It's rainy here in Music City and as I sit here in this lonely house listening to the quiet tears of a broken-hearted man, his plea breaks our hour-long, reverent silence, "Lauren, pray. Pray so hard." "I will." We all will. For it is prayer that will ultimately sustain us. It is prayer that is our life-line. It is prayer - that conversation we all too often take for granted - that will heal our pain, renew our spirits, and bring calm in the midst of chaos...
Chaos. Now there's a word to ponder... I'm once again reminded that God is not a God of chaos but a God of order. All that has happened in the last week was a part of this heavenly order. What blindsides us on a random Tuesday afternoon comes as no surprise to the Master of the universe. Sure, He has a lot on His plate, but not for one second did He look away as the cancer began to invade her body. Not for one second did He become too preoccupied to make sure her blood counts didn't drop. Not for one second did He run out for a lunch break and come back to find her being pumped full of life-threatening drugs. None of it has caught Him off guard. In fact, all of it has been orchestrated by Him. Since she was a thought in His perfect mind, He has had this planned for her.
But why HER, we may ask, especially in our moments of darkest doubt. That, we may never have an answer for. But the answer to the 'why' in all of this can be simply put- For His glory. And isn't His glory worth it? We serve a mighty and an awesome God. He has promised He will never leave us nor forsake us; He will not give us more than we can handle; though we walk through the fire, we'll not be burned; all things work according to His good purpose for those who love Him....the list of promises goes on and on. But even better than the promises is the Promise-Maker. For, unlike any of us, He keeps His promises- ALL of them. So, Father, give us as many rainy Mondays as You'd like but keep us mindful that You are the God of the rain, You are the God of the tears, the God of the lonely Mondays and the random Tuesdays and help us love You better for it all.
Prayerful Ponderings:
Pray, with thanksgiving, that the echo-cardiogram of her heart has slightly improved and that the white blood cell count is dropping. Pray that her body will continue to be strong and tolerate the extremely aggressive treatment. Pray for Matt's continued positive outlook and that he will continue to make wise decisions for their family. Pray for Mom as she shared last night the excruciating pain of having to watch her daughter endure all that this disease brings with it. Jennifer's jaw is hurting as a side-effect of one of the drugs; please pray that the pain will ease.
The Vandy Verse:
Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
A Little Somethin' for the Samples:
Jenny is loving the cards and care packages! Thank you! If you'd like to send something, it may be helpful to use their home address as the return address to ensure it makes it to her one way or the other. Jen and Matt's home address is-
7400 George Gaines Road
Nashville, TN 37221
Finally, I'd like to leave you with the lyrics of the song from which I borrowed my post title. I found them especially poignant this evening.
Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with YOU
Nice to know Somebody loves me
Funny, but it seems that it's the only thing to do
Run and find the One who loves me....
Lauren~Thanks so much for the update on the blog~!!
ReplyDeleteOnce again you are doing a great job on this!
Jennifer & Matt~!
Prayers coming your way on this rainy day!! Stay strong ~
Lord, look upon me with eyes of mercy, may your healing hand rest upon me, may your lifegiving powers flow into every cell of my body and into the depths of my soul, cleansing, purifying, restoring me to wholeness and strength for service in your Kingdom. Amen.
Love yall!
Kim & Jeannie
Lauren, Your blog is a beautiful gift to Matt and Jennifer. You're doing an amazing job of keeping everyone informed and focused on the task at hand.
ReplyDeleteMatt and Jennifer, My thoughts and prayers are with you both every day.
Love,
Melinda
Thank you again, Lauren. Your posts are a blessing to me. Tell Matt we are praying hard here at the preschool!
ReplyDeleteLauren - You are wonderful to do this. We Alfords are all praying and thinking about y'all so much!! What I would give to hug sweet Matt. Please send him, and all of your dear family, my love!! So many prayers coming your way!
ReplyDeleteLove and grace to all of you!
ReplyDeletePraying for you all.
ReplyDeleteYou all have been in my thoughts daily. Know we are praying to THE Healer!
ReplyDeleteIt has been 10 years and I still remember that blindsided feeling and that distant memory of that world in which I had lived seconds before. That world where my husband and I were only dreaming and planning that perfect little plan for a life after he completed residency. Nowhere in that plan had we ever scripted a cancer diagnosis at 26 years old. I went from healthy, a little run down but healthy, to fighting to live in a second. How does that happen? Cancer changes everything. I have been thinking of your family constantly over the past weeks. I am not sure we have ever even officially met, but I have heard so much about you from Breck. The stories are so similar that it just puts me right back there again. Brady, my husband, was a resident in Chattanooga, our whole family and all of our friends were here in Kosciusko. Just about the same distance as yours are from Nashville. I had wonderful family that was able to come and help just like yours, but for the majority, Brady and I managed somewhat alone. It made us strong!!! It was terrible. I was so sick, so weak, so BALD, but it made us strong!!! I was put there for a reason. God always had it in his plan. It was not an uh-oh or an oops. When you are stripped down to nothing, you get to learn so much about yourself. You also get to learn how to lean on God. Not just in that cute, "I lean on God." church way, but LEAN on God. Meaning He will sometimes be the only strength you have. When I would beg Brady to let me stop treatments and he would find the strength to tell my little 74 pound self that I WAS going, and we didn't have a choice. That was strength from God. I just pray for you.
ReplyDelete