DON’T TAKE LIFE - OR HEALTH - FOR GRANTED

DON’T TAKE LIFE - OR HEALTH - FOR GRANTED

It has been a while since I have written, but during these last few months I have gone through some things that I never expected to happen to me. Guess that is because for the first 74 years of my life I have been fairly healthy. The only problem I was having was with my back and arthritis in my knee. Then I caught some kind of bug last March that I could not shake off. This lead to a cough and shortness of breath. So I finally went to the Doctor on May 9th, thinking I would get a couple of prescriptions and come home, but they found fluid in my lungs and sent me straight to the emergency room. They did all sorts of tests and the Doctor there finally told me I was a “diagnostic dilemma” because they could not locate the source. So I was admitted and for the next six days they poked and prodded and tested and drew enough blood to float a ship.

Now let me share a couple of miracles. First, one of the ultrasounds showed that I had an aneurysm about 5.6 centimeters long in my aorta and they told me I would have to have surgery. Well, then they did a cat scan and it showed absolutely nothing. Now there will be some who would say that they just made a mistake on the ultrasound – but we know It was the Lord. Then they thought I had a blood clot in my lung – but they did more testing and could not find any signs of a clot anywhere in my body. TO GOD BE THE GLORY! Finally, although they could never come up with a source for the fluid in my lungs and abdomen, they came and told me that some of the cells they had tested showed they were cancerous and malignant, so they called in a specialist and she scheduled more tests – but I could do them out of the hospital. So they released me to come home. I still had fluid and they got me an oxygen tank just in case. Because I had no other pain or symptoms was why it is so intriguing to the doctors because through all the tests they performed they found that my heart is good, my kidneys are good, etc. They just could not discover the source of the fluid.

Well, took the tests and the first one showed everything was okay, and we were all believing that the results of the PET scan would show no cancer cells, but when we went to the doctor, that was not the case. She did say there were no masses anywhere, but that the cells were the worst of all cancers (adenocarcenoma – a rare kind) and that there was nothing that could be done. Chemo or radiation would not help and basically she gave me a prognosis of three to twelve months. Needless to say, that was a shock to all of us - BUT - she is a doctor that deals with this all the time and this is what it looks like to her in the natural.

But PRAISE THE LORD, we are not in the natural, but in the SUPERNATURAL, and we are still standing and believing for a third miracle, even though it did not come as we expected. So many times in the poems the Lord has given me He reminds us “not to look at circumstances, or to go by what we see or feel or hear,” so we refuse to look at the circumstances.

It took a while before I had any news and during this time I spent a week and a half at my daughter’s home. It is out in the country and I so enjoyed not only the peace and quiet, but the beautiful trees the deer, the birds and butterflies, and more, all of God’s beautiful creations. Barbie and Steve treated me like a queen. They waited on me and made sure I could get around okay. Steve cooked deer steak for me twice and it was wonderful, plus a lot of other good stuff.

It has been a tough three months and I am glad the worst is over. On Tuesday, the 24th of May, they drained 5 liters of fluid out of my abdomen. Had weighed in the morning and then when I got home and I had lost 12 pounds. That’s a lot of fluid, and yes, it was filled with cancerous cells BUT we believe that it took ALL of them out of my body.

On the day Barbie came to get me, I received a phone call from a very dear friend who walks close to the Lord and she told me that God told her to call me and tell me that “I DID NOT HAVE CANCER AND THAT I HAD AUTHORITY.” He also said that, “FOR HIS PEOPLE THAT WALK IN AUTHORITY, NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST THEM COULD PROSPER”. How about that for a good Word, and it was just the confirmation I needed. I don’t know how God is going to work it so that I have proof of my healing (I have the medical records for my first two miracles), but know He will work it out.

Anyway, when we went to the doctor on the 25th, she told us that there were cancer cells in the fluid (which we already knew) and so her prognosis did not change at all. Of course, like I said before, she is a doctor and she calls it as she sees it – in the natural. So once again I had to deal with my flesh, but again, Praise The Lord, know He is pulling me through and I am just taking one day at a time. My biggest problem right now is trying to get my strength back, but I will, in Jesus’ Name.

Do want to share about a couple of good reports. First of all, we had been praying for a new car for my friend, Fran, and she won one in the St. Jude Dream House Contest. That is exciting enough, but wait until you read this next one. Another dear friend has a Goddaughter who had not yet started her period by 17, so they checked her and found that she had been born without a uterus or ovaries. Well, my friend prayed with her and for her and six month later she started having periods and they checked and she had a uterus. Last week they checked her again and not only does she have the uterus, but also two ovaries – all perfect. Isn’t that a wonderful, creative miracle by our God? Even the doctors said it had to be a miracle. So if He can do that, I know He will take care of me – and all of you, too.

Know this is long, but would like to share one more thing. My son-in-law asked me if I minded if he told his family and of course I said he could. A few days after that he received an e-mail from his sister who told him that she had read the e-mail to the family, and that night, when she was saying prayers with her grandchildren, she asked them if there was anyone else they needed to pray for, and the little grandson, 4 years old, said, “what about that other Grandma who is sick?” Isn’t that precious? At least I think it was and wanted to share it because we know how close children are to Him.
One thing I have learned through all this, and my family, too, is that none of us know when or how the Lord is going to call us home and we should all be prepared. I have a will but had not written out what I wanted as to services, etc. Now I am planning to do this so my family will know what I want and how I want things handled.

I do not know when He is going to take me home. It might be three months – three years – or even tomorrow. My prayer is that everyone who reads this will give serious thought to life, health, and the future, and especially to be prepared spiritually. Jesus is the only way – so I pray you all know Him and have taken Him for your personal Saviour.