Prayers for the Week – Thanksgiving!

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! ~ Psalm 100:4

What better way to cap off Thanksgiving weekend in the US than by giving thanks to God!  While many of us had just Thanksgiving day to enjoy being with their family — and some not even that — we still have a lot to be thankful for!  As for me, I’m thankful for the following things:

• I’m thankful that God put Cindy in my life, and that He gave Sophie to us to raise into a loving young woman.
• I’m thankful for being able to enjoy time with my family, for being able to create a meal with them, and to give thanks to God for our many blessings.
• I’m thankful for my family, both near and far, and for all of the memories that I’ve had in the past, and all of the future memories we will have later on.
• I’m thankful for my Mom and Dad, and for their love that shines forth these past 50 years.
• I’m thankful for my sister Robin and her family, for Jim her husband, for Brett, Leslie, and Stephanie, and for Tara, Matt, and Shane.
• I’m thankful for baby Kennedy, and for the opportunity to meet her in the near future.
• I’m thankful for Regan, our wonderful Old Soul, who is a little slow at times, but who then takes off in a sprint of youth in the blink of an eye!
• I’m thankful for Bettie, Mike, and Hannah, who loved Regan before we had him, and who are now our friends because of him.
• I’m thankful for all of my friends, those that I’ve had for decades, and those I haven’t even met yet.
• I’m thankful for my Brothers at the Men’s Study Bible Study, for all of the support and love and fellowship they give me.
• I’m thankful for my Sister Monica, her husband Doug, and their child Maddie, and for all of the love they have shown Cindy, Sophie and me over the years.
• Lastly, I’m thankful for God, for loving me as only He can, for sending His Son Jesus to this earth, to die for me, as payment for my sins.  It is the ultimate gift that Jesus gave me, and you, and everyone, and there is no way I could ever repay it except by living as Jesus did.

Prayer Requests and Praises…

• This week we are praying for my friend Doug and his family. Here is what he wrote on Facebook:This past Wednesday, November 26th, Millie Carman lost her battle with pancreatic cancer. While we always wish we had more time with those we love, I’m grateful for the time we had, especially over the past year.
• Please also keep my friend Dee’s father-in-law Jim in your prayers.  He is reaching the point of no return, and the fear is that he is going to be transferred to Hospice.  Please pray for healing, for peace, for strength, but also for comfort in their time of need.
• We have a new update from my friend Amanda about her husband Daniel and his treatments. Here is what she wrote:Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We hope everyone will be able to take time to relax and enjoy family and friends this week!We haven’t sent out an update because there hasn’t been much to update, fortunately! Daniel has been through 5 rounds of 8 rounds of chemo. We have been having trouble with his platelets being too low and have been delayed several times. To try to keep the platelets up, they reduced his dose to 80% of what we were getting. Round 5 started last Monday. His liver enzymes (ALT, AST and Alkaline Phosphatase for those that want the technical details) were on the rise which caused them to remove the CPT-11 (irinotecan) from his regimen. We don’t know if this is just for 1-2 cycles or if it will be for the rest of the cycles. CPT-11 is very hard on the body and they removed it hoping to bring his enzymes back in line. We had labs today and his AST was coming down but his ALT and Alk. Phos. were slightly higher and this time his platelets had dropped lower and his neutrophils were low too. There isn’t much we can do to bring these back in line except time and prayer.We are supposed to start round 6 on Monday. We’ll see the oncologist before and discuss our options. They could lower the dose again, remove another drug, tell us to take more time off or decide his body has taken all it can take and cancel the remaining rounds. Obviously, it’s bittersweet – the thought of being done with chemo is tempting but we also want him to get every ounce of prevention he can get. But we know God is in charge and will guide the clinicians where we need to be. So if you can please pray for wisdom for those treating Daniel, healing for his liver and body in general and that his labs come back to where they should be, we would be very appreciative!Praise to God that we have made it this far, are in the preventative mode and have Daniel with us to celebrate the season! We have heard and seen of several cancer patients that have not had the same journey in the past few weeks and know we are blessed. Thank you all for your prayers, positive thoughts and support! Please have a happy and safe week!Please keep praying for them through the season, for Daniel’s medical team and all that they do for him. For the family, pray for Peace and Strength, and for Daniel, pray for healing, Peace, Strength, and Comfort. Thanks everyone!

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.

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