Monday, Kevin and I met with the surgeon to prepare us for the upcoming surgical procedure Kevin will have on Wednesday here at MD Anderson in Houston.
I don’t like all the “what if’s” that they have to tell you before the medical team cuts on you!
So in my mind, I was listening, but rebuking it all in the name of Jesus and asking God’s full protection over EVERYTHING!
We humbly stood in that examining room as our surgeon prayed for the Great Physician to be in the surgical room and every thing that will be happening before, during and after surgery. This doc was sent right from God to us! We feel so grateful!
We head out to the hospital around 6am CST Wednesday morning (Oct. 17th). Surgery will begin around 8:30 am and will last approximately 7-9 hours.
We feel your prayers!
There are so many particulars that I could get you guys to pray for, but explaining them in great detail could get long. God knows the particulars.
There will be 2 surgeons tending to Kevin. A urologist surgeon and a vascular surgeon. Both are very good and they are the main reasons God led us here and it is only through God that Kevin has been lined us up with them.
Please pray:
* that the doctors will be able to remove all unwanted material and that all blood vessels and arteries will be perfectly protected in the process.
* Pray that there will be no complications before, during and after the surgery.
* Pray for those of us waiting in the waiting area. Connie – Kevin’s mom, Jamie – his brother and I as well as many others that we have met here in the Houston area that have been our family when we are here.
* We also want to give praise to the Lord for all the provision He has given through His Body that has been providing us meals, transportation, love, and many, many hours of prayers around the clock.
In recent days we have been more keenly aware of the countless others that are suffering as well in this life. We have not been promised a life without suffering.
I recently have seen over the weekend a blog post from a gal, who I met 4 years ago. She now knows how in a moment’s notice – your world can be rocked! Everything changes.
She is solid in knowing WHO her Savior is.
She knows the ROCK that He is in her life.
But it doesn’t explain WHY everything is happening.
She is hanging on the hem of her God.
She wrote a prayer that really resonated with me so I “borrowed it” but instead I have inserted many of my own hearts desires today as we stand before the Throne of a very mighty and powerful God that heals and knows all.
Jesus, I lift up those who have suffered in a way far more than I have. I pray for my friends and how they are struggling through their own battles themselves with cancer and other illnesses or through even walking out healing with their children. They are my heroines right now. Please be with each one in tangible ways today.
I give You Kevin. You love him far more than I do, and You know why we are walking through this healing. I rest in Your sovereign timing of this surgery, and I choose to praise you in this moment. I may not understand, but you do.
Protect Emilie-Grace, Carson and Shiloh during this time. Give them supernatural rest, peace and assurance that You have our family in the palm of your hand. Calm their fears and nerves. Reveal Yourself to them in uncanny ways. Surround them with people who love You and them. Bring deep, wide community to them. I trust You for that.
Be very near both sets of parents. Calm their hearts. Give us all the strength and provision we need to continue.
I give You me. Me, who has been worried, tired and overwhelmed in the past, but me, who now rests in the Savior’s blanket of Love and Peace. Walk with me and help me see Your perspective. I need Your eyes upon me, Your grace holding my trusting hand, Your power overwhelming my weakness.
Thank You Lord for friends who are truly, deeply good to us, who shoulder our burden alongside, who weep with us, who provide. Every time I think about the wealth we have in friends, I tear up. God, You are so, so, so good to provide community, those that are near and those that are far. Thank you for the revelation that I need to be a better community member, to be more compassionate, more understanding, more sacrificial, more hopeful, more of an intercessor for those in trauma. Open up my heart; don’t diminish it. Broaden my influence for Your sake, not mine.
Above all, may Your renown resound in this situation. Your fame. Your glory. Your power. Your goodness. It’s all about You!
Thank You for the example of the lament psalms, where the Psalmist started off much like me, then ended his rant with praise. I’m glad there are others in the Bible who riled, felt sad and confused, and threw their pain to the heavens. I can more relate to their agony now that I have seen agony. Thanks that when we hurl it, You catch it and shoulder it.
I don’t know where I would be without You, Jesus. My life is Yours. You have done great, miraculous things in my heart, far beyond my wildest imagination. So I look back on your faithfulness, remembering how your faithful hand has never left our side, and I draw from that like it’s a bank, and I’m spending it today.
Help me to be fully alive, alert, and attuned to Your presence in this moment. Help me be a compassionate mother to my children, and a dedicated, cheerleading wife to my husband. Be near those closest to us as they watch and pray with us from the sidelines. Let them feel Jesus as real as I feel Him now.
Thank You Jesus for prayer. I need it. My attitude has changed in the last week from complaining to just trusting and praising. It’s turning into something wholly different. And for that I’m grateful. Please, continue to be near Jesus. We need You.
Amen.
Thank you prayer warriors for battling in the spirit realm for the protection of my most precious best friend, and husband. God has got us in the palm of His hand! We feel it.
GOD’S GOT THIS!
