“This is my desire….

to honor You.  Lord with all my heart, I worship you.  All I have within me, I give you praise.  All that I adore, is in You.  Lord I give you my heart.  I give you my soul.  I live for you alone. Every breath that I take, every moment I’m awake, Lord have your way in me.”  Those are the words to the song that I found myself listening to tonight as my infusion has just ended and I am trying to sleep.  According to my doctors and nurses, it should have made me very sleepy and I should be asleep right now.  I was listening to my iPod and meditating and worshipping and I realized, “I’m awake, He wants me to write.”   So I will write.

More words now to the same song right now as I write, “And I will live for You.  And I will live for You.  And I will live for You.”

So, wow!  What a day.  It started with us thinking things were looking so great on the scan of my lungs.   And what results we had gotten looked like all of my medications were working fantastically.   But we had more blood work out there, so we were waiting…..

More words from my iPod at the moment, “Jesus, I’m living for you name.  I’ll never be ashamed of You.  Take, take, take it all.  Running to the one who heals the blind.
Following the shining light.  In Your hands the power to save the world  and my life.”

We got back some results and Dr. Manley came to let me know.  He wanted the opinion of the lung specialist.  The lung specialist said that he could see me around lunch.  So I called Jacob and told him that I was going to see another doctor around lunch, but I am probably going to be able to go home around 2, so if he could come then.  So the doctor came, was very thorough and did an exam and wanted to re examine the scan of my lungs.  After a bit, he came back and said that he had talked to Dr. Manley and he felt that something was missing from the print out of my lungs and he was going to go down stairs and look at the original on the computer to see if there was something missing and if was not still in the computer, he was confident that I needed to do it again.  So we waited….

More from my iPod right now, “What to say, Lord? It’s You who gave me life and I Can’t explain just how Much You mean to me now That You have saved me, Lord I give all that I am to You That everyday I could Be a light that shines Your name Everyday, Lord, I’ll Learn to stand upon Your word And I pray that I I might come to know You more That You would guide me in every single step I take, that Everyday I can Be Your light unto the world.  Everyday, it’s You I live for.  It’s You I live for everyday.”

So he came back and said indeed they had the original in the computer still and infact they had missed the inflammation where I had been feeling burning as I was exercising.  So he had talked again to Dr. Manley and Dr. Manley would come up in a bit and let me know the treatment they had agreed upon.  So in a bit, Dr. Manley was here (he was running back and forth from his office in the next building over to the hospital).  He explained all the blood work to me and what the lung specialist and himself had discussed and I needed this new drug infusion.  It would be best to do it today.  So I called Jacob back…..

My iPod right now, “You go before me.  You shield my way.  Your hand upholds me.  And I know You love me.  At the cross I bow my knee.  Where Your blood was shed for me.  There’s no greater love than This.  You have over come the grave.  Your Glory fills the highest place.  What can separate me now?”

I was very emotional because it was just a roller coaster of a day.  Up and then down.  Jacob encouraged me.  I called Johnny and talked to him about it.  He encouraged me and prayed.  I called my parents and explained it to them.  Then I put it on facebook and sent out an email to our prayer partners.   The nurses started coming in and giving me all of this preventative medicine, pills and 2 different IVs.  And I was a bit overwhelmed.  I think because of just a huge range of emotions all at once.  And the responses started to come in on facebook and in my Inbox……

My iPod right now, “Saved by your mercy.  Found in Your Grace.  Totally surrendered to Your embrace.  And there’s nothing more than You.  See Your perfection.  I’m lost in Your peace.  Your faithfulness sings over me.  And Your love is alive in my soul.”

I don’t think that it was a coincidence that I had this procedure on a Wednesday night.  Because everyone was letting me know they were going to go to their churches and pray for me.  I started being prayed for all over the world.  Prayers were coming in and rising up for me.  I believe that it honored God and He was so pleased and He truly blessed this time.  For He granted me a tremendous amount of peace.  I had to sit here for a little over 5 hours just letting this cancer medicine enter my body.  I had some strange sensations and my stomach is not feeling great at the moment, but all in all, I was able to handle it well.  Dr. Manley came to hang out with me for a bit so that I had someone to chat to as well!  So nice of him to take time like that.  I also had a sweet friend send me an awesome song on facebook that God used to sooth my soul.  I am so blessed to have so many people praying for me.  It humbles me to call on your guys and your love that you pour out for me each time I need it.  You guys have blessed and honored and given glory to God my/our Great Physician, Father, Friend, Never Give Me More Than I Can Handle, Always Beside Me, Savior, Guide, …..

