An update from Sherry »

Just after 5 p.m. today, we received a call from my surgical oncologist. After the biopsy and consultation last Thursday she had said, "I am not optimistic about what your results will be". And she was right.

Tomorrow I am scheduled for a PetScan and MRI. Later in the week I will have a consultation with the Oncologist as she studies all the tests results and recommends treatment. We will give updates through the Awaken. I feel that God is giving us much grace as a result of your prayers and the words of encouragement and love that we have received from you today.

I was blessed to grow up in a home where my parents lived their faith out in such a way that as a young 8 year old, I came to know the Lord personally. As I became a teenager, I remember a favorite time was lying on my bed, looking out my window into the night sky. and talking to the Lord.

There is a special day that I treasure in my memory. We lived in Arkansas at the time. Our 3 children were pre-schoolers, and we had made the 2 1/2 hour drive to visit my parents in Mississippi. There was a clothing outlet in a town about 30 miles away, and I liked to shop there when I visited my parents. (Shopping for bargains, no surprise, right?)

I left the kids behind with Rex and the grandparents who seemed delighted. I still remember that getting away from preschoolers is a luxury. It was a beautiful day. In the quietness and peacefulness of my drive, I was noticing the rich dark soil of the Mississippi Delta, the large trees, and the prolific Kudzu vine that was quite beautiful to me.

Not long before this outing , I had been in a study of Mary's Magnificate in Luke 1:46-55. Although I love those verses the words that struck me were in Luke 1:38 as Mary responded to the Angel who gave her the news that she would be the mother of our Lord. Courageously this young woman declared her willingness to be a "handmaiden" of the Lord.

So I began to sing a song that I made up where I too declared that I wanted to be a "handmaiden of the Lord". That drive became one of the sweetest worship experiences of my life. As I made my return trip back to my parents house, I felt the Lord was so close and so real to me that I could have asked Him for anything. But, I didn't ask Him for anything.

What could I ask for? He had given me great parents, an amazing husband, an opportunity to travel on 3 continents, and He had given me 3 precious children. I wanted nothing in those few brief hours of that afternoon but to keep enjoying that rare and sweet intimacy with my Lord.

That is what I felt tonight on hearing the doctor's report. As Rex and I prayed together, I was feeling so blessed, it was hard to ask for anything. But believe me, my husband did.

We reminded ourselves from Matthew 6:27-34, "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?' "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

The Lord has been so faithful to me all the days of my life and will continue to be.

Gratefully,

Sherry