Prayers for the Week – Father’s Day

Hello everyone, and welcome to our weekly Prayers for the Week post.  Today is Father’s Day in the United States, and I’m taking a moment to wish all of the fathers out there a wonderful Father’s Day!  Any man can make a child, but it takes a truly committed man to be a father.  Dad, I love you, and thank you for showing me the example of how to raise my children like you raised Robin and I!

By that same token, our Heavenly Father cares just as much for each one of us as our human father does.  Remember the words found in the book of Matthew, the 18th chapter, verses 12-14:

¹²“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? ¹³And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

Just like the sheep, God does not want any of His Children to wander off — He wants them all accounted for, taken care of, and kept safe from the evils that this world represents.  Most of all, He wants us to be loving towards others, and reverent towards God, and His Son Jesus, who died for us as the payment for our sins.  He wants us to love Him, and to tell everyone about Him.

On this Father’s Day, take the time to talk to your Dad, to wish him a wonderful day, and if he has already made it to Heaven, talk to him anyway.  He hears you, and loves to know when you are thinking of him.  Now, please take a moment and lift up our prayer requests and praises — we have a lot of them, so thank you for reading through all of them!

Prayer Requests and Praises…

• We had a comment left on a past prayer post by Junya — I’m leaving it here so that we can all pray for it. Here is what they wrote:I’m a long haul driver sick of being attacked through pornographic images every where, it is wearing me down physically and spiritually, it is affecting my prayer life and thus my ability as a spiritual leader and protecter of my family. This one is not the ordinary daily temptations but all out brazzen attacks that are also manifesting themselves in physically impossible acts such as beams leaning on the truck lifting up and hitting me . I’m calling for any prayer warriors on this one.Please pray for them, for God’s mighty hand to take care of these problems in their life, that they would be able to resist the temptations from pornography, and that they would find the strength within to withstand the physical and spiritual attacks on them. Thank you everyone!
• We have received a prayer request from one of our readers, Kelley, who needs prayers for her son Brandon. Here is what she wrote on Facebook:Please lift up prayers for my 9 yr old son, Brandon. We just recently found out he has 2 congenital heart defects.And here is my reply to Kelley. Please pray for these things for her and Brandon and all of their family during this time of need:Kelley, I’m sorry for your son’s heart conditions, but rest assured that we willpray for God’s Healing touch to come upon him, as well as Peace, Comfort, Strength, and Love to descend upon all of you in your time of need. I’m going to transfer this to the blog so that we can see it and pray for Brandon throughout the week. Please feel free to let me know how he is doing or if there is anything else we can do!
• We have been praying for little Rebecca, the five year old girl who was fighting brain cancer. You may remember reading about her in our Palm Sunday prayer post. Well, I am saddened to report to you that my friend Amy let me know that Rebecca passed away on her 6th birthday. Here is what I wrote back to Amy, and I urge you to continue your prayers along this line please.Oh Amy I am sorry for all your loss. It feels as if our children are being taken earlier and earlier in life these days. I will continue to pray for all of you – for God’s Peace, Comfort, Strength, and most of all, His Love to come down on all of you in this most difficult time. Take comfort in knowing that Rebecca is in Heaven, that she knows no suffering and pain any more, and that she is smiling down on you, keeping tabs on you. I’ll post a comment for the family, thank you for sharing with me.
• My friend Michelle is in need of some prayers. Here is what she wrote on Facebook:Need prayers please. I’m still in the hospital. Dr. Was just in. News is not good. Sitting here crying. Could use some prayers and positive thoughts…….Please pray with me:

  Heavenly Father, we do not know what is wrong with Michelle — but we know that You do, and that you are with her even as we speak. Please have Your Peace descend upon Michelle so that she may know the Comfort that you can provide. Please give her Your Strength to endure the medical issues that she is facing, and please remind her of Your Love for her. If it is Your Will, Lord, please heal her of the issues that are attacking her, so that she may know the Glory of God even more. It is in the name of Your Son Jesus that we pray. Amen.

