My brother's football friends all wore Cade's initials when they beat Navy this weekend and I might have cried when they won because it felt like a breakthrough on Cade's behalf too.
This week Cade has radiation every morning again, so please keep referring to the radiation prayer points post if you are praying for him in the mornings.
- Please keep praying for Cade's appetite; breakfast is usually our best time to cram him with calories and because of radiation (where he goes completely under) we lose that opportunity and have had a hard time making it up for the past week. Starting Thursday, radiation will be at 7 am, so hopefully getting home earlier will spark his appetite again for the remaining seven treatments after that.
- Pray for Cade's appetite in general- it's typical that chemo can change tastebuds, and we are trying to basically swap out a lot of his normal foods for healthier options. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would truly direct his tastebuds to love vegetables, whole milk, and foods without sugar. THIS TOO REQUIRES GREAT FAITH. ;-)
Thursday Cade receives another round of a chemo he has already had three times (thank you God that some of this is already behind us...we celebrate every victory!).
- Please pray that this specific chemo's side effects would NOT occur.
- Jaw pain: He has experienced jaw pain with it the past few weeks which inhibits his eating.
- Please pray that the meds do exactly what they're supposed to in obliterating cancer cells and supernaturally bypass all his healthy cells. Seizures and stomach pain are another group of side effects we are fervently praying against with this specific chemo (he will get this one routinely throughout treatment, so please pray his body does not react worse each time, but that it actually builds up defense in the right ways to it- and the cancer just gets more dead.) ;-)
- Please pray against constipation: this was a very real cause of three miserable days for us this weekend where Cade would not eat, and did not want to leave the couch. It seems like a small, practical thing, but for him it means important calories lost and loss of energy.
Today Cade received his first blood transfusion, as his hemoglobin levels dropped. We have been told that this is fairly typical for the heavy dose of chemos he got about ten days ago, and should expect to receive more transfusions as big chemo groups are introduced. *Cade told Chad as soon as his blood transfusion finished, "Daddy, I feel strong again!" PRAISE THE LORD.
- Please pray that his body responds well to this new blood- and that it's like the blood of Jesus for him, bringing strength and hope.
- Please pray that his hemoglobin levels stay up for the rest of this round (I mean, I wouldn't be mad if we never have another blood transfusion so if you're feeling particularly full of faith, please pray that.)
- His white blood cell count is down, which means his immune system is needing a boost. We learned last week how to give him a booster shot to help, but it takes a while for it to kick in. Please pray that his white blood cell count jumps up, to the glory of God and the health of Cade.
- Lilyan and Eden both had fevers in the past 48 hours, so please pray they didn't share anything with Cade.
Here are some other verses that have been wind in my sails this week, I hope they are encouraging to you as well:
"He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:28-30
Nothing has drained us of strength or any pride in our own abilities as the past few weeks have. But nothing has pressed us closer to seeing how STRONG Jesus is, and how very generous He is with His strength. When we have scraped the bottom of our emotional or physical strength bucket, Jesus steps in with His strength. I do not know what we do without the friendship of Jesus, and the people around us who have loved on, supported, prayer for, and helped us out these weeks. Even now, what the enemy has meant for evil, God has been faithful to every day show up with goodness for us.
Staying faithfully present in "today" allows my heart to boast this verse. The lines truly have fallen for me in pleasant places, because I know God is with me, and He is a God of hope, a God of peace, a God of healing. If God is for me, WHO CAN BE AGAINST ME?
"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." Psalm 18:32
"But He knows the way that I take, when has tried me, I shall come out as gold." Job 23:10
I was reading 1 Peter 1 last week, over and over during radiation, about my faith: "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those who he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified." Romans 8:28-30
When I start to tunnel in fear of what Chad and I or our family will look like on the other side of this trial, I find so much comfort in this verse. The end result, if we press into God, will be that we will look more like Jesus. All of us. We will be conformed to His image, literally looking like his siblings.
"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Colossians 3:1
Right now, it is so easy to be overwhelmed by what I see with my eyes and hear with my ears and touch with my hands and smell; we need MORE than ever to see with our spirit eyes what God is like, what He is doing, and what is the atmosphere of the Kingdom of Heaven- because that is the kingdom we have permission to ask to come and visit Earth according to Jesus- on earth as it is in Heaven! Heaven is cancer free, radiation free, suffering free, strife free, tear-free, suspense free.
"The God of peace will SOON crush Satan under your feet." Romans 16:20
Chad has repeatedly said if we trust, we won't feel trauma. Or when we do feel trauma, we can choose trust, and the trauma loses its power. God is not anxious. He is our peace, and He is doing the pressing/crushing/stomping while we just cling to His peace.
"Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, " Psalm 23:6.
On my 30th birthday this year, I felt the Lord gave me this verse. I remember doing a word study on the word goodness- and one of the ways to translate the word is "benign". I think God must be prophetic. Surely, the benign-ness of God will chase after us. Let it be, God.
And, here is the song on my heart this week as well: Defender by Rita Springer
Continuing to lift you all in prayer! Thank you for sharing in this time; it is so encouraging. -Christian
ReplyDelete