Right now on the iPod, “Take me, mold me, use me, fill me.  I give my life to the Potters Hands.  Mold me.  You guide me.  Lead me.  Walk beside me.”  “Falling on my knees in worship, giving all I am to seek Your face.  Lord all I am is Yours.  My whole life I place in Your hands.  God of mercy, humbled, I bow down.  In Your presence at Your throne.  I called.  You answered.  And You came to my rescue and I want to be where You are.”

And guys I am not sure what more to say, but “Thank you.”  Thank you for being there for me.  Thank you for going before the only One that could truly help me in that moment.  Thank you for giving Him the chance to bring Himself glory through your prayers and His response by just blessing me with His peace and patients while I had that treatment and allowing my body to handle it well.  Thanks.

My iPod right now, “In my life be lifted high.  In our world be lifted high.  In our love be lifted high.”

I feel that is an appropriate place to leave this.  🙂

 

Farmer Jacob

So for the last 3 or 4 weeks, Jacob has been going out to the farm with Andre and Manuel.  He has been going with them to help them harvest whatever is ready to be harvested.  It has offered him the opportunity to spend time with the guys in their environment and they have not only become better friends, but Jacob says that they love to discuss spiritual matters while they work.  It has been a time that all 3 seem to really enjoy and look forward to each week.  Apparently, Andre and Manuel are the only people around that grow bokchoy.  They have a big market for it in San Jose with some oriental restaurants.  They gifted us some a couple of weeks ago and instructed me on how to prepare it.  And I absolutely love it!!  It is so yummy!!  Well, at some point Jacob told Andre how much I loved it, so he has made sure that he sends some with Jacob each time they see each other!!  I am not complaining!!  I absolutely love it!!  Another benefit is that Jacob comes home each time with a small portion of what they have reaped…. bokchoy, carrots, radishes, cilantro, etc….

Here is a photo of this week’s portion….

We have found that we have so much that some has started to go bad before we can use it.  So another ministry has developed.  We have started to look in the fridge each week to determine what we cannot eat or use and Jacob takes it with him as he goes and visits people.  They seem to really appreciate it.  We have found a way to not only clean out our fridge, but also to help those who have less.  Win – win situation 🙂  I would encourage you to consider how much food you throw away each week and even if it is a small amount, is there someone that you could give it too that could be blessed by your sharing?  You too could keep a clean, organized refrigerator and also be blessing another family with your extras before they go bad.

Not only are Andre and Manuel benefiting spiritually by Jacob coming with them each week to help harvest their vegetables, but it is an extra worker basically on their farm.  Jacob is making their job easier by assisting them in their harvest.  It reminds me of Matthew 9:37-38 “Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.'”  We firmly believe that each Christian is called to spread the gospel where the Lord has placed them.  He is harvesting all over the world.  Are you one of His workers?  Are you helping in The Harvest?  Would you ask the Lord of the Harvest to send you to where He needs a worker or workers?  Just some questions to ponder.

 

 

Update 3/2/2010

Today we have lots to be thankful for.  God is so good and faithful and is continuing to guide us and little by little bring healing to my body.  My mom and dad gave me a bookmark with a verse on it that sums up my heart right now –

“A joyful heart is good medicine.” Proverbs 17:22” 

 

And I have many things right now that are making my heart joyful.  First of all, Jacob and the kids arrived safely and we are all so happy to be together.  When they arrived, Sophia and Benjamin had to go to the pediatrician here because Sophia had a rash and Benja had an ear infection, but they are now doing great.  Jacob is continuing to have to do homeschooling for the three of them, but we have been able to add going to the county park for them to ride bikes as PE and of course Benja is playing golf!!  We also all went to the aquarium on Saturday with Jacob’s parents – little added science lesson!  I was able to make it with the help of my wheelchair.  So everyone is settling into a routine here at my parents’ house.  🙂

 

