Mayo Clinic Appointment

I gave you to our Heavenly Father after I was saved. I can’t take you back, but I will not let you Go.
I don’t have words, you know my heart.

God is making a way…

Thank you for sharing your journey with us.

I have sent you an email request, please let me know.

Storming heaven for you and yours.

Heather— I read about you from the blogger awards. I just wanted to let you know that I am praying for you. You have been on my heart over the past 24 hours.
Ps. 121:1-2 “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”
You are precious in His sight!!
The Mayo Clinic is a wonderful place. My sister spent a lot of time there and they are great.

Please know you will be in my prayers as you walk this hard road!
Praying in Colorado!
Lynn Gaylor

hugs and prayers

Dear Heather,
Hello~12 years ago I had a seizure in my left side, a catscan revealed a brain tumor.With n a month I had brain surgery, and they removed the benigh tumor that was the size of a grapefruit.
Through it all the Lord was ever present…I went from faith in God to truely knowing he was there. I did a word study on Trust, and wrote down every verse I found in the Bible on trust in a notebook. The day of my surgery I read thrugh them while waiting. The night before friends from church had come over to pray for me, but I also took their prayer requests and while in ICU praying for them brought me much peace in my discomfort.

The hardest part was worrying about my husband and 7 year old daughter. My pastor reminded me how much more God loves them and that He would care for them.
Please feel free to email me.
I will be praying, Mary

Heather

As a parent myself I ache for your parents. I know they would rather it be them than you – your earlier post about Emma explains those feelings. You are a daughter anyone would be proud to call their own. May peace find its way to you and your dad.

Good luck Heather – and please keep us all updated – you knew that God would make it all come together and look at it, it really IS coming all together!

My daughter is going to turn 8 on the 25 and I am going to be a ripe old 30 on the 27th – we know that Great things happen on those days – and know that they will happen for you too!

Please again let us know if there is anything we can do! I feel so helpless and WANT to do SOMETHING!

Praying for you. You are amazing!

I’ve got actual chills! God is good and I just see things getting better and better! Still praying!

So many people are thinking good thoughts for you and praying for you-no way Satan can beat that!
I’m glad you have an appointment soon and that the waiting part will be shortened.

Thank you for taking the time to keep us posted. I keep thinking if you were a “regular” friend (someone I knew from church & communicated with by phone, etc.), the information would probably not be nearly so forthcoming, and I’d be wondering but scared to call for fear of bothering you & your family. But you’ve been so good to keep us all updated so that we can pray and cry with you. We are hurting for your family that you should have to walk this painful path; we are praying and crying with you, and of all things, YOU are encouraging us. God does things so well. I am touched in a part of my heart that ONLY HE touches, and my heart is so assured by His touch. Looking forward to good reports, because He is faithful.

praying…

I just found out about you situation Heather, and I will be praying! I’m sure you have your moments of difficulty in dealing with this but I can see God working His strength and hope in you! Blessings to you and your family!

First, I praise God for the peace He has given you to walk this road SO SOON with dignity, grace and a Godly example. I am so very THANKFUL to hear of so many plans coming together so quickly, especially for a second opinion at a first rate hospital. And I’m amazed at God’s timing. So glad the kids won’t have to leave you every day and worry about you all day at school. That you can spend more time together. Secondly, I LOVE the quotes you offered from that book – so much that I am ordering it. I just LOVE what you shared that in the waiting, we are being prepared to accept our situation. That’s a powerful way of perceiving things I had never thought of before. Thank you for blessing me with that today. Lastly, your dad. His comment made me nearly weep. What a wonderful way to help a daughter to KNOW that she is loved and prayed for. It’s obvious who coached you to learn to lean on Jesus. I will be praying for you.

Dear Heather,

I know we don’t know each other but I read through your blog after it was posted on another friend’s blog and it brought tears to my eyes. My heart is aching and burdened for you and your family and my prayers are with you all. I cannot imagine the pain you all have been through already and are going through now but I will remember you in my prayers and ask that God heal you! Your words are an amazing testimony to the strong woman you must be and I’m sure your family appreciates it! Keep fighting and pushing to get the care you need! God is wonderful and amazing and can do anything. Best wishes to you and your family!

“Cast your cares upon Him for He cares for you” 1 Peter 5:7
God is fully aware of what you’re going through and will never leave your side.

Sincerely,
Molly (:

You don’t know me, but I found your updates. My brothers live in Rochester and are connected with Mayo. If you logistics help, I can see if they can help(maps, stores, hotels, etc.). I’m sure the doctors will be well in charge of the medical aspects.
Praying, of course.
Jessica

Heather,
I’ve been away from my computer for a few days…I was shocked to hear your news. But also overwhelmed with the love, support and prayers heading your way.

Although, we’ve only just recently “met” at Moms of Grace, I felt a connection with another mom with a special child. You are strong and your faith is unwavering. But screaming is good too. I’m so glad you’re getting the care you need.

Continued prayers will be pouring over the web! Blessings. Kathy

Heather – I have prayed for your strength and your perseverance and your hope. I have prayed for your healing and your family and your peace. God will work mightily through this for the glory of His kingdom because of your testimony and your great love for Him. Put on your armor, girl. It is time for battle.

God is good . . . All the time! I know it’s hard, but know that you are surrounded by people who are praying for you and your family. You amaze us with your wisdom and emotions in the midst of all of this!

God is already hard at work for you.

Heather, this is the first time I’ve been to your blog. I have read so many wonderful beautiful things about you at 3 different blogs today. I am praying for you and your precious family! Holly

I am praying for you.

