Prayers for the Week – The Lord Comes First

Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us today in our weekly Prayers for the Week post.  So much has happened during the past week, so many legal rulings affecting same sex marriage, that I debated for a long time how to address this, or whether I should even address it at all…in the end, though, I went to the source of all the answers — the Truth: the Bible, God’s Word for us all.  As always, God spoke to me to reassure me, to show me what really matters.  It’s important to remember that the Lord comes first, and if He isn’t coming first in your life, then you need to decide why that is the case.

Psalm 16:8

“I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” ~ Psalm 16:8

My friends, my brothers, my fellow Christians, those words were the Bible verse of the day on my Bible App on my phone on Friday October 10th.  With all the debate over same sex marriage, and the rulings by the Supreme Court and the 4th Circuit court of appeal, I feel like our country has taken yet one more step away from our roots, one more step towards the evil one, the one that makes us think that everything is great when in fact we are walking towards the abyss that we will never recover from.  So when I saw that verse written for me, I knew that this one verse contained the answer I need — I will put the Lord first, as He should always be, and everything else will be okay as a result.

Proverbs 3:5-6

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. ⁶In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

I don’t know about all of you, but for me personally, Proverbs 3:5-6 speaks directly to me.  There is so much about this world that I do not understand, and I have learned over the years of my life that this is actually a good thing for me.  If I understood the world better, I might be more likely to try and take on the world myself, without God’s direction and leadership.  I already do that too much now, and I don’t need to do that any more, so I will try to live the Proverbs verse as God would lead me.  Please pray for me in this regard.

2Timothy 1:7

⁷for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

The last verse I’m sharing with you this week is from 2nd Timothy, chapter 1, verse 7.  I’ve learned that fear, no matter what form it takes, is not an emotion that comes from God, but rather, stems from the evil one.  What do you fear in your life?  If you could say just one thing, what would it be?  For me, my overriding fear is that I’m not the father and husband that my daughter and wife need me to be.  That, my friends, is a daily prayer I pray, and I would love it if you would pray that for me as well.  If you want me to pray for one of your fears, or many of your fears, please leave us a comment, or if you prefer, send me an email directly to prayer@mydreamsofdisney.com.  Now, please continue reading and pray for those prayer requests that we have received this week.  Thank you everyone!

Prayer Requests and Praises…

• Please pray for my friend and fellow Pixie Mike. Here is what his wife wrote on Facebook:Mike went into surgery at the Cleveland clinic to attach his bladder to his kidney. Please pray that this surgery goes well and ends his pain and kidney stone problems.Please pray healing prayers for Mike, and prayers for Peace for his wife and him too. Thanks everyone!
  • Here’s a followup (or a precursor, if you will) to my friend Mike’s surgery:
    So the original hope was for reconstructive surgery that would fix the problem and to have it done over winter. After meeting with the director of the surgery program at Cleveland Clinic and a specialist in robotic surgery and going back and forth for a whole day, we are going to try to fix the problem in a very unique way, with a similar recovery time. However, God decided I’ve learned enough patience for now and the surgery will be tomorrow. I am asking for all the prayers and positive thoughts I can get, for me and my family. I’ll be offering up my pain for my niece, who will be undergoing kidney surgery to, on Tuesday. I”ll be in the hospital several days and may need up to 2 weeks after that to recover enough to go to work. But, we are hoping this is the fix we’ve been waiting 20 years for.So please keep praying for Mike and his wife Amy, but also pray for his niece who is going through kidney surgery on Tuesday the 7th! Thanks everyone for praying!
• My friend David has a prayer request. Here is what he wrote on Facebook:Asking for prayers for an 11 month old child. A friend of our family found out their 11 month old has leukemia. He will undergo surgery today and has to receive chemo treatments each week for the next year. Prayers for him and the entire family as they start the journey to get rid of this terrible disease.Please pray healing prayers for the child, as well as prayers for Peace, Strength, Comfort, and Love for all of them in their time of struggle. Thank you everyone.
• Please pray for the friend of my friend Joy. Her name is Hallie, and she is suffering from a brain tumor. Please pray for her healing, for her family, for their strength and comfort and peace in their time of struggle.Thank you everyone.
• My friend Amanda has an update on her husband Daniel. Here is what she wrote:Hello again! It’s been a long while but there hasn’t been much to report. With all the support you all have given us, we should have updated you sooner so my apologies! Now for the details!
  Daniel has had 2 of the 8 rounds of chemo thus far. Round 2 was delayed a week due to low platelets and we found out today, round 3 will also be delayed for the same reason. They cut his dosage for round 2 by 10%. We have to wait and see how his platelets are next week before they determine if the dosage will be cut more. They also added Avastin into the mix in round 2. This drug targets cancer cells specifically (the others he’s been receiving target any cell in the dividing phase). They couldn’t add this to the mix sooner because it also effects healing so we had to wait until 8 weeks post surgery. His blood cell counts have been within normal range so right now we are just fighting with the platelets. Nothing we can do to raise the platelets but pray and wait! Due to the delays, it looks like chemo will run into the first part of January which will probably push the hernia repair back into March.
  Daniel’s next scan will happen a few weeks after we get through round 3 to make sure we’ve gotten all the cancer and it’s not showing up anywhere. Then we need to get a colonoscopy and EGD to check for additional polyps. This will all take place while we are in the midst of chemo!
  It’s a weird feeling to not have a major treatment milestone to work towards but still be involved in the fight! It’s taking some adjusting on our part as we try to find what our current normal is until we can get thru the current treatments. I’d like to ask you to pray that Daniel has the strength and endurance to handle all of this, that his scan and scopes come back cancer & polyp free, that his platelets come up into normal range and stay there so we don’t have any more delays, and that Daniel, Cate and I can find our current normal allowing us some peace and calm over the next few months. I’ll try to send out another update after we get the scan done so it may be a month or so.
  Thank you all for your support, love and prayers (and patience on the delayed updates!)! We thank God for you in our lives every day! We hope everyone is enjoying fall and has a safe and fun Halloween!!
• Please continue to pray for Sami and her Mom.  You may remember that Sami suffers from Ewing’s Sarcoma and is undergoing treatment.  Also, Sami’s dad passed away over the summer, so she and her Mom are struggling with that also.
• Please continue praying for Sheila’s friend Kitty.  The progress is slow, but she does seem to be getting better, one day at a time.
• Please continue praying for Cindy’s cousin Lori, who is recovering from a stroke she had some weeks back.  Please keep praying for her.  Thank you everyone!
• Lastly, please continue praying for Peter and his wife Naomi, who’s marriage is struggling.  Please lift them up daily.

My friends, I don’t know the answers that the world keeps asking us questions about, but I do know that God knows all of the answers, and shares them in His Word.  Turn to God, let Him be your guide, and your life will be much better as a result.  Now, please pray the prayer that Jesus taught His Disciples to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed by 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.