Trusting God no matter what.
So the last 3 days have been a whirlwind of emotions. Sunday was awesome. It was mother’s day, which was Erin’s last one as just a mother of 2 girls since we are adding a 3rd in November. Can’t remember if I blogged about baby #3 or not since I am so slack about blogging. Back to Sunday though.
Church was absolutely amazing. Worship was INCREDIBLE!! The sermon was so great to remind our church that we are called to serve this city. We revealed the floor plans for the renovations to the mall we are moving into in August, so that created a lot of excitement. After that we went home and rested and then went to my mom’s to celebrate mother’s day with her and ate some Outback to go. It was an awesome night. That night though I got a text from a buddy of mine who told me his brother had shot himself after an argument with his wife. My friend was torn up over the fact that this tragedy had happened but more to the fact that his family is full of non-believers and he was praying that God would use this to draw his unsaved family members closer to God. He left Monday morning to drive to VA to be with his family as his brother was on life support and not looking good. So that night Erin and I began to pray for that situation.
About 10 days ago Victoria Oliver, a great friend and young woman in our married couples small group, was complaining about shortness of breath and tightness in her chest so they took her to the hospital. Her husband Josh is a great friend of mine and the drummer for the band Decyfer Down and he was out on tour with Skillet, so we knew we had to really rally around Victoria and her parents until Josh got in. A CT scan revealed a growth near her heart and lungs and they told her they would have to do a biopsy. Josh came in town but had to get back on tour before the biopsy that got pushed back. We as a family and church began to pray for God’s healing in this situation. We knew the results would not be in until Tuesday and we joined Victoria in the waiting game. Monday morning she woke up complaining about her body and neck swelling, and we received a text from Josh saying he had flown back in and Victoria was in the hospital because they found a blood clot in her neck. A little back story, she has been on medicine for clot’s since January. We now know that those clots and her problem has been caused by non-hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer. We got the devastating news yesterday and were told they would begin chemo Tuesday morning. Our church has been lifting up the Oliver’s and we know we serve a God who is bigger than cancer and has the power to heal. We ask that you lift up Victoria and Josh as they begin this battle.
God led me to Romans 8:11 today which says, “the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” I want us all to know that there is amazing, sometimes untapped power in the Holy Spirit and he fills us with power to overcome. Now some will read this and say what about those who do not receive healing? Is their faith not good enough? What I would tell you is that is not what I am saying, I am saying God has given us great power through the Holy Spirit to overcome anything. If it His will He can heal and restore anyone from anything.
All that to simply say remember my buddy who is walking through a tragedy surrounded by a lot of unbelievers, and remember Victoria Oliver as we agree and believe that God is bigger than cancer and can heal. Also remember Erin as she is nearing the end of the first trimester with the pregnancy. She has experienced a whole lot of nausea this time around so maybe that means we have a boy in there? Only time will tell. Thanks for checking in and a word of encouragement is we can trust God no matter that circumstance or situation. Romans 8:17 “Now if we are God’s children then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if we indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Claim it and believe it!!!
