Tuesday, August 9, 2016

God is Amazing!!!

On Monday, August 1st, I had another treatment. This was the 3rd of the new chemo cocktail (that's what they refer to it as) that I was switched to. I've been doing treatments for every 3 weeks since the end of May 2015 with only a few breaks between for surgery & recovery. And you may not know that a few months ago the tumor marker numbers were starting to rise. That seemed to indicate that something was going on. So I was sent for a CT scan. The doctor said there were lesions on my liver from the cancer spreading. I was then sent for a biopsy to see what was going on pathology wise. It came back that the estrogen part of the cancer was activated again. The Her2 part was borderline so they wanted to switch the daily pill and the IV chemo meds that are administered every 3 weeks. They measured the tumor marker again (which is a blood test)  and it had gone up to 110. It should be noted that a number equal to or less than 38 is considered normal. And at one point the number I had was about 12 points away from normal. I longed for it to be in the normal range & kept praying about it.

Now I trust God. And I know that He is faithful. I know that it doesn't take much faith, only the size of a mustard seed, and that doubt takes away from my faith. I also know what God told me about being healed and I know He will keep that promise. So I keep pressing forward. It's not always easy. The devil likes to play mind games and he seemed to reserve planting the seeds of doubt for when everyone else in my house is asleep and I am trying to fall asleep or when I wake in the middle of the night. So I started a new devotion book using the Kindle app. I got a great deal on Book Bub and only paid $0.99.  I started reading one devotion each night before I go to bed from 90 Days to Possessing Your Healing . I figured that way it was fresh in my mind and it would be easier to combat the lies and doubts from the devil.  I'm not very far into it, only about day 11 but I will say, it has been quite helpful to me.

The other day I received an email from my patient portal from the doctors office saying that a test result was ready and I quickly signed in and opened it up. I found that it was from the blood draw on Monday and I actually already had a hard copy of the test but they had just put it into my digital portal. I thought it might have been the results of the tumor marker number and I have been praying that it would be down from 110. But it wasn't ready yet. And ya know what? That was okay. It gave me 1 more night to prepare my heart, and mind to receive what I have been praying about for so long.  On Thursday night, I read day 10 devotion and it talked about how we are to pray and believe that we have received what we pray for. It's actually found in Mark 11:24 and was the verse I had been praying for months. I actually had it as my screen on my phone to remind me but had recently changed it because it had become invisible to me from seeing it so much, or so I thought. The title of day 10 was actually "Don't pray and worry."  The devotion talks about us having an attitude of possession of what we pray for and believe by faith that we have received it.  Here is what struck me the most:

The moment you pray, you must take ownership of the miracle for which you are asking.


BAM!!!!  It really hit me right where I needed it.

I have talked about taking ownership of actions to my kids on several occasions. I'm trying to teach them to be responsible and :"taking ownership of choices" is one of those things.  So this really hit me.  It was time to remember that what I had already asked God for nearly 3 years ago, was already mine. His healing is mine! And part of the devotion prayer that I read had me state "that I refuse to be manipulated by the severity of my condition, but instead I choose to rejoice in Your great power and ability to bring Your Word to pass in my life."  This had hit me so hard square in my face and made such an impact on me that when I went to bed Thursday night, I was confident that the tumor marker number would be lower than 110 when it finally came through the portal.

I am extremely pleased and excited to say that Friday morning, I got an email saying I had another test result ready to be viewed and when I signed in, it was the tumor marker number and it was 20.9!!!!!!  Not only did God bring that number down, but he ALSO did immeasurably more and it is in the normal range. Praise God!!! To God be ALL the Glory!!!! He is amazing, He is good, He is our Healer!

It was nice to see a test result start lining up with what I know is God's truth that I am healed and he will restore my body from the damage that was done from the cancer. I am so thankful and continue to praise God for WHO he is, not just WHAT he does.

I hope that many find this encouraging to NEVER give up. God cares deeply about YOU! He really does. He wants you well. He wants you healed, restored, and for you to be strong in your faith and have no doubt that He will do what He says.  He loves you!