"Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles."
Psalms 34:3-6 ESV
It's Tuesday afternoon. A week ago I was groggy, just waking up from surgery and not sure what exactly was going on. Since then, my recovery has been marked with an incredible string of good news which continues even this week.
There was good news as soon as I was out of surgery. People tell me the Doctor came out to the waiting room with a big smile on his face because surgery had gone so well. All of the blockage was removed as well as the nearby lymph nodes. Both were sent away for testing.
The good news continued as I made my way through recovery at the hospital. One by one milestones in diet and mobility were reached so that I could go home. Since I've been home on Friday recovery has continued with more good news. I was able to attend church on Good Friday, the Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday (Hannah's first), both Easter services and breakfast on Easter Sunday. Right now, I do one big thing each day (in other words one thing where we leave the house) and then come home and crash.
However, some of the best news came yesterday. The surgeon called me with the pathology report from the blockage and lymph nodes taken during surgery. As we suspected, cancer was there--but not to the extent we feared! The cancer was not able to penetrate the wall of my colon but remained contained. While swollen, the lymph nodes tested negative for cancer.
This is huge! I likely means less treatment in the future to get all of this sorted out.
We have been thanking God since Tuesday of last week and even before. Immediately, when we published the letter to the congregation on Facebook, hundreds of you let us know that you were praying for me, for Julia, for Hannah, and for our congregation.
We're on multiple of prayer chains. Hundreds of individuals are praying. Dozens of churches prayed for us in public worship. Whole classrooms in Lutheran schools came together to approach God's throne of grace on our behalf.
I want you to know that those prayers are being heard! Please let your prayer chain, friends, congregations and classrooms know that God is answering your prayers. Please keep them coming.
The prayers of our kids both in the classrooms and in families have been some of the most meaningful to me. Jesus asks us to have faith like a child partly because kids are bold when they ask dad for anything. They don't think twice about how big or impossible to adult minds a thing it is, they just ask. Kids know they can at least ask their parents for anything and we all need to learn that we can ask God anything in the same way. This is the kind of prayer Luther describes in his explanation of the phrase, "Our Father who art in heaven." He says,
"With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father."
So, thank you for flooding the throne room of heaven with your prayers. You didn't just send nice thoughts or positive vibes our way, but approached your Father (who also happens to be my Father) and He listened. The words of St. Paul in Romans 8 have proven true for us once again,
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"
Romans 8:31-32 ESV
God's peace be with you,
Pastor Jacob T. Mueller
No comments:
Post a Comment