This morning I woke up and was instantly tired. I wish I could blame it on Tim Horton’s and the fact that I am 0 for 22. I also wish that I'm 0 for 22 was a joke or a lie. It is neither. As I drove to school with my sister, I just said “I am finished.”
To be honest, part of my tiredness probably comes from the fact I know that spring break is almost here. But I also heard today that good friend LuAnn is recovering after her initial chemotherapy treatments. LuAnn is a colleague of mine at school, and is one of the core members of our staff. We were all devastated when we heard where her journey was about to take her. Cancer is not something I can relate to. It is not something I can say “Hey, I know how you feel.” I sent LuAnn an email today and she wrote back, pushing me to the edge of tears. And her email ended this way:
“Finally, in spite of all of this, I have so many things for which to be thankful. All my life I have been well-loved and this gives me so much strength to face the unknown future. So, when you go the extra mile for those young daughters of yours, just remember that the love you demonstrate today will significantly strengthen them for their entire life.” Yeah, and I was trying to write her an encouraging letter, and LuAnn (and she does this all the time) flips it around and rebounds that blessing right back. Add LuAnn to your prayer rotation this week.
About that time I got an email from another colleague, Sylvia, telling about the journey of a former staff member of Fraser Valley Christian. I don’t know Marisa Vanderveen, and I suppose I don’t need to know her to try and be on the journey with her. Marissa is battling cancer and the fight is getting nasty. I started reading through her blog, some of the victories and some of the defeats; some of the days they celebrated, and some of the days they grieved. I read about her family and the toll it takes on them. Cancer is brutal. And it is another disease that you can’t fight for someone else.Take a look and read about their journey. It’s not easy to read, but it needs to be read. A line from the last blog entry read “The CT scan results came back worse than we hoped. The cancer on Marisa’s liver has increased in size and they also found cancer in her lungs”, and then it ends with “Thanks to our family, friends and people that are riding this wave with us….hold on…” Hold on, and hold her in your prayers. Mariss'a journey can be found at www.marisavanderveen.wordpress.com. Add Marisa to your prayer rotation this week.
And so I cried. I told Sylvia in an email it just seemed like too much in one morning. And I had to force myself to think about the things we celebrate in life. And this week I am celebrating the fact that my nephew Michael is leaving for Sierra Leone on April 4 to be part of the “Nyima Koroma School Project” in Sierra Leone, specifically in the town of Kabala. While I think it is unbelievable how this project has taken on a life of its own around the globe, I have always been frustrated with myself for not really being able to wrap my head around the needs in Africa, and what a new Christian school will mean in a country ravaged by civil war ten years ago. And then Oense got this email from a man he met this past weekend, a man from Sierra Leone who knows about the situation in Kabala. He knows it so well he has been praying for this very project since the civil war in the 1990's. And here is a portion of the email.
“At last I know my prayers are answered. God had beenprompting me to pray for christain schools to be established in Kabala, PortLoko and Kambia. It has been
over 10 years that I have been honouring this call. It is amazing that he answered it long before I knew about it.”
Add Michael’s journey and the school in Sierra Leone to your prayer rotation.
As I see it, 10 years is a long, long time to pray for a school. I think I might have just found something else to pray for. And then Oense ends up meeting this guy at a random dinner? Yeah, the Holy Spirit is working something here with this school that I don’t quite understand.
Now, I am NOT trying to say “if you pray faithfully, then God will be good and answer your prayer the way you hope.” As much as I struggle with it at times, I trust that God is good all the time. Part of the mystery of God is that sometimes he says “no” and sometimes he says “yes”, and I have no idea what determines the answer. I don't think God keeps this giant scale and looks at you, adds up your good deeds and faithfulness, and then spits out an answer. Does prayer factor in there? Yeah, because people that suffer talk about feeling the prayers of the people. We experienced it ourself as a family. But it doesn’t mean we get the answer we want or need.
So maybe one reason we pray because it is one way to participate in the journey of these people. I don’t know how to tangibly journey with LuAnn or Marissa or even Asher or Michael in Sierra Leone or the people in Africa, except to offer encouragement through prayer. It is one way to be part of their story. And I suppose, deep down in my heart, I pray because I just want to give God a little reminder that there are some suffering people down here that I really hope get well, and could he please, please say “Yes.”
5 comments:
Thanks for including Marisa in your post. She is a gem and needs a lot of prayer. Things are not looking the best for her but she has a great support base that gives her the courage to move on. Thanks for another encouraging blog.
Lynn
PS: My brother Mike says hello.
beims, this brought me to tears. LuAnn has been my neighbour for ages and I am so encouraged by what she has written to you. I pray for her, for comfort and love, but yet out here I never have been able to see/read how she is actually doing until now. She has an enormous amount of faith and love for the Lord. It means so much to me that you would include her on your blog and your prayer list; and I'm sure it means so much more to LuAnn, Albert and the boys. thanks beims.
Wow. I've been following Marisa's blog as well and to see the faith and courage that they have is so inspirational. It is difficult to read it when the news is not what we hoped for, but it is so encouraging to see the strength that they have. Thanks for the update on LuAnn as well; I hadn't heard anything about her situation for a while. It's amazing how people going through such hardships still have so much strength; not necessarily physically, but often spiritually. Let this be a eye opener for all of us. Thanks for the post.
I will join the journey in praying for these people and am thankful for the update on LuAnn- I think I'll email her. I also really appreciate your prayers for Africa and am with you in not being able to grasp the needs of this continent- I don't think they are "graspable." I've really struggled with my not grasping the new needs and suffering as a result of the flooding, and so many other issues day to day. In my mind's inability to grasp, I know the Lord is taking me deeper in prayer as I know I can do nothing in my own strength. As you are at the limits of your own strength, may the Lord fill you with much rest, new strength, new motivation, and new vision over this break.
Father bring your Kingdom in health and healing in the lives of LuAnn and Marissa and in Sierra Leone. Let the lives of your children shout Glory to you Lord. Amen.
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