Mr. A & I met Melissa and her husband Larry when we first arrived here in NC. We have kept in contact through moves, changes in church, etc. Melissa and Larry have a house full of kids. They are foster parents and have adopted numerous children. They really are a special family.
I am asking for prayer for my friend Melissa and her mom, Betty. Betty is dying from cancer that has invaded her body. She has decided to postpone radiation until she is able to visit with all of her grandchildren and great-grand children. She wants them to be able to see her healthy and strong. Below is the list of the email prayer requests sent out by the family.
Please pray for this family. Please pray for a miracle! God is bigger than cancer. I know first hand. My mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer throughout her body and is now in remission. Also pray that the family will be able to get through the holidays so they can make many precious memories to hold on to.
11/20/08 PM - She left the hospital today and went to RED LOBSTER! lol she wanted shrimp. She has refused to do radiation until she can come here and spend time with her kids and grand kids. My sister and her husband and my brother and nephew are all coming here for Thanksgiving.
We are going to HONOR our mother's life with a performance for her and she will be blessed!! We are going to take a family portrait - we haven't had one in years ! If you are local and want to see my mom and honor her life and let her know how she has touched your life, please let me know and I will let you know when to come over! If you are not local and want her to know how she has touched your life email , message me, send a video - anything you want and I will make sure she gets it! I want her to know how many lives she has touched BEFORE she has a funeral! ! ! !!!!!
11/20/08 AM - well, the cancer is in her lungs and lymphnodes and she is too sick for Chemo - her heart couldn't take it. So the only treatment is radiation - no surgery - again her heart couldn't take it. She is refusing radiation right now until she can come here ans spend some time with me nad her grand kids and great grandkids and she wants us all to remember her strong not weak from radiation. The doctor would not give her a time frame - her words were that it is up to God it could be today it could be a month. When my mom asked if she would be here Christmas the doctor said she could not answer that. I am trying to not be selfish and trying to let go, but man is it ever hard! I told her on the phone today that I did not want her to suffer and I would let go if she was ready and she said she is ready but not quite yet not until she sees AJ and sees Sydnee and Aiden and all of my k ids again and spends some time telling us all how much she loves us and how wonderful we have all made ehr life! She is truly a wonderful wonderful woman!!!! If you know her you know that and if not trust me she is wonderful!!! I will keep the updates coming, and just know that your words of encouragement are getting to her with pretty flowers and backgrounds - my sister is awesome like that! And keep the prayers coming!!!
Thanks and love to you all,
Melissa
10/19/08 AM - Just wanted to let you all know that I am copying your messages and words of encourgement to my AOL email and emailing them to my sister. Then she is printing them out with nice backgrounds and borders if I know her :) and she is taking them to my mom in the hospital. So please keep them coming and I will keep emailing them. You are all so wonderful and I cannot say enough how much I apprecciate your prayers and words! She did tell me today that she has AnenoCarcinoma but the origin is not yet known. It is near near her lungs but her lungs wee able to be "flushed" with a cutting edge procedure and they are clear of cancer, but they are not sure if the lung is the origin or if the breast is the origin. We should know more tomorrow after test results from yesterday and today come back. I will keep you all posted! and again thanks so much for the encouragement and prayers!
Love to you all,
Melissa
10/18/08 - Hello everyone! We need another miracle from God regarding my mom. She went to have a pace maker and defibrillator put in and all went well. She went home and then back to the hospital the next morning with severe chest pain. The pace maker and defib. were fine so they started running some other tests and saw that her lymph nodes were swollen and they did a biopsy on a lump there. They came in today to tell her that she has cancer in her lymph nodes and lungs! She does not have a plan of action tonight - the oncologist is supposed to come in and see her tomorrow. I am asking, again, for prayers for my mom! I cannot believe that God brought her back to us to have her go through this! Please pray for a swift miracle! I am trying hard to keep the faith, but this is one of those times I could really use my friends really holding my family and I up in prayer!
