Update 2: September 28
Melody Raines
Alright, who's praying? I've got joy all over me.
I need to clarify some things from Update 1.
I used a lot of medical jargon that I didn't explain. Sorry. The lumpectomy
was a surgical procedure to remove the lump and the surrounding tissue
("margins"). A lymph node biopsy involved surgically removing several lymph
nodes from right underneath my arm. The lump and the surrounding tissue went
to the lab along with the lymph nodes. I'm still waiting for test results
(the pathology report) to know if the margins or the lymph nodes have any
cancer cells in them. That information is what the doctor uses to "stage"
the cancer. Regardless of the results, I really feel like my chances of
survival at this point are, oh, about 100%. I'm just waiting for the test
results to tell me how hard of a journey I have ahead of me.
Please don't think that because I'm not asking people to pray for healing
I'm not expecting it. I'm asking people to pray that I'll know God loves me
because I think that's more important. Some have asked if the doctor has
given me a life expectancy. He hasn't. I'm expecting to live for a few more
decades. My future may be harder than I would have chosen, but I know God
isn't finished with this body. He still has plans for me.
"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures
forever--do not abandon the works of your hands" (Ps 138:8).
See how everything else is centered around His love? If you're really
confused about how to pray for me now, you can borrow Crystal's prayer. I'm
sure she won't mind.
"When I think of the wisdom and scope of your plan Lord, I fall to my knees
and pray to you Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
I pray that from your glorious, unlimited resources You will give Melody
mighty inner strength through Your Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will
be more and more at home in her heart as she trusts in you. May Melody's
roots go down deep into the soil of your marvelous love. And may she have
the power to understand as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how
high, and how deep your love for her really is. May Melody experience the
Love of Christ, though it is so great that she will never fully understand
it. Then she will be filled with the fullness of LIFE and POWER that comes
from you God.
Now! glory be to You God! By your mighty power at work within Melody,
You are able to accomplish infinitely more than she would ever dare to ask
or hope. May You be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever
and ever through her endless generations!" (Based on Ephesians 3:14-21)
I've dared to ask and hope for some amazing things. Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Melody