PRAYERS PLEASE!

We’ve been here in southwest Florida now for four months, waiting for the house we’re having built further north to be completed.  We have adjusted well, I think, to living in Florida. We put the move off so long, debating if and when to do it, wondering if we’d like it when we got here, but now that we’re here, it’s really just like home was in New Jersey, without the winter climate.  We still go to the gym, and to church.  We make meals, we visit the library, we read, we do laundry, we clean.  Just the climate has changed.  And we’re really happy we made the move.

Several times in the last couple of weeks when the weather was chilly and gloomy, I found myself longing for my New Jersey “sisters”, some from Montvale Church, others from BSF.   I was seriously missing chats over breakfast at a diner, cups of coffee (and chats) at the kitchen table, fellowship (Bible chats) over a Bible study, prayer together with other women for our kids (chats with God).  It was so hard to feel motivated to do anything.  And all this time of waiting was wearing thin.

Just when I thought I couldn’t take much more, a couple of things happened. Knowing my need to hear voices and news from home, the Lord provided phone calls and e mails this week from some of those sisters.  It was good to hear about what they’d been doing and what was going on in church.  It was good to laugh and it was good to hear them say they were praying for me.  Wow, it really lifted my spirits!

And then yesterday we finally heard from the title company telling us that our house is nearly finished and we need to set a date to close.  This is the news we’ve been waiting for so we could make our final move two and a half hours north to central Florida.  We are overjoyed, making plans to order furniture, clean and move out of the condo and begin a new phase of life.  It’s so exciting.

Alongside this long anticipated joy, we have also had anxiety over a serious family crisis.  A month or so ago, my brother, thinking he was suffering from a sinus infection, visited an ENT and discovered that he had a tumor the size of an egg blocking his nose.  The tumor was removed and it was benign and we thought “Hurrah, the Lord answered our prayers!”, and that he was home free. 

 

It wasn’t long before he heard from the doctor with further news.  What he has is adenoblastoma, a very rare condition that invades the soft tissue and bone.  It typically begins in the jaw and spreads from there.  There are no symptoms, until it begins pressing on things as it grows.  It can be growing for years without any indication of its presence.

He was referred to a dental surgeon in New York City with experience in treating this kind of disease.  This week he went for a CAT scan of his face to determine how much involvement the disease has in his face and jaw.  He doesn’t have full results yet, except that it isn’t in his eye orbit, which is very good news.

I texted my sister in law the other night to tell her our news about the house closing and we then sent several texts back and forth about my brother’s health and the potential this thing has of changing their lives.  They are asking themselves things like, “If this is bad, will he be able to keep working?  Will they have to sell their house?  What if he doesn’t survive the surgery?”  Who wouldn’t be asking those questions in their place?

Suddenly, I felt awful that I was so caught up in my own things that I really hadn’t thought first how difficult a time they were going through before I sent my happy, “We’re closing” news.  How small my longing for friends, and the closing of our house seemed in comparison.

We are confident that the Lord hears and answers prayer.  We've seen Him do that in numerous ways over these weeks for my brother.   

If you are reading this, then I assume you are a praying person.  Would you pray for my brother George?  Would you pray that God, in His mercy and grace, might completely heal him?  Would you pray that He will continue to keep my brother and his family in His perfect peace as they wait to hear from the doctor next week?  Would you pray ultimately that God’s will will be done and that He will be greatly glorified in the outcome?  Thank you!