Thanks in advance,
Melissa
Friday, November 21, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Really!...It's only November
I love Christmas! I love the holidays period - Thanksgiving through New Year's is my favorite time of the year! But this holiday season is starting to get out of control.
People have been saying it for years that the Christmas holiday is starting earlier and earlier each year. I have personally been seeing Christmas decorations since the beginning of October, just after the Halloween decorations came out.
Two weekends ago we drove by the mall and they already had the reindeer decorations out on the lawns. As I drove down the street, there are banners hanging from the light posts. The tree lighting for the city is this weekend! The weekend before Thanksgiving we are lighting the city's Christmas tree.
The straw that broke the camel's back was tonight as I was driving home I was bouncing around on radio stations trying to get traffic information. I turned to one station and they had Christmas music playing. Apparently this station has been doing it for a couple of weeks as my kids and I heard the music as we drove home from the a friends house. We thought it was a fluke thing but apparently every night from 5 - midnight they are playing Christmas music.
Really...it's not even Thanksgiving yet.
Can we just get through Thanksgiving before we go into an all out assault on Christmas?
No, I am not a scrouge! No ba hum bugs here!
On December 1st, feel free to go as nuts as you would like - crazy sweaters, homes decorated with enough lights to be a secondary air landing strip, eat until enough candy until your sick and sing Christmas carols until you have no voice. But until then can we stop and enjoy the day where we give thanks for what we have been given. In this crazy economy and things totally topsy turvy, to stop and devote one day to give thanks is the least we can do. We really do have so much to be thankful for.
People have been saying it for years that the Christmas holiday is starting earlier and earlier each year. I have personally been seeing Christmas decorations since the beginning of October, just after the Halloween decorations came out.
Two weekends ago we drove by the mall and they already had the reindeer decorations out on the lawns. As I drove down the street, there are banners hanging from the light posts. The tree lighting for the city is this weekend! The weekend before Thanksgiving we are lighting the city's Christmas tree.
The straw that broke the camel's back was tonight as I was driving home I was bouncing around on radio stations trying to get traffic information. I turned to one station and they had Christmas music playing. Apparently this station has been doing it for a couple of weeks as my kids and I heard the music as we drove home from the a friends house. We thought it was a fluke thing but apparently every night from 5 - midnight they are playing Christmas music.
Really...it's not even Thanksgiving yet.
Can we just get through Thanksgiving before we go into an all out assault on Christmas?
No, I am not a scrouge! No ba hum bugs here!
On December 1st, feel free to go as nuts as you would like - crazy sweaters, homes decorated with enough lights to be a secondary air landing strip, eat until enough candy until your sick and sing Christmas carols until you have no voice. But until then can we stop and enjoy the day where we give thanks for what we have been given. In this crazy economy and things totally topsy turvy, to stop and devote one day to give thanks is the least we can do. We really do have so much to be thankful for.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
My First Blog Award
I received my first blog award from a dear friend from high school, Christelle @ Beloved Mama. Thank you so much for this award!
Thanks C for this honor! I truly do appreciate it! And just as the award states, if you ever need a hand, I am here for you!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
TSMS - God in this city
After this election, God has really put it upon my heart that there is still much left to be done in this city - my city. I know that the call has been here all along, but there was something more on November 5th. As I was driving to work thinking about the election and what changes were coming, this song came on. God was telling me that there is still work to be done here.
As I said in my last post, there is a lot to pray for. But we also need to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to our city.
What can you do to change your city for Jesus Christ?
I am always looking for new ideas. Post some of your ideas in my comment section.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
10 ways to pray for our President
A friend emailed me this today and I just had to post it. Whether you voted or agree for Barack Obama, the reality is he is our next President. We need to pray for him and his family. We have two options:
1. We can fight amongst ourselves regarding policies, bad decisions, or what could have been
OR
2. We can do our fighting on our knees. We need to set aside "our agendas" and focus on what God wants do. God is in control! We need to turn our eyes and focus on the Creator of everything not just on what is going on around us. Please get along and if you think you can't, turn it to God. When everything around us is falling away, God is our rock and our deliverer.
