Greetings from Austin Street

Happy Thursday!  All is well here at 811. Bruce is driving like a champ and has already made a solo trip to the store.  This is really going to be a wonderful help to me following surgery.  Driving has done wonders for his confidence. I love it when he so happy.  In the 1000 step journey I am on step 7.  Tomorrow I will have a special MRI for Breast Cancer Patients.  Geni is going with me and I am a bit nervous. I have never had an MRI before.  Thank you for your continued prayers for me and my family.

Dear God, You say I should give thanks to you in all things. I guess that means cancer too. So I praise you for the surgery and the treatment to come. You know I am not looking forward to the MRI in the morning, six weeks of daily radiation and possible chemotherapy. I really do not mean I praise you for cancer in me any more than I praised you for cancer in Casey. But I am saying these things to you right now to use as a weapon of praise in faith and I trust in you to take control of all that is ahead of me. Please help me to be calm in the morning and be as still as possible during the MRI. Help me sleep tonight. I love you Lord and I place my trust in you. In Jesus name, amen.

If we learn to praise God when things are tough, we show our trust in Him and open the way for God to work in our lives. But I have never been able to be thankful for cancer. I have always been thankful that God has walked with each of us as we have battled this disease, but not for the disease itself. Several close members of my family have battled this disease and most of them have lost the battle.  I can say with assurance that while they were never restored to wellness, but they were all healed as all were men and women of faith. ! Thess. 5: 18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances.”  So I have been working to find the things for which to be thankful this far in the journey.  First, this tumor is a stage 2 (not 3 or 4).  I am in good general health and expect my body to be able to respond well to the surgery and to the radiation. I give thanks for the team that will be caring for me as they are the tops in their field and are men and women of faith. And how interesting that this was discovered for me during the season of Lent. I always make a journey during the Lenten season and I am thankful for the lessons I am being taught during this time. I am not sure except for my own restored health how God will use this unwanted circumstance, but I believe that somehow God will use it for the good of others. I am praising God that the surgeon will remove all of the tumor and tissues.  So I am praising God because I have been called to praise in all things.  I don’t feel thankful for cancer, but scripture does not say I have to “feel” my praise. I just have to believe that prayer is the weapon in our arsenal and all battles can and will be fought beginning with praise and prayer. 

“Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk in my high places.”

Habakkuk 3: 17-19

Take joy in the journey and praise God giving thanks for His unfailing love and faithful presence in our lives. Wear comfortable shoes, get some sleep and think pink!  Love you all, Bruce and Gaylene