His Plan.

I am starting my fifth round of intravenous Chemotherapy today.  I have a CT Scan scheduled for Monday February 4th (the day after the Super Bowl).  That will be the first time Dr. Strauss (my oncologist) will be able to gauge the progress on shrinking the tumors.  That will also be the first time the doctors would be able to see God’s complete healing of the tumors.  Of course that is predicated on God’s plan and timing for my healing.  That is a great prayer to continue praying for but it also gives a specific date to pray for God’s complete healing in a miraculous way.

Sorry that it has taken so long for this update. Our family is doing really well. However, Catherine, who has been the only one in the family that has not been sick, caught a bad cold last week and is still fighting it.  She was planning to come to Dallas for a visit last weekend but she cancelled that flight and re-scheduled.  The rest of the family is healthy.  Jan gets her second review, with x-ray, of her foot the first of February.  Hopefully, she will be released to full use of her foot with no boot needed.  Another great prayer request.  Carol is now settled in at Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch, located north of Amarillo, for her internship.  She will be there till midsummer but graduate from UT with her master's degree in social work in May.  She will be flying to Dallas on Southwest for extended weekend visits. Julie continues to be our faithful shadow soldier. My brother and his wife will be coming to Dallas the weekend of February 8th.

On Monday, January 14, I turned 62.  That is when I told Mike that I was going to retire April 1st after 38 years with Oncor.  That is a great life milestone to make and I thank God for his provision in getting me to that momentous point in life.

God’s provision in our life is a wonderful thing, that we sometimes take advantage of, as we hustle through our daily life.  We need to draw upon it, thrive from it, and thank God often for it.  In the interim, from the last Update, I have see God’s provision more clearly in my life than ever before because I realized the power that it brings.  Because I am still in the Waiting Room I have the opportunity to quietly interact with God.  I do not have any need to dwell on the cancer inside me, or fuss about not knowing about the progress, only pray for healing by God in His perfect timing.  I can simply wait with God and grow my relationship with Him.  That is possible only because of the unshakable Faith that He has provided for me from the very beginning of this Adventure. All the prayers from all the people who have been led to pray for me have been with me during this time as well.  There are days when I have felt a specific prayer for me through the quickening of the Holy Spirit.  Thank you for your diligence in lifting me with your prayers.

I have two verses that I want to share for this Update.  The first is Micah 7:7 "But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation.  My God will hear me." The second is Jeremiah 17:14 "Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For Thou art my praise." I am, I have, and I will watch for those times that God lets me know that He cares about me on a personal level, has a plan for me, and wants me to talk to Him.  My prayer from day one has been for a miraculous healing from God that all doctors would proclaim could have only come from God.  I was strongly lead to that prayer and God has not shown me that I need to pray differently.  It is a bold, provocative request by me to God. I would never presume that I know when God will heal me but I do feel confident that healing is part of His plan for me.  That confidence comes from all the answered prayer, protection from the bad side effects of Chemotherapy, the mostly daily love letters He sends, and His provision for me.  Learning what His plan for me is a process of getting to know Him by growing my relationship with Him.  We cannot know His plan completely because we would not be able to handle it correctly.  Those are the reasons I included the versus from Micah.  I am to continually thank and praise God and never get ahead of Him.  I do that when I listen, watch, pray and seek a closer relationship with Him.  The verse from Jeremiah speaks to the miraculous healing I have been praying for.  The vital part of that verse is "For Thou art my praise". It speaks to my relationship with God.  I am to continually praise God, not because He commands me to but because He deserves it. I should want to, and He responds to my heartfelt expression of all He has done for me because He loves me.  I say all this because the Waiting Room experience has shown me that I may not be happy, patient, long suffering, or even nice on a day to day basis, even with unstoppable Joy.  That is part of being human.  How we react to those times, the lessons we learn, and reconciling the hurt we cause during those times with those we hurt is vital to moving forward.

Please continue to pray for my family, and me.  I will attempt to be more frequent on the Updates but I think God used the time to bring me to a higher level of understanding.  I tried several times to start an update but the spiritual message was always vague and not ready for prime time as they say.  This one was a totally different experience so I will say it was written in God’s timing.

Thank you,  
Price