s work.”  One thing we do know is that God will be with us through this, and if we can think about all the history – in fact, I have some I downloaded from the Internet.  I won’t read all the details, but throughout history there have been plagues like this before, and afterward there was a great revival of Christianity, and when the big Korean War happened, after it was over, Christianity just bloomed in South Korea.  I think God can take the terrible of this virus and turn it around, for those that are still alive, and bring salvation to the front, and I think a lot of people are asking some big questions right now.

Colleen:  It’s true.

Dale:  You know, what about me?  What if I should die?  And so on.  But, I’m not worried about dying at all.  I just want to live to proclaim the gospel and be with Carolyn, so that’s our goal.

Colleen:  Yes.

Dale:  To help our kids and grandkids.

Nikki:  What passages of Scripture are you guys really hanging onto right now, and what would you encourage our listeners to be memorizing or writing out and meditating on?

Dale:  Psalm 91 is a phenomenal one.  That’s probably one of the better ones, I think.

Carolyn:  We read that together the other night, and there are some wonderful promises in Psalms, a lot of them.  Also, we read Psalm 27.  And then, in the New Testament, there are so many promises that God’s going to be with us, that He’s not given us a spirit of fear.  We are adopted as sons, and so we can cry out, “Daddy, take care of us!  Daddy, I love you.  Daddy, come be by my side.  And just take care of us because we love you,” and He loves us.  In 1 John, “I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in good health.”  So God wants us to be in good health, and we just need to focus on His promises.  In fact, when I was driving home this morning from the store – it’s about 25 miles away – I was just thinking of all the times that God has blessed us in the past.  And starting even when we were teenagers, we had committed our lives to God, and we were focused on we wanted His will done in our lives.  And God just blessed us.  And many times through the years He’s provided jobs for us, He’s provided food when we didn’t have jobs, He provided tuition for the schooling and so many, many other things, even healing.  He healed Dale many years ago, and He healed each of our boys.  They’ve each spent some time seriously ill in the hospital, and so God has been really good, and I think if we focus on not only how He’s blessed us in the past, but who we are in Christ.  We’re forgiven, He’s blessed us with every heavenly blessing, so that’s kind of where I am.  [Laughter.]

Dale:  I remember when our six-year-old Bruce got mumps meningitis.  He was stiff as a board and had a high fever.  And we just cried out to God, and he got well.

Carolyn:  Yeah.  So I think if we can focus on how God has blessed us in the past and on His promises.  There are so many blessings just from reading Scripture, and I had a whole long list, but I don’t know what happened to it.  [Laughter.]

Colleen:  [Laughter.]

Dale:  Something else we’ve done, at least while we’re shut up here, we’ve watched a lot of religious programming on TV.  We watched one the other night, it was from Oklahoma.  The pastor had a large church, and what he did, they couldn’t come to church, so he arranged with a local FM station to broadcast his messages.  He went up on the top of his church –

Carolyn:  On the roof.

Dale:  – on the roof, and started preaching and invited his members to come.  They came in cars, like a drive-in theater, and so – they showed a picture.  There must have been hundreds of cars there, and he would ask for those who would accept Christ to turn their flashers on, and he had a real revival there.  And I just thought it’s interesting that in times like this God can give insight and direction to different pastors and different things.  You know, in hard times we can still make way to spread the gospel.

Colleen:  I love what Elizabeth has said for a long time, “God wastes nothing and redeems everything that we submit to Him,” even COVID-19.  This is part of what He’s using to make His glory known in the world, ultimately.  Not everybody will see it, but many will.  Yeah, I think that’s an amazing thing.  While I’m thinking about it, just let me ask you, Nikki, how’ve you been since we talked the last time?

Nikki:  Yeah.  We’re finishing up our last week of spring break, and so we’re looking forward to some routine next week.  The kids’ school has done a fantastic job setting them up for online classes, and, um, I’m going to have to facilitate a lot of hours for PE, which will be interesting.  [Laughter.]

Colleen:  [Laughter.]

Nikki:  But I’m looking forward to the routine, and you know, it’s interesting, I find myself busier now than I was a couple weeks ago, and so in a lot of ways that has been a blessing.  It slows my ability to think and worry, and it keeps me working and praising God and listening to worship music, and I don’t know, it just creates space for me to be thinking about what I need to be thinking about while I’m working.  How about you?

Colleen:  Well, we’ve been busy as well.  A lot of our attention has been focused on getting this new dog to believe he’s at home with us.  [Laughter.]

Nikki:  [Laughter.]

Colleen:  But he is!  He is becoming used to us and kind of settling into the house, and he’s very sweet, so –

Carolyn:  What kind of a dog do you have?

Colleen:  We got a smooth Collie a week ago.

Carolyn:  Ohhh!

