Opened Eyes – BAM

 

“After you have suffered for a little while,

the God of all grace,

who called you to His eternal glory in Christ,

will Himself perfect, confirm,

strengthen and establish you.”

1 Peter 5:10

It’s been a very quiet and restful last few days.  I did my third treatment on Friday and had a little audience in the treatment room watching me get zapped.  I have learned to walk in there and know I have angels walking with me and Jesus and they are making sure that the tech is putting the radiation right where it needs to go and insuring that the tumors are getting knocked down with each pass.  Scott said the treatment was 17-18 minutes so not bad.  Definitely thankful it’s not longer.  Realize I can open my eyes and shut them again so at least I know that now.  It’s been a blessing to sit and meet new people each time who are coming in or going out for treatment and it’s all different.  Cancer doesn’t have a favorite spot to invade, a favorite type of person and it doesn’t look to try and work into a non busy life.  Every person in there is struggling and it’s amazing to me how different the treatment is for every person.  I imagine the years and years of study and research that goes into trying to determine how to best treat each case.

One of my favorite people…Coach Lowery, he has helped with the Bryant High School Soccer girl’s team for many years and when I took over the job last year, he graciously agreed to stick around and be my voice of wisdom and “I’ve been here before but, I’m 100% into whatever you want to do….” guy.  Love him and his dear family.  But, I’ve been thinking about how important what he does for his job is for someone like me.  He’s technically a Vet – but he works at the med center here and does research on animals for medical purposes.  I’m not smart enough to understand it all and honestly never asked too many questions (although coach now I have a ton…), I’ve thought about everything that people have done to this point to be able to know my best treatment options.  We live in amazing times.  I am thankful for people who have made it their life mission to do the research and try to figure out the difficult.  If that’s you…..THANK YOU!  Please also pray for Coach Lowery’s daughter Allison who is also undergoing cancer treatment right now.  Pray for success and complete healing for her.  She’s on my prayer list….

Friday night the Funk family came over to watch the Hog game with us.  If you don’t know the Funks…. you are missing out.  I’ve shown some pics of Nikki and talked about her a ton…but she is my life manager.  Goodness she’s a blessing.  Anyway, they came over to watch the Hog baseball game and she had a great idea to have Nathan make rings to form a chain as a countdown for my treatment.  I gave Nathan a book on the characteristics of God and just some Bible passages I’ve been focused in on and he used those to write something on each of the chains.  So now I have 28 chains hanging above my fireplace that I get to cut off for each of my radiation treatments.  I’m excited to get to focus on the verse or attribute of God for that treatment.  Thanks Nathan and Nikki!

Garrett, Abbey and Ashton got back from their mission trip to Denver last night.  It was so good to get to hug them and just hear all the Lord taught them this week.  They grew in their confidence and I could really sense a growth in depth and understanding of their own faith journey, which as parents we want.  We want our kids to choose to follow Christ, because it’s what they desire and to be all in no matter what comes their way.  I am thankful for Geyer Springs for leading and discipling my kids to battle each day and become loving warriors to the world around them.  Would not want anything else.  

So what about my Blog Title today………

I have one of those read through the Bible in a year – Bibles, and the last couple days I have been blown away in 2 Kings.   I’ve read the stories of Elisha before, but I have just been blown away by miracle after miracle that Elisha experienced over and over again.  They have all been different but provided so much for me in this journey and walk that I am going through right now.  God can do ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.  Elisha followed after a pretty famous prophet….Elijah.  I have been blown away reading each miracle and how God provided every need for every situation, whether battle, healing, death, food, armies or whatever!   God isn’t a one miracle kind of God… He is an EVERY miracle kind of God.  Wow!

So, one of my favorite miracles I read about happened when the king of Aram was angry with Elisha and Israel because Israel knew what the king of Aram was planning to do in battle before he did it.  His officers knew that Elisha was the one giving Israel information because the Lord was speaking to him.  The king of Aram decided he would seize Elisha so he could have success battling Israel and obviously Elisha was the one helping Israel stay a step a head.  So the king of Aram sent his troops and this happened to Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings chapter 6…

¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.

¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

From there the other army was blinded and led out of town and the Aramean army left the land of Israel after the experience.  Israel had the victory.

Have you ever been gripped by complete fear?  Have you ever been sure that the army/battle  you see in front of you is too big and great and there’s no way that victory is possible?  I have seen God do some amazing things in my life that I can’t explain.  But, I have to admit, I am now asking God to open my eyes and I want to see his chariots of fire that are battling for me.  Goodness when the Lord reveals his angels who are standing beside me and battling for me I am going to be in such awe I may pass out!  Trust that the Lord is surrounding you with an army to battle everything you are facing and he will provide for you no matter how things may look right now.

A sweet family came over and prayed with me in the first couple of weeks of my diagnosis.  Their sweet son was in my film class and the husband himself has battled cancer and was victorious this year as well.  Crissy McEntire was so sweet to bring me an envelope full of 200 plus Bible Verses that I could hang around my house.  So every day I’ve decided to pull one out and hang it up.  This is what God does people….. I read this passage in 2 Kings and journaled about what I saw with the chariots and the amazing things of God this morning and then I got dressed and went to pull out my “random” verse from Crissy.  Here is the card I pulled out:

Hello…..does God see me and know what I need when I need it?  I praise God for his faithfulness to me as we battle forward.  I’m pressing forward and lifting my eyes to see the chariots battling for me and for each of you!

Here are some ways you can be praying for me:

• I want my eyes to be opened to everything/person/place/situation that the Lord lays before me.  I don’t want to miss a moment of what he wants me to see.
• For my heart/mind/body to be patient with this chalky taste.  I’m just trusting the Lord to either take it away or allow me to push through it.
• Pray that I have a warrior attitude all week with treatment and that when we meet with the doctors we are focused on the right questions to ask.  
• Pray that I continue to have good energy and continue to feel good

Thanks everyone for your continued prayers, notes and hugs.  I am thankful for each of you.  Please continue to send me your prayer requests.  Battling in prayer for you is a blessing for me.