Say A Prayer

My sister called me in early 2005 with some news from her doctor.

She had been going to the doctor for various problems for almost a year and had even been in the hospital for tests at one point. Her doc went through a series of typical possible problems for a woman of her age and my sister had tried different treatments but nothing had worked.

Finally, my sister's issues had gotten so bad that she wasn't able to eat. She had gone for a couple of weeks without eating much and finally was unable to eat at all and she was bloated in a major way.

I didn't think much about these new symptoms since she had been in such close contact with her doctor and he kept leaning toward "aging woman issues" (my words) as her problem ... like early diabetes or thyroid. But, I must have been a little concerned because I called our older brother to tell him about it. When I told my brother about her eating problems, I could hear a change in his voice and it made me stop and think as to whether this could be something more serious.

Well, on a Sunday morning, my sister called early. She told me that she had some news and that I might want to sit down before she told me. The doctor had found cancer in her liver on one of the scans. He wasn't sure where the source of the cancer was ... that it had most likely spread from some other part of the body ... maybe the pancreas or ovaries.

That call has been about a year a half ago and there have been many ups and downs in my sister's story already. She was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer ... Stage IV is the official term that means the cancer had spread from the ovaries to another organ in the body.

God's healing hand has been evident in her. When she had surgery to remove the cancer tumors, the doctors found that the multiple tumors on her liver had all died. Before the chemo and surgery, tests had shown multiple, very large liver tumors. These would be affected by the chemo, but the doctor was shocked to see that they were all dead - not just reduced in size.

For the past six months, I've almost forgotten that she is a cancer patient. Other than her hair (which I often forget about because she has some great wigs), she seems as healthy as anyone. But, just this week, she learned that she has a new tumor on her liver.

So, please pray or continue to pray for more healing for my sister. Cancer affects so many people and it is a burden carried, in part, by the patient's family and friends, too. When I'm in an airport now, I look around to see how many women are traveling alone in ball caps with bald heads or wigs. If you are looking, you will typically find at least one ... sometimes I can spot four or five ... women traveling alone to a treatment facility. You can spot them by their hospital ID band, cancer awareness jewlery and their hat or wig.

I was reading II Timothy last night because I know that this was Paul's letter to his dear friend, Timothy, when he (Paul) was in trouble and I was feeling that way, too. There is a "edge" and urgency to this book. I especially like the part where Paul quotes what is probably the lyrics to a then-popular Christian song ... "If we are faithless, He will remain faithful for He cannot disown Himself."

This was a great reminder that when life gives you a blow that shakes your faith, you can still rely on Him. We are part of God's family and He will be faithful to us. So, even when I'm shaken, I will just need to lean more on Him and rely on his faithfulness to provide for our needs from day to day.

Laura starts new rounds of chemo tomorrow so please keep her in your prayers. I'm sure that God has more healing miracles in store for her.