Pray It Forward

Dear Friends,

A long time has passed since I've sat here writing to you, and I very much miss the release that communicating with you via this website consistently offers me. Life has been very busy lately (good busy), and it has been difficult to find the time to write anything. I also haven't felt led by the Lord to share much, and I don't ever want to force myself to write words that are not directed by Him.

And actually, I was hoping that for today, instead of focusing on my life and it's ups and downs, I could direct you to a fellow lover of Christ who desperately needs prayers.

I have known Lindy VerBeek since we were in kindergarten. I have memories of riding our bikes to school together in grade school, exchanging "Sweet Valley Twins" books with her in middle school, attending dances with her in high school, and "starring" in a commercial for her business a few years back. Today Lindy has a wonderful husband, a five year old daughter, and seven month old twins. She also just found out she has an aggressive form of breast cancer that has spread to her lymph nodes.

You can find out more about her story here, a blog she set up to keep her friends and family up to date with the latest news as she begins this fight against cancer.

As you know very well by now, the word "cancer" is a word which has effected my life in a way no other word has. It angers me, it saddens me, and it overwhelms me. Lindy's story is one that strikes home for me on many different levels. Not only does it pain me to hear tell of another person I know and care about who is now locked in a bitter battle with this horrible disease, this is happening to someone who has a life very similar to my own. It's impossible not to put myself in her shoes as a thirty-something mother of three young children with high hopes and expectations of many years to come with my spouse and children. These shoes are ones that would fit all too well.

As a result, everyday I find myself pleading with God to spare her of the trials which accompany ridding one's body of cancer. The words she writes in her blog contain terms that are far too familiar to me, and it makes me ache to hear her using them in reference to herself. Again, it doesn't seem fair. No one deserves cancer, but I have an extremely difficult time accepting it when I hear that it has struck someone so young, with so much to do, with so many people depending on her being around for a very, very long time.

Which is where we come in. I know from first-hand experience the miracles your prayers can produce. Those of you who were with me for my father's battle with cancer prayed him through hard times, physical pain, emotional anguish, and spiritual lows. You are all fighters, warriors, and soldiers for the Lord. You hold fast to the simple truth that prayer changes things, and you enter into the warzone armed with that knowledge and the trust that our Lord hears every word, and every name, we call out to Him. I have witnessed you at your best... relentless, unwilling to surrender, marching head-on, ready and eager to storm the gates of heaven with your requests.

This ability to lay it all on the line for someone in need is being called upon today. Lindy needs you. Though she may not know you, she needs people like you who have unfaltering faith in a God who is so much bigger than her cancer. She needs people to come out in droves to the foot of the throne and pray for strength, for energy, for time, for freedom from fear, and most of all for complete and total eradication of this disease from her body. There are many survivors out there, and I have complete faith that if we put our trust in the Lord and His Almighty healing power Lindy will be able to count herself among them.

She's a good woman. She loves her friends, she loves her family, and she loves her God. Please join me in praying that she will be able to love them from here for years and years to come.

Dear Lord in heaven,

I pray this day for Your daughter, Lindy. I can only imagine what these last few weeks have done to her on every level, the toll they have taken on her, and the scars that this cancer has already left on her life. Please give her strength. Give her strength to fight, and also the strength to be present in the day to day lives of her husband and children. Allow her to see You at work in every moment. Give her evidence of You and Your complete sovereignty over this situation. Bless her faith in You. She has already shown repeatedly how loving You can usher peace into a life that has been shaken by the unknown and the unexpected.

I ask today not for Your will to be done, but that Your will be to cure her. Ultimately, Lord, you know I trust that whatever happens will be done for her best and Your glory, but for now, please, just cast this cancer out of her body. Make a miracle out of her. Save her from this fight, without putting her through the fight. Use her to demonstrate Your complete power over a disease that has claimed the lives of so many people. Show Your power, Lord, You alone are mighty to save.

I ask these things humbly, ever-trusting in Your perfect plan for Lindy's life, yet also knowing that You loom larger and more powerful than any sickness thrown her way. Be near to her today, and tonight, and every time she needs to feel Your presence. Protect her husband and children from fear, and let them feel Your comforting arms enveloping them when Lindy is unable to wrap them up in her own.
Hover over this family that loves You. Shield them, guard them, stay near to them. Be so close to them they never have to look for You, but can sense Your presence everywhere, all the time.

I pray this day in confidence, knowing that I pray to a God who is in control, a God who is incapable of making a mistake, and a God who loves Lindy and her family more than any of us could ever know.

In Your Powerful Name I pray,
Amen