Tomorrow I go again to be pumped full of various drugs, my third chemo therapy session of this first set of drugs. They will again use the port-a cath which I had surgically inserted under the skin below the collar bone, on June 3. The next 4 days will be varying stages of feeling sub-normal. Based on my last two chemo sessions, Saturday won’t be too bad, but Sunday and Monday will be a “wash” (as in “washed out”, good for nothing). “Bedtime” takes on a new meaning since I have felt too tired and yucky (is this in the dictionary?) to be up much, so I spend most of my time resting and sleeping. But it could be worse, I know, so like a bad storm, I ride it out and thank the Lord I am as well as I am.

Actually, I don’t usually do a lot of anything mental like thinking or even praying. So I am very thankful for you who “stand on guard” for me (reminds me of a song…:). When I can’t pray for myself, or only cry out “Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy”, when others are praying for me I can rest on the substance of their faith. That is true intercession and I am very grateful for it.

But today I have another burden on my heart. My 2 year old grandson Emmanuel has been diagnosed with pneumonia, the second time in his short two years of life. He is our little “Superman”, the one in the picture on my last blog. He is the one who cheered up his Abuelito (Grandpa) Randy before his knee surgery with his Superman-flying play. He still is enamored of the Superman hero character. Yet we know there is only one Superman, and no fiction is he. We cry out to Jesus, who alone can save the world, and heal our loved ones. For he is not only the most true Man, but he is God. Won’t you pray for Emmanuel, he is too young to know to pray for himself. But our prayers can make for him a resting place in Jesus, carrying him through his trying time. This is true intercession, and we are very grateful for it.

My other two little grandchildren have been and are still struggling with illness at this time as well; colds and coughs. Please keep them and these two households in your prayers as they minister to me in my time of need. Pray also that I do not get sick due to exposure to any viruses or bacteria, since my immune system is very depleted.

Randy is back in West Virginia, serving the volunteer teams coming to live out their faith doing their good work with and for the people in McDowell County. Pray for him as he readjusts to life there, alone (without me, that is), rattling around in that big old house of ours, serving our staff, lending leadership to the entity called Mustard Seeds and Mountains. There are many needs he is faced with and we need God’s intervention to meet those needs.

Pray for the two of us as we face many months of separation due to my need to be here in California for continued cancer treatment, and his need to be in West Virginia to lead the ministry of Mustard Seeds and Mountains.

Did we, after all, make the right decision in choosing to go to California for my cancer treatment? Absolutely. God has given grace for every circumstance to this point. He will give grace to us for everything we face in the days and months ahead.

We do not make our own way in the world, trusting in our knowledge or abilities alone. We acknowledge there is one God to whom we bow, and seek his guidance for every decision in life. For we are not our own; we are bought with a price. That price is too great to ignore or take lightly. That price whispers, “A life for a life”. Jesus Christ gave his life, his blood, for us. Now we respond, “My life for his life”.

And the Praise goes on….