Asking to Live the Unexplainable

So 7 treatments down today.  Yeah!  I have been dealing with the chalky taste in my mouth and have been sucking on lemon drops – which are just so good – Thanks Wendy Cavaneau!  Yesterday I decided I was going to suck and chew on one really quickly before going into treatment and so I’m quickly biting it so I can lay on the table and get under the mask.  Well apparently I left a tiny part in my mouth… didn’t know it and so I was having to swallow more during the treatment than I probably wanted to.  So today I wised up and just said “chalky taste you got your 40 seconds with me today…not going to battle with a lemon drop.”

Treatment went well the last two days.  I have taken the last spot before lunch so I do my best to get in lay down and get out so everyone gets their full lunch break – ha!  Seriously great people in there.  They turn my music up as loud as I want and do what they do with the lazers. Also got blood drawn afterwards.

There is a sweet soul that usually in there right before me or after depending on when he gets there.  His name is Gene and he is such a sweet joy to see every day.  His wife Gloria is such a sweet light as well.  He is nearing the end of his radiation treatment so we won’t be passing each other in the halls everyday like we do now in a couple weeks.  I am thankful for their sweet smiles and their love for Jesus.  Pray that the clean scans they are seeing for him remain that way going forward – Praise the Lord and pray his nauseausness doesn’t bother him.  There are so many wonderful people you get to meet and hear their stories and then pray for.  Sorry the one is sideways…. 🙂

Yesterday was super busy for us.  It was my Mother In Law’s birthday.  Ann has lived at our house almost everyday since my surgery.  She has been such a blessing to us, driving us around and helping aroud the house.  And as life goes… she spent her 70th bday with us being….busy.   We were able to watch the HOGS baseball team and eat cake.  We are very thankful for her willingness to be here for us during this journey.

Kids had plans and had the opportuntity to get together with their mission team and the other two teams Wednesday and share about their experiences at the different locations.  The kids had such a great time on their trip and I am thankful for every memory and moment that they will cherish forever.  Thankful to the adults who invested in them.

 

I got a special visit yesterday from a special friend of mine Sarah and her daughter Mollie.  Love sharing time with her and just sharing our experiences, hope and joy in the Lord.  Don’t get to see her too often anymore since she moved but, that is the beautiful thing about friendships that have their foundation in the Lord.  It’s like you never left each other and you just dig deeper together.

“But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.”

Psalm 146:5

So, so thankful that the God of the universe sees me and knows what I need each and everyday.  He sends me his peace, comfort and messages that remind me “I see you, I love you, I’ve got this and I’m using it.  Trust me completely.”  The Lord really spoke to me this morning as I was coloring my little picture to hang-up by my mirror.  I apologize if you already saw it … but as I was reading through 2 Kings and Acts the Truth in this very familiar passage just really hit me:

How much do I really trust the Lord in my situations and circumstances.  If I don’t go ALL in then I’m really telling the Lord that I don’t think He can or will do what needs to be done.  So how do we really learn to trust like that?  We DECIDE to depend and then we bring our honest hearts to the Lord and ask Him to build this kind of faith in our lives.  Then when we have moments to act – which will come – we get honest with the Lord and say, “I’m stepping forward and I’m trusting you.  I know that you got this and me.”  And I’ve seen Him do it too many times in my life…And now I’ve seen him ramp it up to a level that I am just like Elisha and Paul watching the unbelievable.

I shared a bit about Elisha’s life and today I was a bit sad… he died.  But, before his death he minisered to King Jehoash of Israel and challenged him to get some bows and arrows and put his hands on the King’s hands and assisted and challenged him to shoot an arrow through the window.  He said in 2 Kings 13:17 “This is the Lord’s arrow, an arrow of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek.” Elisha was sick…. he probably knew his life was coming to a close, yet he took the time to minister to and encourage a king, because he knew a nation was at stake.  He had complete trust in the Lord no matter what it meant for him.  Wow…. to live for others ready to pour yourself out completely.  Now that’s faith lived out in complete trust.

So really quickly here.  I read something i don’t ever remember reading before in reading 2 Kings 13:21.  There was a group of Israelites who were burying a man and they spied some raiders and instead of burying the man they through his body into the grave to chase after these guys.

2 Kings 13:21 ” But as soon as the body touched Elisha’s bones, the dead man revided and jumped to his feet.”  Ok people that’s pretty cool… I love this picture. Elisha was so full of God while living that the Lord allowed his body to miraculously revive a dead person.  Can’t explain it … but it is this kind of stuff that we should be expecting and asking God to see!

As I read Acts 19:11-12 today again, just blown away again in the same day…

“God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles.  When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were place on sick people, they were healed of their diseases and evil spirits were expelled.”

God allowed and used Paul to perform miracles we can’t even imagine.

God did big things through Elisha and Paul… but, do we even expect Him to use us at all? Do we wander through life just hoping to feel good every once in a while and we miss the wonder and power that God has given us that we are not trusting him and asking him to use in us?  Most of us have chosen a happy faith and we don’t even consider the fact that we are called to be warriors and we have been given the arrows to be victorious in every situation.  I am bolder in my prayers these days.  Bolder in my expectations.  Bolder in my praise. Bolder in my ALL IN TRUST.   And I wouldn’t trade a moment of this battle and journey, because I have seen “bones come to life and handkerchiefs and aprons heal…”  Join me and BE BOLD and watch your Life be transformed.

I was blessed to get some sweet flowers from my sweet sister in the Lord Jennifer Offutt. She has been so encouraging to me and just lovely.  As I took pictures of the flowers she sent from one day to the next… I watched those tulips open up.  And I thought what a great picture of what I want my life to be.  The sun encourages these petals to open and to show their beauty and show who they were made to be.  It is the Son that opens us to the opportunity to display our beauty and purpose to others and they experience great joy because of what He does in our lives – lean in and TRUST.

 

I forgot to include in my last blog how you can continue to pray…and I need the prayers:

• Continue to pray that the 11:30 treatments are right where they need to be and the 7 shots are effective 
• Pray that my energy stays good… I feel blessed to feel pretty good.  
• The chalky taste and I have just decided to exist together unless the Lord has plans to take it away.  So just pray that I will continue to use that time to thank the Lord
• I want to really make sure my body is flushing out all of these toxins so just pray that the Lord does this 
• My sister and her family will be here this weekend, so praying that we have a blessed time no issues (she’s pregnant with twin girls -eek!)
• Prayers as we finalize the tshirts I designed and bracelets – so excited!  Continue to pray that if I can encourage anyone at anytime that my eyes are open and I lean in and trust.

Blessings, prayers and HOPE to my WARRIOR Friends!