Week Eight: Anticipating Goodness

We are heading into this week encouraged. Cade is like a little mini rocket, zooming around our house and crashing into everything. It is both incredibly heartening and amazing. Little boys are so great.

Here are some things we are praying this week in addition to the chemo prayer points listed here:

1. Jesus Pre-Treats: every time before actual chemo, Cade receives "pre-treats". I always think that's such a tricky name for things like Zofran and steroids, because treats to me usually are cookies and brownies. But I got excited by praying last week that God would begin giving Cade pre-treats at home that actually would be fun. As in the blood of Jesus pre-treats. I am reading this book called The Good Fight of Faith and there is this absolutely nuts passage about Heaven existing outside of time, so Jesus' work on the cross is forever fresh. His blood is forever being shed for our sins, for our sicknesses, for our brokenness. That can seem so graphic, but in a land of violent movies and TV shows, I think it's okay to spend a minute (or maybe a lifetime) contemplating the blood of Jesus. Like Mel Gibson's Passion movie- Jesus didn't die a pretty death so we could have a pretty life. He strategically came when public execution was its most gruesome, so we could have ABUNDANT life. Spend a minute with this song: Miracles by Kristene DiMarco

The Lord is good to all, 

and His mercy is over ALL He has made! 

The Lord is faithful in all His words, 

and kind in ALL His works! Psalm 145:9,14

2. No nausea, no low hemoglobin, no low immunities: We are asking that Cade would receive these meds and would have absolutely no symptoms. Low hemoglobin means weakness and eventually another blood transfusion. It's not the end of the world, but I am feeling pretty bold in my prayers lately and I'd really like for Cade to just be a sign and a wonder. To go through chemo and blast past all the norms and be ridiculously resilient. Why not? And this round is similar to the one he got his first week, which causes low white blood cell counts and weakened immunities. But I'm praying he will thrive, and his white blood cell count will stay up. I know I'm asking for ridiculously bold things. It kind of reminds me of when Eden follows me through Target and basically asks for the whole store. Jesus told us God is way better at parenting then we are- and way more generous.

 If you then, evil (sinful by nature) as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give what is good and advantageous to those who keep on asking Him. Matthew 7:11 AMP

3. God Encounters While at Clinic: I am starting to get to know the staff at clinic, and I find myself praying for them and thinking of them. I have been asking God for specific encouragements for them, and for opportunities to love on them. Every time I am around one of them, I feel God's heart for them. They are so special to Him. And then for the other families who will be there with us this Thursday, I am asking for the ability to talk with or encourage specific ones. 

I was thinking of a story in Acts where Paul and Silas are imprisoned for casting a devil out of fortune telling servant- (why anyone would be mad about that is beyond me)- and how as a result of them being in prison, the prison guard and his entire family come to know Jesus. A prison becomes a purpose. That should be a sermon, probably is somewhere. Here is the story from Acts 16:

Paul and Silas in Prison

One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes.  She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”

 This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.

Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials.  “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.”

A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.

Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.  Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”  And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household.  Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized.  He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.

One of my favorite verses in Psalm 84 says, 

"When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs."

I was thinking about this verse all through Cade's surgery, while we were in the waiting area with friends praying and talking and processing the events of the first 24 hours. We felt that the Lord was making our valley of weeping a place of refreshing springs. I am asking that we would continue to experience that, and to refresh others like we have been refreshed. 

If you have two free hours, this message is CRAZY. And amazing. And heartening. Chad and I listened to this message this week, and I had to re-listen to parts of it because it was just that crazy. This stuff is REAL, folks. Knowing God is NOT BORING. You can listen to it here:  Todd White 

Thank you for praying for Cade. I feel like every single person who is praying has joined us on this ship, and we are all on a voyage to know and experience God's heart together. God wants us to know Him so much more than we even want to; every single day I am amazed at how generously He gives away hope. I am praying that each of you who are praying experience Him at work in your life, that your eyes are better at seeing His hand at work, that your heart feels strengthened, that every breakthrough we get is a breakthrough you somehow inherit too. Thank you for journeying with us. We are so thankful.