Blessings Through Raindrops & Tears

Click on the video above to hear Laura Story explain
the background behind her new song Blessings.
She speaks of learning how blessings don't always come through prosperity,
but often through raindrops and tears.
It is such an encouragement and testimony!

Hope in the Lord

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 40:31 

The cancer has grown. There was an urgency in the air as treatment options were presented, attesting to the doctor's concern. With the diagnosis moving from an indolent, slow-growing cancer back to an aggressively-growing one, that should be expected.  It seemed a bit surreal to be discussing quality of life over quantity of life. Had it really come to this? -- It had. 


The prognosis is bleak. If Matt does nothing, the average life expectancy is 2-4 months. If he takes chemo, you get to add on another 2-3 months of life. That's not a prognosis that inspires, brings hope, or strengthens you in your inner being.


Thankfully God offers a different hope. Only God can offer hope in a hopeless situation. Not hope in a prognosis, but hope in HIM.  As we keep our hope in the Lord, He has promised to renew our strength. If we hope in the Lord, He has promised that we will soar on wings like eagles, that we will be able to run and not grow weary, and that we will be able to walk and not be faint. Right now I could settle for just being able to walk and not be faint, but we'll claim the promise that we will also be able to soar on wings like the eagle!

My Friend in Need

Can you help me to help a friend in need of a new liver?

Dale Shaylor is a missionary kid turned missionary. 
As a missionary pilot he flew us to our remote jungle home when we were missionaries in Venezuela with New Tribes Mission.
He is currently in need of a life-saving liver transplant.

Transplants weren't in the picture when the same disease killed Dale Shaylor's grandfather, also a missionary in Venezuela, at age 46 in the 1960s. Shaylor discovered he had the chronic condition of Hepatitis B when he was in his teens, as the family was being tested to receive hepatitis vaccines.

He had one bout with the disease four years after that diagnosis, but didn't really get seriously ill until last Thanksgiving Day. And, after chronic hepatitis symptoms left him in a coma from the toxins his body couldn't flush, Dale Shaylor knew he would have to go back to the United States for a transplant."They don't have the medical facilities to take care of that thing," he said.

Dale Shaylor journeyed to Florida in search of a life-saving liver transplant -- only to find the surgery has a price tag far out of the missionary pilot's reach. He was told that to get on a list to receive a new liver from a cadaver, he would have to make a deposit of nearly half a million dollars -- $425,000 to be exact.

"A transplant is not something that's covered as an emergency -- it's more of a luxury item," said Shaylor, 40, referring to what he's learned in the last month about his options. 

Shaylor's family members said there was no time to waste -- they don't know how long his health will hold out now that his liver has been irreversibly damaged by the hepatitis, which is endemic all over Latin America. 

"To have them tell us that transplants aren't considered an emergency, even though he's in end-stage liver failure, it's been a heartbreaker," said his brother, Douglas Shaylor of Deltona.

How can you help?

1. PRAY! PRAY! AND PRAY SOME MORE!

2. DONATE! DONATE! DONATE!

You can give ONLINE NOW (with Credit Card) at: https://www.transplants.org/DonationForm1.php

Be sure and click the box that says, "in honor of a patient" and then find Dale's name. (DALE SHAYLOR)

Or you can send Checks to:

National Foundation for Transplants

5350 Poplar Ave. Suite 430

Memphis TN 38119

Remember to write "In honor of Dale Shaylor" on the memo line of the check!

Thank you for praying, giving, or both!

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/west-volusia/2011/01/15/man-discovers-transplant-patients-face-huge-costs.html

It's Only Because of Him

^"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. (2 Cor. 4:7-9)

I love these verses. I love the fact that God doesn't require that of our own energy that we generate some type of magnificent power or strength to carry us through difficult days. If that were the case, I may as well give up right now. I marvel how He chooses to use us for His glory, though we are merely weak earthen vessels. 


Only God can lead us through dark valleys in such a magnificent manner, that though we feel the pain, we feel the emotional drain, and we have no real substantial answers for the trials before us -- yet we can state with the apostle Paul that we are not distressed, we are not in despair, and that we stand assured that we are not forsaken and will not be destroyed. Why? Because we have such inner strength? Definitely not. It's only because of Him, only because the "excellency of the power" is of God and not of us. It's only because of Him. 

The Continuing Saga...

Dragging a box of Kleenex from room to room wasn't how I had envisioned our mini-vacation, but the special time with friends outweighed the congestion in my head. Coming down with a bad cold may not have been the way I would have planned it, but God gave us a great time reconnecting with Walt and Jane.

Likewise, the second opinion appointment wasn't what I had envisioned. Loving to read and write, I couldn't help but take note of the "foreshadowing" woven in the doctor's beginning words as he prepared us for an opinion different than the one previously given. In any other situation it may not have held a sinister tone, but if there ever were a 'good' diagnosis of Stage IV Pancreatic cancer, Matt had already been given that one. A different opinion or new diagnosis could not be good news -- but they gave us a different opinion anyway. Of course, we had driven five and a half hours for them to do just that. 

In a nutshell,  the second opinion was that this is not the slow-growing type, but a more aggressive type of pancreatic cancer. The difference in the interpretation of the pathology needs to be investigated. Further testing of the pathology and a CAT scan are in order. It definitely wasn't the second opinion we were looking for. Instead of more answers on how to treat the already rare diagnosis we had, we find God stretching us yet more and reminding us our hope is in Him and not in diagnoses or prognoses. We face many unknowns, but we have a great hope in our God who is a known, who has been faithful throughout the ages, and will continue to be faithful on our behalf.

A Second Opinion

Matt and I are getting away for the weekend! We're looking forward to getting away for a few days that don't involve Matt lying pale and hooked up to wires in a hospital bed -- and my spending 14 hour days at his side, to head to my temporary home to sleep and back again the next day. Spending the weekend with former co-workers, who are also special friends, sounds SO much better!

Of course, this is a mini-vacation with a purpose. On Monday, February 28th we have an appointment at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. At the recommendation of Matt's oncologist, we will be meeting with three doctors to gain a second opinion on Matt's case.

Medical combined with a mini-vacation? I can handle that. :-)

A Better Case Scenario

The road we've been traveling has been varied. There was the impossible to miss sinkhole spanning the width of the road at the preliminary diagnosis of liver cancer, possibly originating in the pancreas. We were told Matt had 2 months to a year to live. It was a worst case scenario.

Lifted from the cavernous hole by our loving Savior, we continued our journey. The road turned into an oasis of hope when the prognosis changed to a rare slow-growing type of pancreatic cancer. Though it was Stage IV and had already metastasized to the liver, surgery offered the hope of a cure. It was a best case scenario.

The day of the surgery came, revealing that the cancer was more extensive than the scans had shown. The surgery was not a possibility. Was this a pothole ... or a sinkhole? We didn't know for sure. We continued on hoping for the best, not ready to accept another worst case scenario before it could be spelled out for us. It was the hopeful, yet unknown scenario.

Today we had an appointment with the oncologist to determine what we are really facing and what the current prognosis is. The doctor explained that because this is a slow-growing cancer, the prognosis is 3-5 years without surgery -- possibly even longer. Options included radiation & chemotherapy. However, due to Matt's current good health and the slow-growing nature of this particular cancer, the doctor's recommendation is to wait, have a three-month scan in March to determine how slow slow-growing is -- and make decisions from there. He said that though a second opinion is not essential, he would recommend it. We will be setting up a second-opinion appointment within a few weeks time at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. It's not a worst case scenario nor a best case scenario -- but it's definitely a better case scenario.