It’s a dance, a battle with this “Red Devil” as it pours into my bloodstream as I write wearing my battle armor, the t-shirt with Psalm 91:1 “911” written on it that a dear friend from TX sent me! Praying it does it’s job to kill and destroy the rogue, destructive cancer cells and at the same time minimal damage to the other rapidly reproducing cells like my blood-cell-producing bone marrow (& my hair which we know it worked on😄...never thought about it before but all smiley-face emojis are bald🤪)! God is graciously answering that prayer! I always go in to get bloodwork in btw rounds to assess the damage. My WBCs are winning the fight at this stage in the game! According to my wonderful doc (oncologist), I have “one of the most robust bone marrow” he’s seen! Even after getting in the ring with the “devil”, Adriamycin, & his un-nicknamed buddy, Cyclophosphamide, my bone marrow is coming out victorious, barely even bruised or beaten up! With each wearing round taking its toll, they expect blood cell counts to be affected and drop (hence the bloodwork to monitor it), but mine is staying strong & WNL (nurse lingo for “within normal limits”)! My red blood cell, hemoglobin & hemocrit were just a touch low so my dear friends swooped in with research, recipes, & a slew of veggies (that they did some fancy cold-pressed juicing to!), nuts, legumes, etc to arm them for battle! The nurses at the hospital are wearing shirts that say “Not all Superheroes wear capes”...some wear street clothes and are called Friends! ...that God can use as His hands & feet to provide His protection, peace fun, fellowship & so much more!
Everyday has SO much to be thankful for when we look for it and have eyes to see it!! Do you know to whomyou’re thankful and why?! There has to be an object of the thanksgiving, the one who gets the thanks! Yes, I’m sure we all have lots of humans in our lives that deserve thanks...& we should give them what they deserve! Any kids listening here? Think ‘your parents!’ As they are most likely the source of all or at least most of what you have & has been done for you! Well even more so is this true for ALL of us in regards to our Heavenly Father, “the Giver of ALL good & precious gifts!” James 1:18. He commands us in 2Thess. 5:18 “in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you (us!) in Christ Jesus!” ...the air we breath, each breath we take, the warm sunshine, a smile, a hug, hope in Him!...side note- at Moms in Prayer that’s the verse we read as we start our Thanksgiving part, following the ACTS model for prayer...Adoration (of a character of God), Confession (of our sin, going our own way & not the way the Author of Life clearly laid out for us in His Word, Creator of all Who rightfully has just, absolute authority over all because He made it & it belongs to Him!), Thanksgiving (bc He is the Giver pf all good & perfect gifts. James 1:18), and Supplication (where now with the right mindset and perspective we go before Him with our requests!). An awesome group of moms faithfully comes over every Monday morning to pray for the schools, their staff & their students! Lately it’s been by Zoom- thank God for technology! If anyone ever wants to join us, lmk!!...ok, end side note😄
Have you ever (and to give thanks to the Giver of all good & perfect gifts “give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His love endures forever.
"God is in total control of every trial. And those who know and love Jesus can be confident that every trial is allowed by God only because it will bring us more of God. And there is nothing greater than more of God."
What did you have to be thankful for today? What was your God moment where you saw evidence of Him working, what brought you ‘more of God’? I pray we would all open the physical & spiritual eyes to ‘see’ more of Him in His written Word and unwritten world! He’s speaking loud & clear!!💞
By the way, good full day after chemo so far with a few highlights- a neighbor nicely offered to pick me up from chemo about 12:30 but I ran into a dear friend & her sweet mom at the infusion center who offered to take me to lunch & home so I got a handmade note and fresh-cut rose on my doorstep from my precious 8 yo neighbor in lieu of the ride. Then I had a visit from one of my students & her mama that I had the pleasure of seeing & caring for in the health office of our local elementary school I worked this past year. Finally tonight all the leaders (& some of their spouses who serve with them) in our church’s high school ministry that Dave & I get to support & encourage, came over for a wonderful evening of fun, food & fellowship!
Now with Compazine (an anti-emetic OT anti-nausea med) on board, I’m hitting the hay! Have a 7:40 appt with my surgeon tomorrow am! Sleep tight & sweet dreams!!
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