no such thing as a stranger

The last day of the 'Edwas Family Vacation'
Badlands Ministries, Medora, ND
August 2011

Several weeks ago one of our closest friends decided to talk to a doctor about a couple of vision related spells he had had over the last year. They were nothing he was concerned about, but thought it was better to be safe than sorry, as the old adage goes.
That appointment was on a Tuesday.
The doctor, wanting to cover all bases, ordered an MRI for Wednesday afternoon.
By the close of the day on Wednesday, we sat in a circle on the floor of their living with them and another couple, held hands and prayed for peace and protection as they deal with the reality and repercussions of a brain abnormality, later diagnosed to be a brain tumor.
He is thirty seven years old, husband to one amazing woman and father to two fabulous kids.
That was about four weeks ago.

Today...in eight minutes actually...he will go under the knife as the skilled hands of a neurosurgeon takes on the challenge of removing all or part of this tumor that has taken residence in the left side of his brain. From there, they will biopsy the mass and determine what exactly this intrusive growth is.

If ever there was a moment when it seemed as though time stood still, this would be it.
This is one of those moments in life that my heart crawls back to the promises painted all over Scripture reminding us of the greatness, grandor and all consuming nature of the God that has created and continues to sustain all that has been, all that is and all that will be.

Every day of our fleeting existence was authored before our lungs ever expanded or our eyes ever took in light. What is a surprise to us, is not to God.

As my sweet friend said to me yesterday, "as humans we are strangers to others, but in the Body of Christ, there is no such thing. The idea of 'stranger' does not exist among the Body of Believers."

That is why I am coming to you today.
I do not share their journey out of pity or out of charity, but out of a love for the Body of Christ,
and a belief in the power of prayer.
Please, please, pray for my sweet friend Jeff and his faithful wife Roxanne as they walk this road and trust in the God that has already gone before them.
Please pray that the lives of those involved medically would be changed, challenged and encouraged by the presence of God in and through this.
Please pray that our eyes would behold the faithfulness and the beauty of God even in the face of something so awful as cancer.
Please join me in praising God for His faithfulness and ever abiding presence and that it is not dependant upon our recognition or understanding of it.
God is faithful!!!

prayerful.
tiffany