Heather,
I heard about your tumor via 5MinutesforMom, and just wanted to add my 2 cents, so here goes:

Heavenly Father, You know the needs of Heather & her family. You know the situation. You are not surprised, and because she loves You, we know that You are achieving eternal things for her through this temporary trouble. Wrap your arms around Heather & her family, and let them all know Your presence in a new way. Blanket them with that peace that throws us beyond understanding and into steadfast joy.

You say in James 4 that we do not have because we do not ask, so God our Healer – Yhwh Rapha – we do ask humbly that you touch this tumor and heal Heather completely. If healing now is not the road you want her to walk, then make each new step clear. Help them to continue to acknowledge You in everything, so that their path will be directed step by step, day by day. I also ask that you would provide. You are also Yhwh Jireh, our provider, and you love to provide for the needs of your kids.

Thank you so much for whatever You are doing, and whatever Your plan is. You are a GOOD God, and You love Heather & her family so much. I pray that Your LOVE is what overshadows them & protects them — physically as they travel, spiritually & emotionally from the enemy’s attacks.

In the only name that matters, the name of Jesus, we ask all of this humbly — for Heather’s good & Your glory.

AMEN!

Praise God for your appointment! This is good news! Still praying… hugs to you and yours.

Heather,
I just found this on another blog and thought it was really incredible and had to share it with you….

Unanswered Questions

We all have questions we’ve been saving for God, don’t we? Positive uncertainties produce some of the most joyful moments in life, but I don’t want to make light of negative uncertainties. They are painful and stressful. Someday God will answer all of our malignant questions. Someday God will explain all of our painful experiences. Someday God will resolve all our spiritual paradoxes. In the meantime, I have a Deuteronomy 29:29 file filled with things I don’t understand.

Deut. 29:29 – There are secrets the Lord God has not revealed to us.

At some point in our spiritual journeys, we run into something called reality. Simple answers don’t suffice, and God doesn’t fit into the nice, neat boxes He used to fit into. They psychological term for this experience is “cognitive dissonance.” We experience psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs. In other words, something happens that doesn’t jibe with what we believe.

Dissonance comes in two primary flavors: unanswerable questions and unexplainable experiences. And I have tasted lots of both flavors.

It is during those times that I discovered what is now one of my favorite Psalms:

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing.

That little phrase – “consider my sighing” – became a source of strength for me. I didn’t know how to pray or what to say, but I knew God was considering my sighing. Even when we can’t put our frustration or anger or doubt or discouragement or grief into words, God hears and translates those low-frequency distress signals we call sighs.

Maybe prayer is much more than a combination of the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet into words? I love Ted Loder’s perspective in Guerillas of Grace:

“How shall I pray? Are tears prayers, Lord? Are screams prayers, or groans or sighs or curses? Can trembling hands be lifted to you, or clenched fists or the cold sweat that trickles down my back or the cramps that knot in my stomach? Will you accept my prayers, Lord, my real prayers, rooted in the muck and mud and rock of my life, and not just the pretty, cut-flower, gracefully arranged bouquet of words? Will you accept me, Lord, as I really am, messed up mixture of glory and grime?”

Sometimes it feels like God isn’t listening, but He considers every sigh. Not only that, He is interceding for us day and night. Scripture says that God makes prayers out of our wordless sighs and aching groans.

“The Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.”

Here is an incredible thought: Long before you woke up this morning the Holy Spirit was interceding for you. And long after you go to bed tonight, the Holy Spirit will still be interceding for you. That ought to change the way we wake up and fall asleep. That ought to give us the courage to chase lions.

Connecting the Dots

The greatest hazard to your spiritual health is thinking that your past is haphazard or that your future is left up to chance alone. It is anything but. I can’t promise that everything will make sense on the near side of eternity, but that shouldn’t shake our confidence, because our confidence isn’t contingent upon our circumstances. Our confidence is contingent upon the character of God. Our circumstances may not make sense, but we know that God is planning His work and working His plan.

When I was five years old, our family went to see a movie called The Hiding Place. The movie documented the story of a woman named Corrie ten Boom who miraculously survived the Nazi concentration camps. It was after watching that movie that I took my first step of faith. As my mom tucked me into bed that night, I asked her if I could ask Jesus into my heart.

I have often wondered if Corrie questioned God. She must have. Her family was hiding Jews. Why would God allow them to be captured? Her father and sister died in the camps. How could God let that happen?

Corrie used to speak to audiences about her horrific experiences in the concentration camps, and she would often look down while she talked. She wasn’t reading her notes. She was actually working on a piece of needlepoint. After sharing about the doubt and anger and pain she experienced, Corrie would reveal the needlepoint. She would hold up the backside of the needlepoint to reveal a jumble of colors and threads with no discernible pattern. And she’d say, “This is how we see our lives.” Then she would turn the needlepoint over to reveal the design on the other side, and Corrie would conclude by saying: “This is how God views your life, and someday we will have the privilege of viewing it from His point of view.”

Corrie could have questioned why she had to suffer in Nazi concentration camps. It didn’t make sense. It was unfair. But what I do know is this: Somehow God used that suffering of a woman named Corrie ten Boom living in Holland in 1944 to lead a five-year-old boy named Mark Batterson living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Christ more than thirty years later. I’m the beneficiary of Corrie ten Booms unanswerable questions and unexplainable experiences.

Some of your experiences won’t make sense this side of eternity, but lion chasers know that God is connecting the dots in ways they can’t comprehend. Lion chasers are humble enough to let God call the shots and brave enough to follow where He leads.

Mark Batterson~In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day~Taken from pages 94-99 edited