Saturday morning I woke up with Satan sitting on my kitchen counter. I couldn’t stomach my beloved cup of coffee that I have each morning. I was filled with nausea from the anxiousness that was overwhelming me in my stomach for the day ahead. I kept pushing myself…saying, “I can do this through Christ who strengthens me!”
Heading back to Texas (at MD Anderson) Saturday was really tough for Kevin and I. We just didn’t want to do it! Just that plain and simple.
God has different plans…and they include this trip to MD Anderson. {By the way, Kevin and I have even been bold enough to ask God to have Kevin’s numbers be so good they don’t even recommend this last treatment!}
Trouble met us as we arrived at the apartment with having a very minor problem causing our apartment to register at 87 degrees for the next 5 hours. We are praising God that He is still bigger than anything the enemy throws at us…including our second air conditioning problem in 2 weeks. God came through once again. The nice repair guy had us up and running by 9pm that night.
I did ask him if he believed in Jesus, because I was praying that Jesus would give him the wisdom he needed to know how to repair our AC quickly! He smiled and in his mexican accent said, “Yes, Ma’am! I do!”
I know we can walk this road that God has had us on because He gives us the strength, but our Father also protects us to not allow the enemies schemes to be more than we can handle. He has got our back!
Saturday night as I sat sulking about being away from my girls, while “glistening” in the heat, I read a post from a dear friend that is walking this same road with me these days. She inspires me with her faith and I love the visual pictures she gives about her walk with Jesus!
I wanted to share her words with you. She has taught me the lesson that I will try hard to walk in this week – speaking God’s Truth out loud and proclaiming His Healing. Here is Jeannie…
“Growing in Grace
Last year on my birthday, the Lord promised to pour out great blessings upon my life, blessings that would astound me and be lasting. My birthday is September. Four months went by. Not too much out of the ordinary happened.
In December, I saw my mother for what would be the last time on earth (that actually is extraordinary)…enjoyed a visit with my daughter and grandsons (that is an extraordinary gift as well) and enjoyed Christmas at home. Bruce went to Japan on business, and I had an inkling of something not being quite right.
When he came home, his blood test results were waiting for him. His PSA was 32.5. Little Shadow tears his second knee ligament. Doctor sends Bruce for biopsy. We wait. In the middle of the night, the telephone rings. It is Bruce’s daughter telling him her brother had killed himself. We stay up the rest of the night in shock. Several hours later Bruce is informed his biopsy tested positive for cancer.
Talk about the wind knocked out of our sails! (Isn’t there a song out there: Jesus, be the wind in our sail, be the fire in our hearts, Jesus be the center?) So maybe our sails are just catching wind and we need to learn whether to tack, run or beat with the wind….something I learned when I took sailing lessons just before my fifteenth birthday.
We travel to be with family. A week of incredible stress and weariness. I do a radio interview with Shane Davis from Anchored in Christ Ministries – I am still in shock and yet people are saved and set free through the message! Any one of the five dogs present in the house could start barking at any time and I know there are ears pressed against the door, too impatient to wait and listen to the whole broadcast later!
The next six months, consumed with doctors, decisions and determination to walk worthy of our calling, a son and daughter of the King to whom all the promises of God belong. We sense immediately that what we speak will determine the course of the cancer. What our mouths speak will bring forth fruit, either death or life. There is no in-between. Our hearts must be fixed and steadfast upon the Word of God.
We choose to believe the Word of God. I choose to believe in the God of Hope who has plans for our future that are good! I decide to take a hard route and every time Bruce said anything negative, I spoke the opposite and spoke the promise of God. I even did that in a Doctor’s office when he was telling us all the stats. The negativity in the air was thick and I couldn’t stand it. I spoke up and said, “But, there is a 70% chance that will NOT happen and that percentage is much higher so we will go with that.” I assure you the atmosphere in the room changed! It really did!
It was that night, in the wee hours when the Lord spoke to me and reminded me of Namaan, the one who didn’t want to wash in the Jordan. Like Bruce, who didn’t want radiation, he wanted something different, something he thought would be better. In the end, Namaan obeyed the word of the prophet, washed in the Jordan and came up healed.
It was that night; I felt the birthing of a bubble of joy. The joy is a gift from my Father. I am in His Keep and He is protecting, defending and guarding me.
It seems strange to me to acknowledge that I have a deep sense of joy, unlike any other time in my life when my beloved husband has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He has been diagnosed with it, but we are not receiving that diagnosis.
We are not welcoming it into our household, we are not opening the door wide and saying, “make yourself at home, do whatever you like”. We have said “no” because the Lord said we have dominion on this earth and the Name of Jesus is above every other name. Jesus said we could speak to the mountain, therefore; we are speaking to that mountain of cancer and telling it to die. Sounds radical but I would rather be radical than lukewarm and half-hearted.
I would rather choose radical obedience and live in the fullness of God. I want to embrace this trial and conquer it by entering into what God has already done for us at the Cross.