• My friend Sherry needs our prayers. Here is what she wrote on Facebook:ENT says virus has damaged my inner ear. Series of steroid shots in my ear starting tomorrow to try and salvage hearing, but no guarantees. I am quite worried so I could use all the prayers you could send me.Please pray for her healing, for her doctor’s skill, for the medicine to do what it needs to do, and for God’s Peace, Comfort, and Strength to descend upon Sherry during it all. Thanks!
  • Sherry has given us an update, here is what she wrote:Hearing has improved and second shot done-it’s progress!!! Thanks so much for all the prayers and support-it means the world to me!Please keep praying, thanks for all your prayers so far, it’s making a difference! Keep it up!
• Please pray for my friend Norman. Norman just went through hip replacement surgery. Here is what was written on Facebook:I want to share with you that I’ve just talked with Norman’s surgeon, and his total hip replacement went well. He said that Norman is in recovery now and should be in his room in a few hours.Please pray for a strong recovery for Norman, that he would be well soon, and that he is up and about again very soon. Thanks!
• Please pray for my friend Brooke, who’s son has been ill. He had to have an unexpected procedure today, and while we don’t know the details, we do know that he is doing better. Here is what Brooke wrote on Facebook:We are home. I can’t go into details but he is doing well. Your prayers have been answered and are greatly appreciated. Keep ‘em coming, esp. for deep sleep tonight (for us all!) and pain management over the next few days.Please pray for their comfort, healing, strength, and for God’s Peace to descend upon their family. Thank you very much!
• Great news regarding my cousin Barb and her husband Tim! You may remember that Tim has been fighting cancer. Here is the latest update on his condition:I apologize for the lack of updates, but I finally have great news to share! Tim is Cancer Free! After 8 sessions of chemo, which were pretty rough on him, he is feeling better now, and could not be happier to have gotten this news today! We have an appointment to have the chemo port removed next week! Now, we just have to get rid of the **** drain tube! Yes, he still has the drain tube (since October!). Hopefully, it will be out soon! Thank you all for your support and prayers during the most difficult year of our lives!Please praise God for Tim and Barb and for His healing of Tim’s cancer! Also, please keep them in your prayers that there wouldn’t be any setbacks, and also please pray for everyone else that has cancer. Thanks!
• Please continue to pray for Dee, her Father-in-law Jim, and her cat.  All three are suffering from medical issues and need all the prayers they can get.
• Please lift up Praise to God for Glenn and his wife Joyce — you may remember that Joyce was home from the hospital, and she is doing really well now, so keep the prayers and praises going for them please!
• Please pray for my cousin Michelle and her daughter Julia.  Here is what Michelle wrote on Facebook:
  I debated on writing this but I am desperate for prayers for my littlest one. Yesterday the Dr said he thinks Julia might have a bone infection. We are waiting on insurance to approve the MRI (if no resolution by tomorrow we will just pay it and deal with insurance later) if it is an infection then the next step is to figure out what bacteria it is and match antibiotics. Unfortunately I didn’t have a clue what a bone infection meant so I didn’t ask very many questions yesterday. Now, thanks to the internet, I know pretty much what’s in store for Julia and this is why I’m asking for prayers. I’m sorry I didn’t call you all to ask but for some reason my voice cracks and my face starts getting wet when I try to talk about this. I will keep everyone updated. Thank you!
  • The good news is that the MRI was approved, and will be performed on Tuesday.  Here is what I wrote to Michelle:
    Michelle, we’ll certainly be praying for you and Julia! I write a prayer post each Sunday on my blog, if you want I’ll add this request to it, but you tell me. In any event, never hesitate to ask us for prayers, that is the best thing we can do for you. I’ll be praying for healing, for good results from the tests, and for Peace, Comfort, and Strength to deal with the unknown for you all!
• Continued prayers for my friend Amanda and her husband Daniel, who is going through cancer treatments.  Here is the latest word from Amanda:
  It’s been a while but we have kind of been just hanging out with no movement in one direction or the other. And that has been frustrating. Round 3 of chemo was harder in that Daniel is very fatigued and for some reason, we kind of feel like we aren’t doing anything to move forward in treatment. Now we know that’s not true but mentally that’s the feeling. But we did get through round 3 which was delayed by 2 days due to dehydration and low white blood cell counts. So now our chemo regimen starts on Wednesday and ends on Friday.The oncologist is doing everything we can to keep round 4 from being delayed. Round 4 is the final round before we reimage to see if we are making any progress. They pulled another CEA and it was slightly elevated which means nothing (it’s not uncommon but it’s not common during chemo), there is another tumor or the current tumor isn’t reacting to treatment. So round 4 is the round that starts things moving again. After round 4 starts (hopefully this Wednesday 6/18), we will schedule another scan – CT or PET, we aren’t sure yet – within 2-3 weeks. 2 weeks from the last dose of chemo is July 4th so they are trying to decide if they move us up a few days or wait until after the holiday. Then IF the image shows we have enough healthy liver to resect, the surgery will be scheduled no more than 4 weeks after the final dose of chemo. If we don’t have enough healthy liver, we will need to regroup and see how to proceed.Daniel also had an MRI of the brain last week due to complaints of dizziness and vision issues. Those could be side effects of the chemo or it could be something else going on. Hopefully, we will find out the results on Monday. We have another appointment for fluids and neupogen on Monday along with a general check in. Then Wednesday we go in to see if we can start chemo.

  So specific prayers we need for now are that the tumor is reacting to the treatment and shrinking while the embolization is working and the healthy liver is growing; the cancer has not spread and the MRI results are negative and the issues are truly just side effects; round 4 of chemo starts as planned on Wednesday; Daniel’s overall health (mind, body and spirit) remain well enough to keep fighting; and the reimaging shows there is enough healthy liver to move forward with the resection. I’d also like to put in a prayer request for our daughter, Cate, that she continues to handle things as well as she has been, that she finds ways to talk about her concerns when she needs to and that we can find time to move the focus to her for a while. Thank you all for your prayers and support! And for the hats! I haven’t gotten Thank Yous out yet but it is on the to do list! We have hit a hard spot in the road which we knew we would and knowing you are there to help us through is making it much easier to let go and let God! Prayers and blessings to all of you!

• Please give Praise to God for my niece Stephanie, who made it through her surgery with flying colors and is now home recovering.  Hopefully this will take care of all of her issues she has been having, so please pray for complete healing for her, for no more side affects from the medications, for lots of rest for her and her husband Shane, and for Peace, Comfort, and Strength to see them through the next weeks and months!  Thank you everyone!

My Brothers and Sisters, I thank each and every one of you for your commitment to praying for those that need our prayers.  It is an honor to lift these up to the Lord for all of those suffering, and I thank you all for being the strong prayer warriors that you are!  Please be safe this week, and as always, let’s close our week by praying the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done,
On earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our Daily Bread,
And forgive us our Trespasses,
as we forgive those who Trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory,
Forever and ever. Amen.

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