part II

I first want to say thanks to all of you that read my previous post and joined me in fervent prayer for our dear friend undergoing surgery for a brain tumor. What a privilege and blessing it is to know that God is an ever present help in time of trouble!

Join me in praising God....
A surgery that was supposed to last nearly six hours only took a little more than two.
He woke up with very little aftermath from a very major brain surgery.
He was up and walking within a days time as well as joking with those around him.
The surgeon is confident they retrieved at least 95% of the tumor.
He was discharged and home a day earlier than expected.

I had the great joy of seeing him and visiting with them yesterday and what a blessing it was!
Had the outcome been different, God would have still be faithful and altogether good.
I am thankful however, that He has chosen this outcome rather than something else at this time.
Please join me in praying for continued healing and continued honor to God through all of this.

Praise the Lord!
tiffany

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

a call to pray

'When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain,

or command the locust to devour the land,

or send pestilence among my people,

if my people who are called by name

humble themselves,

and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,

then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.'

2 Chronicles 7:13-14

I know I posted this yesterday, but as I was reading through this again today, I was blessed by my daughter's child like faith. Faith in a God that cares about the smallest things of life. Simple yet profound understanding that there indeed is nothing that is too hard for God and that often His timing is not our own.
Now if she would only remind her mother of that simple truth...

May 5, 2011.

National Day of Prayer in the United States of America. 

A nation once founded and grounded upon the truths of God's Word. 

A nation that has since turned its back upon the very God the settlers came to freely worship. 

I am always thankful for this day and encouraged by those that take time to pray corporately and read Scripture for the sake of our nation, our leaders, our communities, our churches, our homes, our children, our marriages. 

This passage has always been one of my favorites. 

It reminds me that God only tolerates sin and apostasy for so long. 

There will come a time when God will say, "Enough" and will allow pestilence, famine, drought and desolation to take its toll upon those that will continue to turn their backs upon their very Creator. 

He is perfectly righteous and altogether good. 

His holiness is complete and He is jealous for the affection of our hearts. 

When we repeatedly turn away and trade the beauty and purity He has given for the trash of earth, He will allow pain and natural consequence to run its course. 

As we read on however, we see that God is waiting to be just. 

He is waiting to deliver us from our wicked, whorish ways,

and return us to right relationship with Him. 

He is calling us to humble ourselves, pray, seek and turn. 

So many get angry with God because "He doesn't answer prayer!" when they continue to live in sin and unfaithfulness to God. 

Our prayer is more than just words. Prayer is a life lived in communication and fellowship with a Holy God. 

Prayer starts with humility--confessing a need for One greater than ourselves. 

Seeking His face the way we would seek a lost child or a missing diamond from a beloved heirloom. 

Desperately looking. Desperately wanting. Desperately pursuing the heart of God. the face of God. 

Then...when our hearts begin to take hold of Him, we forsake all others and cling unto Him alone. Our hearts are fully satisfied and fully saturated having found everything we could ever want or need within the beauty of His presence. 

It is then and only then, 

that He will hear from heaven and heal our land. 

I don't know about you, but my land needs forgiveness. My land needs healing. 

My nation. My community. My family. My marriage. My spirit. 

He will hear, forgive and heal.  

If we will humble. pray. seek. turn.

What would our lives look like--what would our nation look like--if every day was a day of prayer? 

I plan on finding out.  Won't you join me? 

peace. 

<><tce