Colleen:  He was being used for show, and he didn’t like showing, and he wouldn’t hold his ears up, so his owner and breeder sold him because she couldn’t use him for showing anymore.  And he’s two and a half years old.  He’s actually very sweet.  His name is Artie.

Dale:  Artie?

Colleen:  Artie, yes.

Nikki:  I do want to say, but one thing I have been hearing consistently this week from others is ongoing concern that the things that we see happening, including the earthquake in Idaho that they had this last week, it’s causing some people to feel triggered and like the things that Ellen White predicted are coming to pass, and maybe they ended up on the wrong side of things, and so I’ve been praying a lot for people to know how to think through that.  And I’d love to know, Dale, how you would advise those who are having the Adventist triggers related to end-time events?  How would you encourage them right now?

Dale:  Well, I would just recognize that this has been the history of Adventism.  When we used to be in the church, they had the weekly journal or the monthly journal that came out, and everyone had something about religious liberty, and it was always, you know, “The Catholic church is coming.”  Any major event in the world was a harbinger of bad times and the time of trouble, and we’ve got to get ready.  But the beautiful thing is, if we’re right with Christ, all these things don’t make any difference at all about our relationship with Christ, and if we live today, fine; if we die tonight, that’s fine too.  I’ve gotten lots of emails from people asking me if they think this is the beginning of the time of trouble or beginning of the plagues and all that, and I write back, I say, “Well, I don’t think so, but if it is, praise God.  Lift up your heads, your redemption draws near.”

Colleen:  [Laughter.]  Yes.

Nikki:  Amen.

Colleen:  Yes.

Dale:  So we don’t have anything to fear.

Carolyn:  Right.  We got a call on that very question the other day from some former Adventists, and that was what they asked, you know, “Is this it?”

Colleen:  Oh, wow.

Carolyn:  All those tapes of Ellen White keep playing through their heads.

Nikki:  Um-hmm.

Colleen:  Um-hmm.

Carolyn:  And you know, God has replaced all of that with His love –

Colleen:  Yes.

Carolyn:  – and we don’t need to worry how tomorrow will be as long as we’re with Him.

Colleen:  That’s so true.

Dale:  I think the trouble we’re in right now with the COVID-19, it also gives the church and those that are able a chance to minister to others.

Nikki:  Um-hmm.

Dale:  We’ve thought, “How in the world can we do that?” because we’re both in the vulnerable age, and especially me, with my situation.  We haven’t planted a garden yet, but when we get strength and get everything ready, we’re going to plant a bigger garden than normal because –

Carolyn:  Yeah, we think we might need it.  [Laughter.]

Nikki and Colleen:  [Laughter.]

Dale:  We’ve got to have enough to give to our neighbors.

Nikki:  Yeah.

Colleen:  That’s really – that’s a sweet thing.

Dale:  Because last year we had more peaches than we could use, and we also gave away tomatoes and squash.  You know, you always get too much squash.  [Laughter.]

Nikki and Colleen:  [Laughter.]

Dale:  So we thought we’d plant a lot of extra corn and be able to give it to our neighbors if we don’t need it.

Colleen:  That’s really cool.

Dale:  And you hear stories all over the – on the TV about people who are jumping in and helping, and one of them was a church in LA.

Carolyn:  You maybe heard of it.  They are feeding – sending out like 80,000 lunches a week to school kids –

Nikki:  Wow.

Colleen:  Wow.

Carolyn:  – and to other homeless people that need food.  And they did it all – it’s all a faith work, and God has just provided money and groceries and many, many blessings so that they can bless others.

Colleen:  Wow.

Dale:  And the Samaritan’s Purse, with Billy Graham’s organization, you know, they’re still amazing.  They put up all these hospitals, you know the temporary hospitals there for New York and –

Colleen:  That’s true.  Um-hmm.

Dale:  And they always bring Jesus in, “We’re ministering, you know, with the name of Jesus.”

Colleen:  Yes.

Dale:  I notice that Franklin Graham is on TV quite often now, inviting people to accept Christ, right straightforward, you know, and –

Carolyn:  Right on the main news.

Dale:  Yeah.

Nikki:  Wow.

Colleen:  It’s interesting that God glorifies Himself through whatever happens, and if people have the eyes to see, it will be really clear.  You know, I think about what you said, Dale, about Job and how he didn’t know what happened to him or why it happened.  I remember realizing, after leaving Adventism, that at the end of the Book of Job, the righteous Job repented for having thought he understood how God worked.  He said, “I’ve spoken of things too wonderful for me.”  It was after he repented for his having assumed he knew what God was doing that God restored everything to him, and I just think it’s interesting, people immediately rise up and say, “Oh, well, this is the beginning of the end,” and they’ll create timelines, and I want to say, for people who have come out of the background we’ve come out of, “Did we learn nothing from this process of setting timelines and scenarios?”  God’s on His throne, and He’s going to use this for His glory, and He’s saving those who are believing.

