Praise

Dear friends,

These last few weeks have been amazing. Never before have I believed so fully in the power of The Holy Spirit than in these last few weeks. How can I adequately describe what He has done in our very home, our very hearts?

"...And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. And a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and there was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague....and he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace and be whole of thy plague. Mark 5:24-35

This passage kept appearing before me. In my daily bible reading with the girls, sent by another in an email, in sermons. I noticed again and again that this lady referred to in the passage had been sick 12 years. 12 years! Just like Brian. It was during this time that I felt a renewed sense of urgency to pray for Brian. Liv felt it, too, when she said resolutely, "We won't stop praying for daddy until he feels better!" Just a couple short weeks later, Brian felt God's hand upon him and has been delivered from the severity of his disease. His worse days now are comparable to his best days before.

Friends, if you had known the heartache we have felt the last 12 years of sickness, pain, near death, hopelessness...the very medical rollercoaster that had been our every day...you would know the relief we feel today.

But silly me, I know you do. You have seen with your eyes, you have prayed with your mouths, you have held with your arms. You have opened the door or phone during devastating times, you have offered words from your heart. You have cooked meals, taken care of pets, nurtured our daughters during hospital overnighters. You have gathered in prayer, embraced in gratitude, thanking God with us for the journey we didn't want, yet tried to be grateful for....because, you see, gratefulness is sometimes the key to being sustained. Yet looking back, we see the refining He had to do in our hearts and our life. We believe in the hope of God. He reminded us throughout the way that we were to look to Him alone and we did feel Him throughout our journey, though admittedly, it was harder to do that during the valleys. Your prayers carried us. Your reminders kept us on track. But never before had we seen such power in His name as we have the last 5 weeks. This has given us new hope, new peace, and a new energy to battle wars.

How does God do that? Take the very blinders off in the most debilitating moments? Give new legs, new eyes, new wisdom, a new song, even? How does He, in less than even an instant, restore all hope and peace? I'll tell you how--He is The Only God. The Creator of Our Universe. Our Father. Almighty. Prince of Peace.

God has done and is doing amazing things in our family. We have witnessed His healing hand and we are overjoyed at Brian's improved health. :O) We wanted to praise God for all He has done, and thank you dear friends, for your past and continued prayers. God does indeed hear them! And even this new understanding of His holiness, is so small compared to how holy He really is...to God be all glory and power.