9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” ~ Joshua 1:9 (ESV)
Yesterday Sophie, Cindy and I participated in an event at school to raise funds for Sami, a classmate of Sophie’s that is battling Ewing’s Sarcoma. For Sophie and I, it was a chance to see how far along we were on our training for our 5K, while at the same time, supporting a friend who is in a life and death struggle. The verse we are sharing today, Joshua 1:9, is Sami’s favorite Bible Verse, and is prominently featured on our runner t-shirts.
Simply put, today was an incredible day, a day for hope, a day for love, a day for all of us to celebrate a friend, for us to rejoice. Perhaps no one put it better than the Psalmist, who wrote:
24This is the day that the Lord has made;let us rejoice and be glad in it. ~ Psalm 118:24 (ESV)
Today, we were glad in our day. Sophie finished the 5K just before I did, but my time wasn’t too bad for this guy: 44:32. We weren’t able to run the whole time, but we ran quite a bit. It was a great challenge for us, and I think we did great with it — but today wasn’t about running or walking, not about the t-shirts, not about the water. It was about Carroll Magnet Middle School, it’s administrators, teachers, and students bonding together in a time of need and giving their all for their friend and classmate.
The Renaissance writer Thomas à Kempis wrote this with regards to the blessings of God:
Be thankful for the smallest blessing, and you will deserve to receive greater. Value the least gifts no less than the greatest and simple graces as especial favors. If you remember the dignity of the Giver, no gift will seem small or mean, for nothing can be valueless that is given by the most high God.
Today, my friends, we valued the smallest blessings, and saw them multiply into far greater. Praise be to God. Now, please pray for our prayer requests and praises, and thank you!
Prayer Requests and Praises…
- Please pray for Sami — she is up against the fight of her life. In addition to Ewing’s Sarcoma, which is a type of bone cancer, she lost her father over the summer to a different form of cancer. She got sick not soon after he passed away, so Sami and her Mom have hardly been able to grieve for the loss of their Dad/Husband. Please pray for God’s Grace and Glory to lift them up, and for Sami to have a great appointment to find the results of her scan later this month.
- Please pray for my friend Chris — he is home now, but earlier this week had to have a quadruple bypass heart surgery! Everything seems to be going well, but please keep praying healing thoughts for him and prayers for peace for his wife and family.
- Please pray for Mfundokazi Temela’s business to grow.
- Please pray for Will and Amanda Hasley, who have travelled to South Africa to adopt a girl. Please pray for safe travels and for God to bring their girl into their lives safely.
- Continue to pray for my friend Sheila’s friend Kitty. She is walking more, still in a nursing home, but walking more, so that is improvement. Thanks everyone for your prayers.
- Please continue to pray for Lori as she recovers from her stroke.
Thank you everyone for your prayers. Now, please pray the prayer that Jesus taught us 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.
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!!
My friend Bettie’s cat has gone missing. His name is Eddie, and he has been missing for some time now. Please pray that Bettie finds him soon and that he is okay. Thanks, everyone!