We saw the doctors yesterday, here's a report:
Mike lost 12 pounds this past week, if we can't get down 2500 calories every day, they are putting in a feeding tube ASAP.
He needs to be refitted for the mask today, pray for him this morning as this is a long process and he is too sick to have his head strapped down long periods of time. (And yet he has to do it)
Mike is scheduled for his next chemo June 8th.
If we didn't know that this was temporary and that this too will pass, we might be discouraged. However, we know we need to keep our eyes focused on the Lord, deal only with today, and praise Him along the way. We are finding this to be a minute by minute process of staying in His rest. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall make your paths straight!" Proverbs 3:5-6
The song on my heart his morning as I woke up,
"on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name
When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace, In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand."
Have a great day!
4 comments:
Not only is it strange for me to pray, I guess it would be strange to pray for someone other than myself or my needs. Really? Well, yes. For the most part I don’t put much effort into these things. But I am praying almost continuously for Mike. It probably resembles my technique for solving trigonometry problems: brute strength and awkwardness.
Awhile back my life was pretty depressed. I was upset about what life had sent my way. I blamed others for my misery and was making myself miserable. I was in therapy. The therapist said something to me, “what are you doing about your ‘self talk’”? I had never thought about it before. There is and endless tape that goes on inside your head. So I worked out some funny poems about my situation and whenever I notice the tape of misery running I would recite one of these poems in my head. Overnight my attitude changed. This wasn’t exactly prayer but it does speak to the idea that our minds have some gaps that we could fill with better stuff.
So not really knowing how to pray and not really being accustomed to it, I have to treat it something like the running tape theory and because I don’t have much experience at it, I will just put some more effort into it.
I am risking sounding like some California nut case and so on but Mike has been my friend almost my whole life. And hey, I am as old as he is, ha ha. I vaguely remember that verse ‘could ye not watch with me one hour?’ Cancer is a nasty enemy. I want to make sure it is defeated, if it is an hour or a couple of months. I wasn’t going to admit this to anyone, just do it, but… something has happened. I seem to be getting something from it and since this blog has a lot to do with prayer, I thought I should share it. It has been stressful at first, my eyes water a lot, but now it is just like keeping a vigil and walking along with someone. Dya think? I seem to be growing into it and there seems to be some kind of opening about this.
This morning, for me, as you were going bed, I awoke to the sunrise and view of the hills. The thought was that patience is growing. I have this idea that I have some kind of grip on patience and then it changes. I think of it as, I know this, it takes two weeks for the mechanic to fix this, I can wait that long. But, that is not true patience; patience is not knowing how long it will last and still having faith. I think the frustration is that the world is on a different schedule than we are. I think it safe to say that God has perfect patience; like, “the Ox is slow but the earth is patient”. This is like saying we are frustrated because others, the world, God have different schedules than we have. But, da! It is our schedule that is different than God’s. We are the ones that need to get in line. I hope I don’t sound like I am preaching. I just want to share my thoughts and prayers, brute strength and awkwardness.
Thank you for the gift received buddy. Thank you, Susan, for being there.
Love you,
Lodes
Hey guys, we are praying. Mom did you get the email about our travel times to California? I would love to talk with you guys...give us a call or hopefully we can talk with you in the next couple days.
We love you both and are looking forward to seeing you soon. It is encouraging to hear you both being so faithful. reminds me of the people in hebrews 11...they were confident in the promises of God that they remained faithful through all sorts of hard times. love you guys!
Although we have never met, I have been reading your blog regularly. As believers we belong to the same spiritual family. Praise God for that! Please know we love you and pray for you daily. Thank you for sharing your journey so freely and honestly.
With much aloha and love . . .
Aloha Mike & Susan:
We don't know each other personally, however we've spoken at By The Book (tall red-head w/freckles), were I work. I've also had the pleasure of geting to know your son Sam, just a bit, while he attended Discipleship with Craig earlier this year too. What a gem Sam is! Quite the character and a grand teacher/preacher.
Thank you for making the necessary changes to this blog so I could respond and let you know that one more sister in Christ is praying for you and keeping tabs on your progress to healing and wholeness through this site. The heart of Hope Chapel Ministries has been hit hard. Although you are all in Ca., you are "family". The Recovery Ministry is still going strong because of your love and dedication Mike and Susan. You trained a great group of people who share the same passion. Mahalo!
Trusting in our wonderful Lord that He will give you rest, comfort and an appetite. May He be ever close to you now. May He carry you through to wholeness.
love, Leslie
Post a Comment