10 Ways to Pray for Barack Obama -
by Lee Grady of Charisma Magazine…
Whether you voted for Obama or not, you need to pray for him. Here are 10 ways I plan to intercede for him regularly:
1. Pray for Obama's protection. We already know that some weird, neo-Nazi fanatics in Tennessee plotted to kill Sen. Obama during his campaign. Let's pray that racist hatred is not allowed to spread. Let's cancel every assassin's bullet in the name of Jesus. May civility triumph over bigotry.
2. Cover his wife and daughters in prayer. It is not easy to live under constant media scrutiny. Pray for Obama's wife, Michelle, and their two daughters, Malia and Natasha, as they face invasive cameras, nosy reporters, maniacal fans and dangerous enemies. Obama is not only a politician but also a husband and a father.
3. Pray that Obama will govern with God's wisdom. God rewarded Solomon because he asked for wisdom instead of wealth, long life or vengeance on his enemies (see 1 Kings 3:11-12). Pray that Obama will order his priorities like that. Despite Solomon's tragic character flaws, his legacy was wisdom. We can ask God to give our president the same grace.
4. Ask God to keep our president humble. Many great American leaders became corrupt after they moved to Washington. The fatal attraction of fame, wealth and power proved irresistible. The only thing that will guard a man or woman from this pitfall is humility. May God deliver President Obama from the curse of pride.
5. Pray for wise and righteous advisers to surround him. Godly leaders cannot do their job alone. Even the best leaders have failed because they trusted the wrong people. Pray that Obama will not select his counselors based on party, race, pedigree or political cronyism but on godly character and proven wisdom. Pray also that he will not allow secret traitors into his inner circle.
6. Ask for the spirit of reconciliation. Some segments of our deeply divided society want nothing to do with Obama now that he has won the presidency. Even some Christians will be tempted to harbor resentment and nurse political grudges throughout his term in office. Pray that God will grant forgiveness and healing so that leaders on all political levels can have constructive dialogue.
7. Pray that Obama will adopt pro-life convictions. Many politicians have changed their views on key issues while in office. In the 1800s some leaders who favored slavery later denounced it. In the 1950s some who opposed racial integration later became champions of it. Even though Obama won approval from many voters because he sanctions abortion, God could soften and change his heart.
8. Bind all evil forces assigned to manipulate our president. The specter of Islamic terrorism looms over the United States, and dark forces are ready to infiltrate. Our only hope lies in prayer to the God who is able to expose and outwit the schemes of the wicked. This is truly a time for spiritual warfare, and intercessors must not come off the wall in this hour! Pray that no foreign government, terrorist organization or demonic principality will use Obama as a tool. We must stand strong against the spirit of antichrist that promotes dictatorship, persecution of Christians and hostility toward Israel.
9. Pray that Obama's door will remain open to the church. The loudest voices of secular culture-from Bill Maher in Hollywood to atheists in academia-would be happy if religion were removed from public life. Pray that Obama, who claims to have a personal faith in Jesus Christ, will unapologetically welcome Christian leaders into his company and seek their counsel. And pray that false religious leaders (who claim to know Christ but deny His power) will not have his ear.
10. Pray that our nation will enjoy God's peace and blessing during the Obama administration. The apostle Paul instructed early believers to pray for all in authority "so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity" (1 Tim. 2:2, NASB). God's will is for America to experience peace and prosperity so that we can continue to export the gospel to the nations. This must happen whether a Democrat or a Republican is in the White House. As we cry out for God's mercy on our wayward nation, pray that He will allow us to be a light to the world as we finance global missions, feed and heal the world's poor and share Christ's love at home and abroad.
