He leads me by still waters. At our weekly prayer meeting on Monday night, my sister-in-law Catharine shared her morning devotion with us. She reminded us to stay focused on Jesus, especially because we had our MRI meeting the next afternoon.
I had been feeling quite poorly, with regular headaches, for about 2 weeks. We were quite worried that tumour growth was the likely cause of these things. I expected that this worry would lead us to a night of high anxiety and an evening of poor sleep. We prayed that Christ would knock back the fear that is the work of Satan and instead bring hope and trust. He calmed the water for the evening and the next day and walked closely with us until our MRI meeting check-in at 2:00.
“STAY CALMLY conscious of Me today, no matter what. Remember that I go before you as well as with you into the day. Nothing takes Me by surprise. I will not let circumstances overwhelm you, so long as you look to Me. I will help you cope with whatever the moment presents. Collaborating with Me brings blessings that far outweigh all your troubles. Awareness of My presence contains Joy that can endure all eventualities.”
Psalm 23:1-4:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-17:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving of us an eternal glory that far outweighs all.”
We lived Psalm 23 on Tuesday - what a gift. While we feel like we are living in the valley of death, or at least can see it from where we are, we did feel green pastures and still water on MRI day. Thank you, Jesus, for your fulfilled promises.
It had been almost 7 weeks since the previous MRI. This is nearly twice the usual amount of time between MRIs, and also twice the usual amount of time for the beast to be growing. By now, we’ve had enough meetings with the oncologist, Dr. Easaw, to be able to read him when he comes into the room. All four of us sensed good news on Tuesday. Dr. Easaw reported very minimal change of about just 1-2 mm. So how much is that? About 3 of my nose hairs! Check it out the next time you see me - not very big at all.
“Europeans consider hair with a diameter of 0.04 to 0.06 mm as thin, hair with a diameter between 0.06 and 0.08 mm as normal, and hair with a diameter between 0.08 and 0.1 mm as thick. By comparison with European hair, Asian hair is significantly thicker. The average diameter of Asian hair is 0.08 to 0.12 mm.”
Dr. Easaw is very pleased, as he says that is such a minimal change at the MRI level. We are full speed ahead with existing treatments, as they seem to be working very well. He suggested to stay the course as there is nothing to worry about - hard for me to feel that way with the beast in my brain - but I should trust him as he is the expert. He said from his point of view the cancer is controlled. Very promising news! So we now are free to begin planning our Mexico vacation Part 2. Please pray that our plans for this may fall into place quickly, likely for mid-July.
Thanks again for your ongoing prayer and care.
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