In the Words of a Friend

My dear friend Nicole was here yesterday - it was her turn to "babysit" me. We ran several errands, ate lunch, she cleaned, and then we talked about God. Nic is one of my sisters-in-Christ that can always be counted on to tell me the Truth. She does not tell me things just to make me feel better - she tells me the Word. She is one of my many blessings.

Anyway, she sent out an email this morning about me and I thought I should put her words in this blog.

From Nicole:
Hi everyone. Thank you for your continued prayers over Kelli.

In her blog awhile back, when she discontinued treatment at MD Anderson, it came through administratively a bit incorrectly.....and her husband and son received bereavement cards! They had a laugh over it and gave the nurses a call to let them know she had just switched to hospice care and was still around. Praise the Lord that she and her guys have a sense of humor.

This week coming week on Wednesday and Thursday, she will switch back into curative care and go back to MD Anderson to have some other testing done on the cancer in her brain and spine to see if they can do some radiation to relieve some of the effects of the cancer. In addition to the the palsy on one side of her face and imbalance, she now has no sense of taste and says that it sounds like there is an air conditioner running in her head, so she has a very difficult time hearing, especially on the phone. She is also having trouble picking out the right words when she is talking, but we spend the entire day talking until she can't talk anymore and I thought she did very well with everything. She will get the results the following Monday. This radiation was not even a consideration 4 months ago to her, so it's a pretty good indication of how the symptoms are that she is willing to do it now. Let's pray for the Lord's will and for His abundant grace and mercy upon her.

Praise for the day we spent together yesterday. Other than some nuts and bolts of life that we took care of, we spent most of the time talking about the Lord and His Word. She is listening to our Revelation study at home on the computer, and she has been so thankful for the way Mike teaches. I linked her up with Inductive Bible Study method online to "learn to fish" and teach her guys as well when they study God's Word together in the evenings as a family. So, praise the Lord for the internet and that our studies are available and for the manner in which we are fed--carefully, with Godly fear and reverence, allowing the Bible interpret itself and by the Holy Spirit. As her friend, it is a beautiful thing to watch the Lord comfort her with His Word all these years, but especially now. If it were not for the Lord, I would want to walk around with a sign that said, "I hate cancer", but like we learn as we work through things that Paul and Peter and James wrote, the Lord is what makes the worst possible situation not only bearable, but a cause to praise His name and rejoice in Him because He is right there providing whatever is needed moment by moment in abundance. You stop thinking about cancer and start thinking about Him! She has complete peace knowing that her sins were paid for on the cross which destines her to be with the Lord always and that this tent we live in is temporary and supposed to be in a state of decay. If you are reading this and do not know Jesus as your Savior, He loves you, wants to have a relationship with you that starts with you believing that He paid the full penalty for your sins on the cross. When you do that, you are forgiven, filled and sealed with the Holy Spirit, and you belong to Him and are assured of your salvation. You learn to walk with Him and live a life that is no longer controlled by sin but instead by the Holy Spirit by reading His Word to know His thoughts and plans and to hear His voice and praying to Him, sharing your thoughts and giving your life to Him. If you have never done this, if you have trusted in anything other than Jesus to save you and get you to Heaven, including your own works--the Bible is clear in Ephesians 2:8-10 that salvation is by faith alone through God's grace alone not by works that no man can boast---there is but one way to Heaven, one way to peace today and forever, and it's Jesus Christ.

Hope all of you are well and have your eyes and mind set on Jesus!

Amen to Nicole's words.

Love to you all - Kelli