Slideshows from the last few weeks

TAM 07

SLMC 07

Atlanta 07

M-M-M-My Schwannoma!

They removed my schwannoma because it was getting on my nerves!

What is a schwannoma? In short it is a tumor/outgrowth on a nerve.
I found out about three months ago that I had some mass growing in me about the size of a ping-pong ball. The doctors all agreed it needed to be removed. They could not tell from the MRI and ultra-sounds if it was attached to anything important and at the time they were unsure as to what it was exactly.
So, feeling completely fine, I checked into the hospital last week and had surgery to remove this “ping-pong” sized enigma.
Abdominal surgery, even laparoscopic, has a way of making a healthy person feel sick. After one night in the hospital they told me the ping-pong was removed, everything looks great and the next day I could go *home.
Six days later at my check up the Doctor says, “So the punch line is this…you had a schwannoma and it was resting on a nerve. Do you feel any different with it gone?”
Actually, I did feel different. I felt like someone ran over me with a truck, like I could sleep for a week and when I walked I looked like my grandmother in her 90’s.
However this is not what I told the Doctor. I just told him my left knee (that has bothered me for years) when I sit for long periods didn’t hurt anymore. Could it have been a pinched nerve that now was no longer pinched?
He just raised an eyebrow and said, “Sure, I’ll take credit for that!”

So my schwannoma is gone.
( I kinda like saying that word… SCHWANNOMA!)
Strangely enough my knee which is no where near my abdomen :) …. feels better and I am in recovery from the surgery.
God is good.
You see, I didn’t even know there was anything wrong but the Lord knew and through a series of seemingly random events he made it clear to me and to the physicians. Those who knew how to help me, who were trained for this kind of work did what they had to do to remove it. As a result, I feel pain for awhile because of the surgery but in the long run I am healthier.

What’s getting on your nerves? Is it affecting your walk with God?

How often do we have something resting on our “last nerve” slowly growing with in us and we don’t realize how it is affecting our walk with the Lord, our relationship with others.

The removal process can be painful but the end results are health for the whole body.

Hebrews 12:10-13
“Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”

* Thank you to my parents for coming to stay with us, helping with the house and the kids!

A Battle Cry

I stand before the throne of God interceding. God is high and lifted up on his throne. I am on the right and there is one who opposes on the left. I face the Lord making my request known to him. As I speak with the Lord, the one who opposes my every word becomes louder and louder. I turn and face him. He is angry, yelling at me but when I look at him his words are sharpened with a mocking tone. I see those standing behind him jeering and cheering him on. In this moment of discouragement I turn my head to look at the throne of God and I see the Lord tilting his head with a smile as if to say “look behind you”. I looked behind me and there standing with me was a great multitude of people. An ocean of people as far as the eye can see. Some of them look right at me and I knew them. They were those who had gone before me. My grandparents, great-grandparents on both sides of my family and my husband’s ancestors as well. I also saw ancestors of soldiers and officers in the Army. Most were people who I had never met before but who had invested in the Kingdom of God; people who had been faithful. They were standing there cheering me on and claiming with me God’s promise to be faithful to the generations of those who have loved him and obeyed His Word. I knew they respresented our heritage standing before the throne of grace warring for us, warring with us.

Suddenly, standing there looking at this great cloud of witnesses, a wave of encouragement and strength in the spirit overwhelmed me. At that moment I turned to look my accuser in the eye. As I turned my eyes locked with my mocker and I saw the fear in his eyes. Those behind him fled before I even opened my mouth and when I spoke, I directed my words right at him.

However, they were not so much words….
What does one say in a moment like that?
One screams! One shouts! A battle cry!

Picture it like the scene of the last battle in the movie Braveheart. The shout of William Wallace echoed by all who stood with him….. the battle cry! Each time they shouted, they became louder and more in unison. They were ready to fight to the death. This is the position I now took before my accuser standing with the great cloud of witnesses before the throne of God. Our shouts of victory, our battles cries of past and present bled into one voice.

In that moment, the mocker, the accuser, the one who opposes was reminded of the truth that is ours…….We have already won! The Battle is the Lords! The victory is ours! There are more for us than against us and those who oppose God will be broken. Truth like that has a way of making the enemy slither away. His only hope is to keep us ignorant of this reality, to keep us discouraged and fearful of him. Once we know the truth, once he sees in our eyes that we KNOW the TRUTH….what else can he do but flee?

Do you believe it?
Sound the battle cry!
There is victory in Jesus!
We have already won.

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

Intercede

‘This far and no further!’ says Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings. He is standing on a thin bridge, his words directed at a flying fire-breathing dragon. He holds his ground and emphasizes his words by slamming down his staff. The bridge breaks and Gandalf falls wrestling with the dragon to unseen depths.

I keep hearing these words, the words of Gandalf. “This far and no further!”
These are the words of my own soul when I intercede before the Lord.
Satan has had his time. He has wreaked havoc long enough. It is time to claim back the land that belongs to our King, to recapture the hearts and minds of his people, those dedicated to and for His purposes.

This is where it stops! We can stand with Gandalf on the bridge and say to satan, “This far and no further!” You have stolen our sons and daughters; you have made a mockery out of our attempts to follow God. You have found pleasure in our weaknesses and have stolen ground that was never yours to take.

We are at fault too. We have sinned against God and our ancestors; we have not kept the vows of our youth and have let the enemy enter our promised land through the open doors of hypocrisy, apathy and ignorance. The gates to our cities have not been guarded, the enemy has had his time but we can say, “This far and no further!”

This is a call to intercessors for such a time as this. As it was with Nehemiah a time has come for a re-building of our city walls and a time has come for the ancient gates to lift up their heads. Nehemiah appointed families to build up and guard the walls and gates from the threats of the surrounding enemy. As intercessors we must take our appointed places, guard our gates, re-build our city walls. We need people to take a stand for what is rightfully ours. We need people who will go forth to claim back that which was stolen from us. We need men and women to stand against the enemy and say defiantly “This far and no further!”

The Battle is the Lords.

1 John 3:8b “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.”

FUN at O.O.B.

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