1. We can fight amongst ourselves regarding policies, bad decisions, or what could have been
OR
2. We can do our fighting on our knees. We need to set aside "our agendas" and focus on what God wants do. God is in control! We need to turn our eyes and focus on the Creator of everything not just on what is going on around us. Please get along and if you think you can't, turn it to God. When everything around us is falling away, God is our rock and our deliverer.
10 Ways to Pray for Barack Obama -
by Lee Grady of Charisma Magazine…
Whether you voted for Obama or not, you need to pray for him. Here are 10 ways I plan to intercede for him regularly:
1. Pray for Obama's protection. We already know that some weird, neo-Nazi fanatics in Tennessee plotted to kill Sen. Obama during his campaign. Let's pray that racist hatred is not allowed to spread. Let's cancel every assassin's bullet in the name of Jesus. May civility triumph over bigotry.
2. Cover his wife and daughters in prayer. It is not easy to live under constant media scrutiny. Pray for Obama's wife, Michelle, and their two daughters, Malia and Natasha, as they face invasive cameras, nosy reporters, maniacal fans and dangerous enemies. Obama is not only a politician but also a husband and a father.
3. Pray that Obama will govern with God's wisdom. God rewarded Solomon because he asked for wisdom instead of wealth, long life or vengeance on his enemies (see 1 Kings 3:11-12). Pray that Obama will order his priorities like that. Despite Solomon's tragic character flaws, his legacy was wisdom. We can ask God to give our president the same grace.
4. Ask God to keep our president humble. Many great American leaders became corrupt after they moved to Washington. The fatal attraction of fame, wealth and power proved irresistible. The only thing that will guard a man or woman from this pitfall is humility. May God deliver President Obama from the curse of pride.
5. Pray for wise and righteous advisers to surround him. Godly leaders cannot do their job alone. Even the best leaders have failed because they trusted the wrong people. Pray that Obama will not select his counselors based on party, race, pedigree or political cronyism but on godly character and proven wisdom. Pray also that he will not allow secret traitors into his inner circle.
6. Ask for the spirit of reconciliation. Some segments of our deeply divided society want nothing to do with Obama now that he has won the presidency. Even some Christians will be tempted to harbor resentment and nurse political grudges throughout his term in office. Pray that God will grant forgiveness and healing so that leaders on all political levels can have constructive dialogue.
7. Pray that Obama will adopt pro-life convictions. Many politicians have changed their views on key issues while in office. In the 1800s some leaders who favored slavery later denounced it. In the 1950s some who opposed racial integration later became champions of it. Even though Obama won approval from many voters because he sanctions abortion, God could soften and change his heart.
8. Bind all evil forces assigned to manipulate our president. The specter of Islamic terrorism looms over the United States, and dark forces are ready to infiltrate. Our only hope lies in prayer to the God who is able to expose and outwit the schemes of the wicked. This is truly a time for spiritual warfare, and intercessors must not come off the wall in this hour! Pray that no foreign government, terrorist organization or demonic principality will use Obama as a tool. We must stand strong against the spirit of antichrist that promotes dictatorship, persecution of Christians and hostility toward Israel.
9. Pray that Obama's door will remain open to the church. The loudest voices of secular culture-from Bill Maher in Hollywood to atheists in academia-would be happy if religion were removed from public life. Pray that Obama, who claims to have a personal faith in Jesus Christ, will unapologetically welcome Christian leaders into his company and seek their counsel. And pray that false religious leaders (who claim to know Christ but deny His power) will not have his ear.
10. Pray that our nation will enjoy God's peace and blessing during the Obama administration. The apostle Paul instructed early believers to pray for all in authority "so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity" (1 Tim. 2:2, NASB). God's will is for America to experience peace and prosperity so that we can continue to export the gospel to the nations. This must happen whether a Democrat or a Republican is in the White House. As we cry out for God's mercy on our wayward nation, pray that He will allow us to be a light to the world as we finance global missions, feed and heal the world's poor and share Christ's love at home and abroad.
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