Wow...

Dear friends,

You all are amazing. I am speechless. Seriously. Shortly before bed this past Thursday my dear sisters, Tiffany and Laura, presented me with this package.

They went on to share how they had secretly contacted friends and collected birthday/encouragement notes for me. I have never received so many cards before! I haven’t counted yet, but I will soon. Here’s a picture of what I found inside….

The timing of this gift could not have been more perfect. Receiving a gift like this at the end of a particularly difficult day meant more than any of you could know. I was completely surprised, blown away, greatly humbled, and wonderfully blessed. It is amazing to see the diversity of people represented – old friends, new friends, those I thought I’d lost touch with, parents of my friends, and friends of my siblings. If you sent me a note, I hope you are reading this now. Thank you. God used your words (or will use them if I haven’t read your note yet) to bring me great comfort and encouragement. I don’t deserve it, and He is teaching me more about the true meaning of grace through receiving this gift.

I have only read a few so far and have considered spreading them out over a few weeks and pulling them out whenever I am especially in need of a bright spot. So, although I may not have read your particular note yet, I most definitely will at some point soon. I simply cannot tell you all just how much receiving these has meant to me.

Finally, I want to thank my sister, Tiffany, for her heart for taking this on for me. She has walked beside me through this season, and I am SO blessed to call her my sister. The same goes for Laura who helped make this possible and has been a continual encouragement to me. And I want to thank Robert, one of my dear little brothers, who collected letters from friends at church and asked his friends to get involved. I am so blessed.

I know I am going to return to these notes and the Scripture verses and words of encouragement again and again over the days ahead. I am continuing to make physical progress, but the past few days have held a greater degree of difficulty for me. It is so sweet to see how God timed the delivery of this gift from each of you to arrive right in the middle of my low point. Thank you. I just don’t have the words.

I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving recounting His blessings and gifts. I am coming to learn that even our thorns are precious gifts. God is always up to something far greater than we can see or imagine while we are in the midst of the pain. Let’s keep giving “thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18), for we have a God who is all-wise, all-loving, all-good, and perfect in every way. Even when our way is dark, He has not forsaken us.

(Just a quick P.S. – I have been overwhelmed by the love and care I continue to receive from each of you and would so love to be able to respond personally to each of your emails, Facebook messages, cards, and phone calls, but my ability to do so right now remains greatly limited. Please know that I dearly love each of you and am SO blessed by hearing from you. I hope to eventually get back to you all. Thank you for understanding and being so gracious. Also, I am still presently without a cell phone in case you have been trying to contact me that way.)

Another Prayer Request

Dear friends,

Yes, I'm actually posting twice in one day! Just wanted to add another prayer request while I was thinking of it. I've been eating a lot of dairy lately (mainly heavy cream, butter, and kefir) and was just hoping to try milk and yogurt this week, but my system is struggling with it right now. My dad encouraged me to ask people to pray that I would be able to continue to eat dairy, so I'm putting that request out there. Our God can do anything!

Thank you so much!

An Update

Dear friends,

I figured it was high time I gave you all an update. Once again, thank you for your patience. God has been so good to me! How quickly I forget all the mercies He has shown and how far He has brought me.

Praise Reports

• I am still weak but my strength is significantly greater than even just a month ago. It is so easy to take this for granted until I hit a moment of greater weakness and am reminded of how much He has done.
• My weight continues to remain stable and gradually increase. I have been able to take in the required amount of daily calories and have even majorly surpassed my goal on some days!
  
• I have been able to participate in several important events including the wedding of my dear cousin, Bethany, which has been such a gift.
  
• I have been able to introduce some new foods to my diet such as kefir and several nuts & seeds.
  
• I am usually able to take short walks in the morning.
  
• God is teaching me so much about waiting on Him to fulfill His promises and is answering specific prayers.
• I recently heard that a group of friends have each taken a day out of the month to commit to fast and pray for me. How immensely humbling, and what a precious gift! I am sure that the good I am experiencing is a direct result of those prayers.

Prayer Requests

• That God might enable me to trust Him more and walk in freedom in every area of my life.
• For my faith in His promises and His Word to increase and grow so that all fears are set to flight.
• That I might become a student of God's character rather than my circumstances.
  
• For wisdom for a doctor's appointment coming up this week.
• For wisdom and grace to continue to persevere with my nutrition and daily food choices.
• For more sleep and that the sleep I get would be more restorative and deep.
  
• For discipline and strength to implement a particular treatment that my nutritionist has asked me to do this week.
• For increased strength, weight gain, and restoring of health.

At church this past Sunday, Tim Kerr said the following: "God wants us to pray bigger, bolder prayers. We ask too little. God is honored when we pray prayers that cannot be answered unless He sends His Spirit." I was so challenged by this and by another quote he went on to share from Arturio Azurdia: "What are you asking God to do, that only God can do, so that when He does it, only God gets the glory for it?" (If you have a moment, I'd encourage you to listen to this message. It will challenge your faith immensely.)

Sometimes I ask but not with faith. Not expecting an answer. But He DOES answer! And it is exactly when I have no ability of my own to help myself or those dear to me that I am pressed to cry out to Him and find Him more than able to do far beyond all I ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). The same is true for you, my friend. Let us ask Him for great things. Not just when we are aware of how helpless we are but every day. For without Him, we can do NOTHING (John 15:5).

I look forward to sharing with you all just how He answers these prayers in the days to come!

I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
Again I will build you, and you shall be built.... - Jeremiah 31:3-4

For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay. - Habakkuk 2:3

Treasures of Darkness

Hi friends-

For some time now, I have had it on my heart to share more of what God is both teaching and doing in me during this season. Since the purpose of this blog is to communicate health updates, I’ve decided to reserve these other things for a separate blog. It has actually been in existence for some time, but I haven’t been faithful to add fresh content. I’m sure that most of you come here to find out how I’m doing and to learn how to pray for me, so I will continue to keep this blog reserved for that purpose.

If you’d like a window into some of what God is doing in me during this time then you can take a look over here. I can’t promise that there will always be new material, but I do want to be faithful to share as I can.

SO grateful for each of you! I am overwhelmed by your care.