Dale:  I would agree.

Carolyn:  Yes.

Nikki:  [Laughter.]

Colleen:  [Laughter.]  Well, are there any last words that you’d like to say, Dale and Carolyn?  We’re keeping these podcasts fairly short, and they’re mostly just check-ins to say hi to everybody and let them know we’re thinking of them and praying for them during this time.  Is there any last thing you’d like to say, each of you or both?

Dale:  I think right now, you know, with my situation, I’m not very strong, and I’m focusing on getting well.  And I’ve kind of changed the focus of my Bible study.  It used to be I would study in order to teach, and I’m not saying that’s wrong.  I mean, that’s certainly right.  A teacher should be well prepared.  But right now I’m trying to feed my own soul and make sure that my fellowship with God is strong, and so a lot of my study right now is ministering to my own soul.  That’s not selfish, I don’t think.

Colleen:  No, it’s wonderful!

Nikki:  Uh-uh.

Dale:  We need to do that from time to time, and so I’m rejoicing in the goodness of God and His promises.  He’s working all things together for good for me right now, and I think my best days are still ahead, so Carolyn?

Carolyn:  Well, I would just agree with all that you said, because we’re kind of in this together.  What he does, I do.  But individually, I’ve also been focusing on just studying Scripture, and actually, I’m going through Gospel Transformation –

Colleen:  Oh, Dale’s book!

Carolyn:  Dale’s book.  And just understanding each one of those texts, spending time and walking in my Bible.  I got a new Bible a few years ago, and I always go back to my marked Bible, and I decided I needed to mark this new Bible.

Colleen:  Oh, that’s a good idea.

Carolyn:  So I’ve been doing that, and that’s been good.  And then together, we always read Scripture together in the evening, and just focusing on trusting Jesus no matter what, just believe that He’s with us and will be with us ’til the end and that we can actually be happy at this time.

Colleen:  Yeah.

Carolyn:  There are many things to be thankful for, and I like to focus on the positive and be happy.

Colleen:  Oh, yes.  Are there any passages, Dale, in particular that have been feeding your soul that you’d like to offer as places we can go to?

Dale:  You know, that one that is very strong, it’s from Mark, you know, that Jesus said, “Therefore, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you.”  Now, obviously, the timing and the details we don’t know, but I believe it.  You think about the woman who she said, “If I only touch the hem of His garment,” and if you look at that in Greek, she was continually saying that.

Colleen:  Um-hmm.

Dale:  So one way to way to build faith is continually claiming the promises of God and seeing them coming true.

Colleen:  Yes.  And, Nikki, how about you?

Nikki:  Well, I’ve been working on memorizing Romans 8.  I would encourage people to work on that.  It’s a long chapter, but it’s full of incredible truths and promises.  We’re not walking with Christ in condemnation.  We’ve been freed from that.  We’re walking with Him in life and newness of life as His adopted children, like Carolyn was saying, and that’s really where I’ve been focusing my mind.

Colleen:  And I’ve been working on 1 Corinthians 2, I’ve been memorizing in the last few weeks, and it’s amazing to me to realize that God has given us His Spirit and that the Spirit of God is the one that knows the thoughts of God, and he ends chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians, Paul does, by saying, “But we have the mind of Christ.”  He actually makes us His, gives us a new identity, a new Father, a new position, new power, and He gives us a new mind, His own mind, so that we understand what is real and true as we submit ourselves to His Word, and that’s been extremely encouraging to me and reminds me that His Word says to give thanks in everything so that as we walk through this, with the unknowns, we still have to be thanking Him for who He is and for the fact that His Word can’t fail.  Dale and Carolyn, thank you so much for joining us for this podcast and for sharing how you’re doing.

Nikki:  Yeah, thank you so much.

Dale:  All right.

Carolyn:  Thanks for having us.

Dale:  And we want to thank you for all the work you do for Proclamation! and Former Adventist Fellowship and all that.  I guess because of our situation we’ve kind of had to back off a little bit but are thankful that we have chosen good people to take over where we can’t do everything now.

Colleen:  Well, we love you.  You just need to know, we all love you.

Carolyn:  Well, and we love you too, and thanks for all you’re doing, both of you, all of you.

Nikki:  We’ve appreciated hearing from all of you as you’ve written to us over the last couple of weeks, sharing with us what you’ve been going through during this time, and we’d love to continue hearing from you.  You can write to us at formeradventist@gmail.com.  You can also ask us any questions you may have or ideas you have for future episodes. You can also look at proclamationmagazine.com for past issues of the online magazine and to sign up for our weekly blogs, and there’s also a donation button if you’d like to donate to the ministry.  Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook and leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts, and we will see you guys again soon.

Colleen:  Bye, and stay safe and know who you are in the Lord.