LOVE, JOY, PEACE belong to me in greater measure.
LOVE, JOY, PEACE belong to me in great measure.
I am growing in grace, growing in the knowing of my God.
Love, joy and peace have risen in my spirit; they stand as markers I can see very clearly with the eyes of my heart.
Love came first. Deeper love grew. In the middle of the unthinkable, joy is present. Joy has put a smile on my lips, a song in my heart and laughter comes easily. Joy sings beautiful songs of praise to me in the night and I wake up happy! Happy! Peace floods my soul. The days of racing adrenaline and feelings of panic and inability to think have been washed away by peace that passes all of my ability to understand.
God is using circumstances to grow a beautiful garden of His graces within my heart. I am learning to live with fluidity, to flow in the direction of God. To flow into God Himself.
We are staying the course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. We are blessed as we follow His direction, doing our very best to find Him. Psalm 119:1
We embrace the pain for the promise of beauty.
With you in His palm,
Jeannie
Please visit Jeannie’s blog at http://psalm119greaterthangold.net and read some of the golden words God has given her. Tell her I sent you! {It will bless her socks off!} I am beginning to read her book while out here in Texas this week! I am sure I will be highlighting away and will share some more nuggets.
When God’s words inspire us we need to share them. I have savored these words that Jeannie has written. They are like gold.
Prayer Requests:
* We head up to see the oncologist and have a pulmonary test on Monday mid morning. Then Kevin will be admitted to the hospital to begin treatments Monday afternoon. Pray for his veins and “good sticks”. We have been asking God to supernaturally rebuild his veins to accept this last treatment.
* Pray that the doctors will be able to give us directions as to our next steps. We are going to begin asking those type of questions.
* Pray for our girls as they continue homeschooling this week with their grandmother. They are doing such a fabulous job and Kevin and I are so proud of them! Like beyond words proud!
* Pray for me…strength and good night sleeps would be fantastic! My nerves do good as long as I am focusing on Christ’s strength and not my own. He alone is carrying me.
On a totally random note…I found this website where you can go and figure out your birthday verse…they somehow get your birthday and give you a verse. I wept when I put my birthday in and got this verse today….
Luke 5:26 NIV
“Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
Love you ~ Body of Christ! Remarkable things are what we are praying for this week! Thanks for allowing us to call you on you to hold up your shields of faith once again to lift these prayers and even praises as God goes before us this week.
Kevin and I and our families…say THANK YOU!
Strong Tower 
Good Morning Amy and Kevin,
As I read your blog this morning I know why God has continued to place the two of you upon my heart! Amy, I so miss seeing you and having those wonderful long telephone conversations. I pray for those days to return. You are such an inspiration to my life and your blog brings forth such faith, life and hope to everyone who reads it. You two are blazing a trail for so many to follow. Who ever said winning the West would be easy??? You are pioneers is a day when the world is in turmoil and you are paving a path for us to walk upon as the days get darker and closer to the return of our precious Lord Jesus….our blessed hope! As the days continue to come and go, we will see that everyone who call Jesus Lord will be tested to see if He is really Lord over all. The days will have challenges that we have not faced before in our lifetime and God is sending you two ahead to teach so many how to be overcomers! I love you both and praise God that our lives our connected. Love and blessings to both of you, Gail
Praying for you, today. I think that you should have a new nickname, ‘Barnabas’, the encourager. Through your pain, trials, and life situations…you point us to Christ. Thank you, Barnabas. May you feel His presence, His peace, His comfort and hope as you walk this road, strengthened minute by minute with His promises, never will I leave you.
What a beautiful faith that you and Jeannie are sharing as you walk on this difficult road. Bill and I continue to lift you up as you face the next steps in your journey. Praying that God makes His lessons clear. I love you, beautiful lady.
Dear, sweet Amy, Your words of faith encouraged my heart as I read them this morning. God is good—all the time—even in this. Earlier today I received a blog from a friend who used to live here. She is a mother of school-age children also. She had a quote that I thought was especially good: “It occurs to me that Satan does not attempt to lure us with evil so much, but desires to fill our lives with the distractions that are meaningless”. You have been, and will continue to be, faced with those distractions. I will pray that you choose to focus on the goodness that is God, the remembrance of His blessings to us all and the hope that is to come. A newspaper column this morning asked the question: “What if we only had today–what we thanked God for yesterday”? Deep thoughts, but well-worth our consideration. (Something to keep you focused while Kevin is being “stuck”). We love you, Mrs. A
Love you guys, Praying for bursting bubbles of blessings for Ya’ll continually!
Looking for lots of great news! Praying for you!
Love you King/Griffin family!!! I praise God for the confirmation of your faith through your birthday verse. I pray for good veins and good sticks. I pray for your children and your parents and all of your family. I pray that REMARKABLE GOD will describe every aspect of what takes place this week. Bless you!! Bless you!! Bless you!!