So Thankful

We go in for treatment tomorrow early, and I wanted to post some specific prayer requests. The past week Eden had spring break and Cade's treatment was delayed a week because of his long inpatient stay and high fevers, so we got gifted with normalcy. I AM SO THANKFUL. In a very real way, this season has made my ability to taste and experience gratitude to increase by the thousands. I feel like my cup is overflowing. I love how the Lord is faithful in every week, and I love how much pleasure He takes in filling our hearts.

Chad and I got to go on a day date this weekend to a much-cooler-than-we-are brunch place, and while waited for a table we wandered upstairs in the building to an open couch. We were talking about the weeks ahead and my heart started to feel all the same trepidation. I'm not less fearful, I just am getting faster at uprooting fear. But as I started down that rabbit hole, I looked up and realized we were sitting in front of a closed restaurant with the name  "PROVISION" written over their double doors. It was one of those epic Holy Spirit moments. Here comes fear, and then here is Jesus, purposefully sitting me so I'd be squarely facing His promise. Provision. It's what He does. He multiples bread for thousands, He sustains generations for 40 years in a desert so their shoes didn't even wear out, He makes a meal for Elijah that sustains him to run for 40 days without eating. He is provision. He will not change. I can trust Him for the weeks ahead.

 It's only appropriate that before I launch into a prayer request list, I say with all sincerity that we are coming into this week with singing hearts. "By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life." Psalm 42:8

For this weeks treatment we are praying these specific things:

1. Protection over his kidney, bladder, and heart: these chemos can be toxic to all these organs, and we especially need protection over his operating kidney, (I keep asking for a literal shield put up by God around it), and for calming of any inflammation in Cade's bladder. We know there is build up of irritated tissue in his bladder, and we have had consistent microscopic hematuria in his urine- which basically means blood cells we can't see. I am so thankful for each new thing we learn about because it gives me specific, pointed prayer. So we are blessing his bladder, praying for reduced irritation, and for the Living Water to come and heal that place. One of these chemos also can affect the heart function, so we are praying for a strong heart for Cade that is UNTOUCHED by the chemos. I am praying that he would be like Meshach, Shadrach, and Abendago, who were thrown into a fiery furace but came out unscathed, without even smelling of smoke.

"Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, “Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?” They replied to the king, “Certainly, O king.” He said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!” Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire. The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king’s high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.

      Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God."

Daniel 3 IF THAT DOESN'T SOUND AWESOME I DON'T KNOW WHAT DOES

2. No nausea, vomiting, and a healthy appetite throughout. One of these chemos is notorious for making kid's sick, but Cade has done well all throughout the treatment without getting sick. He seems to maybe feel a little worse about a week after treatment, so we are asking in advance for his tummy to have the peace of God before, during, and after treatment so he can eat and enjoy the goodness of life. 

O taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Psalm 34:8

3. Please pray that these chemos are like tools in God's hands, appointed to destroy every cancer cell that might be remaining. Please pray that they are directed like a river in His hand, away from every vulnerable and vital place and directed to every evil place. This reminds me of the Psalm I got the day we found out about Cade's tumor, (isn't it just like God to equip us with words like this to pray back in times of need? Such a faithful Father!)

For the king trusts in the LORD,

            And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken.

      Your hand will find out all your enemies;

            Your right hand will find out those who hate you.

      You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger;

            The LORD will swallow them up in His wrath,

            And fire will devour them.

      Their offspring You will destroy from the earth,

            And their descendants from among the sons of men.

      Though they intended evil against You

            And devised a plot,

            They will not succeed.

      For You will make them turn their back;

            You will aim with Your bowstrings at their faces.

Psalm 21

I always pray the Psalms where the enemies are every cancer cell, and I love how many Psalms are suprisingly relevant to the journey. I especially love how this one references "their offspring You will destroy from the earth". We want cancer cells to die, and never ever reproduce. 

4. Please help us pray that Cade will not have a fever after these treatments- and that at his lowest point after this chemo round (7-10 days), his body will be filled with supernatural strength and power. I am still praying that "the spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness", and praying that Cade's spirit will stay strong, and help his body rally. 

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, 

so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:11

I am amazed at how the Lord has transformed this season for us so many times, and how faithful He has been. I am so thankful for the ways our story has encouraged other people, because it literally has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with the fact that if you just keep looking to Jesus in crisis, He comes through. He shows up. He comes. He equips and gives wisdom. So many moments of this journey I've had to stop everything and go to the quiet place and say, "Jesus, I hear what they say, or what I say, or what these results say, but what do YOU say?" He always has a better word. He gives strength. 

I was assessing some of life's problematic issues this week, just wondering what God thought- and a part of this verse popped into my mind, so I googled it to read the whole thing was BLOWN AWAY. 

"The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD."

Isaiah 11:2

The Spirit of God has solutions for every problem we face. He has strategies for us to overcome and walk through every hard place. He has strength for every impregnable place we feel we cannot scale. He is SMART. Like, way smarter than human ever. And He loves to share His wisdom, like James says, generously to all without finding fault. That is good news. 

I've been mulling over these two messages recently, and again, my mind is blown by how the strategies for walking this road given to us by the Holy Spirit are things He is speaking to so many people! He has good ideas! 

Steven Furtick Who Writes Your Headlines

The Power of Instead (Part 2) Graham Cooke