As far as my health progress goes….we are still working on getting my cpk and aldolase down into normal range.  We have made progress, but I am still not where I need to be, so I am still having discomfort.  I am able to walk now though, all be it slowly, and if it is going to be a large amount of walking, like when we went to the aquarium, I have to use a wheelchair.  I have been able to get to our target amount of the immune suppressant and I have begun to successfully come down some on my dose of prednisone.    I will meet again with Dr. Gilkeson next Wed 3.10.10 to decide if we are going to need to add another medication.  I am still wearing the heart monitor and do not have any news to report on that.  I am praying everyday that I will get a phone call from my cardiologist and that she will tell me that I can take it off and we can know what the issues are with my heart, but so far, I am still waiting.  Today, I had to go to GYN for an extensive check to make sure that ovarian or breast cancer is not what triggered the gene in my body that caused this disease to come to life in my body.  We may not ever know the environmental trigger that caused it, but we need to make sure that it was not one of these types of cancers.  And in women with this, these types of cancers are common triggers.  Tomorrow, Wed. 3.3.10, I will have a mammogram and then on the 16th I will have ultrasound of my ovaries and then on that same day I will meet back with my new GYN here and discuss if we need to do any more checking or testing.  Next week on 3.9.10 I will go to physical therapy for the first time for stretching and massage.  I will not be able to work on regaining any strength until we get all of this under control, but we are hoping this will help me be more comfortable and in less pain. 

 

Specific ways to pray

1.  That my cpk and aldolase would come back into normal range.

2.  That my cardiologist would get to see what she needs to see from this heart monitor so that we can make decisions regarding my heart health.

3.  That all cancer tests would come back negative, but if there is something there that we need to be aware of, that God would reveal it in the testing that we are doing so that it can be addressed.

4.  That physical therapy would bring me some relief and that I would continue to heal and get stronger day by day.

5.  That everywhere we go we would continue to share God’s light, love, grace and shine for Him. 

 

I know that God is using this time here in Charleston for His glory.  I have seen Him make changes in me and I feel closer to Him now than I have ever been.  I have watched Him work and move in situations where only He could be responsible for the things that are going on around us.  I can only be thankful for this situation and pray that I would bring Him glory through each stage of this.  I thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.  They are so special to us and make all the difference.  We need them and ask that you continue to pray for us.  

 

To God Be the GloryText: Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915)

To God be the glory, great things He hathdone;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life, an atonement for sin,
And opened the lifegate, that all may go in.

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer, the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see!

Refrain:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done!

 

We have moved into the mission house!

Over the last two months our home church has been remodeling an old home on the new church property to make it into a mission house!  We were able to move in yesterday!  It is such a huge blessing to have a place to call our own while we are back in SC!!  Thank you to everyone at Mt. Moriah Baptist for this blessing!!  You guys are awesome!! We have finally moved out of our suitcases after a month of living out of them!!   Here are some pictures of our home for the next 2 months!!

The dedication of the new mission house!

The mission house!

The front porch!

The den with the girls enjoying a movie on our computer!

The dining room

Encouraging little touches

Benja’s bedroom

The girls’ room

Lizzie decorated her bed as soon as we arrived!

The kids’ bathroom

Our bedroom

Even a tire swing in the backyard!!

 

Lemonade is sweet, but….

God’s love is sweeter.   That was the theme this week of a group of 3 – 5 year olds from Columbia, South Carolina.  What does that have to do with us in Costa Rica?  Well, a friend of mine from high school, Ashley Lindler, messaged me on facebook a couple of weeks ago to ask if I could share over Skype with her group of 3 – 5 year olds from Columbia First Baptist summer camp.  I, of course, was happy to do that.  With the time difference of 2 hours between here and South Carolina, I would be able to speak with them at 7:30 here and miss just a few minutes of my first class.  Easy peasy!  They were just adorable!  Well, earlier in the week I had seen on facebook where Ashley had posted pictures of her children holding a lemonade stand with a sign that said, “Lemonade is sweet, but God’s love is even sweeter!”  How cute is that?  When I mentioned to them over Skype that I saw the pictures they told me that they were doing it to raise money for us!!  I was so shocked!  I started crying!  I think it is so amazing that these little ones were working so hard for missions here in Costa Rica!  They ended up doing 3 lemonade stands and raised a total of $277.46!!  Can you believe that?  These were 3, 4 and 5 year olds and they are making a difference for Christ at such an early age.  Their efforts will benefit missions in Costa Rica and the children that we are serving here!  That is why I think it brought me to tears….these little ones already working for the furthering of God’s kingdom and look what they did!!  So amazing!  What amazing lessons these little ones are learning and teaching!  Such a fabulous way to be spending their summer vacations.  I love the idea of getting kids and families involved in missions.  This has truly blessed me and my family.  And I am thinking that they may even inspire some of the readers of this blog….what do you think?

Here are some pictures of these cuties!!  Thank you guys so much!

Lemonade stand advertising!

Lemonade stand cuties!

The firemen came on the first day!

Second day of the lemonade stand

Who wouldn’t stop and buy some lemonade from these cuties?

And the firemen came back for more on the second day!!

Taking a break for some water time fun!!

 

An Unexpected Gift

  Okay, so let me set the stage.  For those of you who don’t already know, I sing in the praise band at my church.  Well our leaders Lloyd and Christina Shockley were out of town today.  We knew that in advance and those of us who were still going to be at church this morning practiced for Sunday last Wednesday night.  This is what we do every week.  Nothing new.  Well we talked Abby Puckett into singing with us.  For those of you who do not know Abby she goes to Easley High school and is a very talented musician.  She sings, plays the guitar, the flute and she writes songs (all of which are glorifying to the Lord).  Her father Mike plays the guitar for our praise team.  Well during practice we agreed that Abby and Mike would play a song that she wrote from Ephesians for the offering today. 

  So here we are today.  I almost did not go to church this morning because I had gotten a bad sunburn on Wednesday and have been pretty miserable and I just wanted to sleep.  However, I got up, got ready and amazingly I started to feel better.  We went to church and warmed up and practiced during Sunday school like normal.  We get up and sing the first song “In Christ Alone” and the hymn “It is well with My Soul” and then prayed for the offering and then it was time for Abby, Mike and Jeff to do Abby’s Ephesians song.  Well, to my surprise Jeff sat down and I thought to myself, well he taught Sunday school and did not practice with them this morning, so maybe he decided he was not ready to play the song with them.  So Chris and I sit down and Mike and Abby start searching for music, which again was odd to me because Abby knows her song by heart, but I thought maybe she is nervous and needs the words in front of her.  Then Abby says, “My dad and I were inspired to write a song and dedicate it to the Folks.”  I was in shock.  I knew nothing about this!  I looked at Chris for and explanation and he just looked at me and said, “It is a new song” and was smiling from ear to ear.  Well unfortunately we do not record the music portion of our service, so I do not have it recorded, but it is an absolutely beautiful, appropriate, like they went into my heart and spoke the words that were there even though I did not know how to even express them to the Lord.  They spoke them for us and beautifully to the Lord and our church.  I cried the entire song.  Here are the words…

LET’S RUN (dedicated to the Folks), Written by Abby Puckett

What’s my mission…Lord please tell me…Cause to tell you the truth…it terrifies me.  I’ve put my faith in you…to keep me strong.  Lead my family…to where we belong…But how do I know…it will be safe…What about my little girls…and my little boy…What about the life and love we’re leaving…behind…all our faith is in You!

Let your will be done…I will follow the Sun…Let your will be done…I’m your feet, Let’s run.

Lord guide the way…shine a light onto the world…be a lamp unto my feet…and a light unto my path…guide us through each day…give us the words to say…to share Your Word through Your LOVE.

Let your will be done…I will follow the Sun…Let your will be done…I’m Your feet…I’m Your feet…Let’s Run…

Instrumental…humming…

Let Your will be done…I will follow Your Son!  Let Your will be done…I’m Your feet……………..Let’s Run (repeat)

  Isn’t that amazing!  I do not think that there was a dry eye in the church.  They wrote that song just this past Friday!!!!  It was beautiful.  It really is amazing to me that they could speak for us in such a perfect, profound way.  It was such an unexpected gift to us.  We will cherish it forever!  I hope to get a recording of it and find a way to play it on our blog.  The Puckett’s are a special family to us with an amazing testimony of God’s saving grace.  Abby has such a bright future ahead of her.  I cannot wait to see how the Lord uses her as she continues to grow into a beautiful young woman who truly loves the Lord.  And to all of you who knew about this gift and kept it a secret THANK YOU because it was so special.  The hard part was getting up to sing the next song…I sort of sung the song…I cried a lot…but our Lord is just so good…His love is so special to us…we feel it in our church family and friends…how could we not sacrifice this passing life here in America and tell people through out this world…living Costa Rica and spreading this love…His love…His grace…His forgiveness…HIS UNEXPECTED AND ULTIMATE GIFT…THANK YOU MIKE and ABBY!!!!!!!