06/13/11 Please see update here

 08/03/10 After that round of treatment his 2 PET Scans were still clear. But his recent PET scan revealed cancer in 5 spots. He is back on chemo. I can't begin to explain the disorientation, confusion and disbelief I feel having learned this. I can rejoice that the doctor is on top of it and that new chemo formulas are being developed. But I am seriously dumbfounded, because of the faith of us all. Only God knows what He has in mind and the heart of the patient. 

Hello everyone, YES THAT'S RIGHT , PAT'S PET/CT SCAN WAS CLEAR!!!! That means that the machine can't pick up any cancer, but to be sure there aren't any sneaky cells undetected he will continue with a little bit more of chemo. PRAISE BE TO GOD AND HALLELUJAH!!!!

"Burning Bush" by author

This past weekend I had the privilege of being among my spiritual family celebrating Rosh Hoshanah (feast of trumpets /Jewish new year). While this gathering is interdenominational, for which none are Jewish, we are striving as Christians to learn of our Jewish roots. This was a celebratory occasion not one of learning in the intellectual sense. We prayed and praised and the Holy Spirt was moving.

Over the course of the last several weeks on Tuesdays, my employer has allowed me to have the day off to go to Little Rock for a prayer group with the same people only fewer in numbers. Over the course of these weeks, Pat's has received many blessings and breakthroughs regarding his mind, spirit and body. Please bear with me, as this is very hard to put into words, much of these experiences are what you feel, sense, intuit, know and hear at the time.

While Pat and I have felt that we have always had faith, our faith has been tested mightily over these many months. So let me begin by saying that over these last weeks, our faith has been renewed, ignighted, and restored.

From many injuries over the years, Pat walks on a prosthetic on one leg and his other leg is screwed together with steel plates and bolts. He lost 4 inches off his height from the accident he was in at age 18. Forty four bones were broken in all, and he was in a body cast for over a year. His last rights were read to him nine times. There was a nun with whom he had never met, there, praying constantly. When he would awake she would tell him, "God has a plan for you". Pat was one of the people in Dr. Kubler Ross's books on death and dying. He had seen the gates of heaven and learned to go there, to get away from the pain. He was invited to go in but chose not to, out of love for his mother. That choice, (if it really was a choice) has not only made him a result of miracles, but he has had to endure bodily pain most of his life. They told him he would never walk. They provided him a prosthesis "only for looks" and he got up and walked that very day. Every time they told him he couldn't do something he proved him wrong. These types of things have happen throughout his life.

Fast forward to today. He has said that this has been the hardest challenge of his life. On some level prior to all this, much of how he coped through things was by sheer will and determination. He had his Lord with him, but somewhere along the way he got lost.

During the weekend the atmosphere was thick with Love:

JEHOVAH-ROPHE: "The Lord Who Heals" Ex. 15:22-26. From "rophe" ("to heal"); implies spiritual, emotional as well as physical healing. (Jer. 30:17, 3:22; Isa. 61:1) God heals body, soul and spirit; all levels of man's being.
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH: "The Lord is There" (Ezek. 48:35).

JEHOVAH-SABAOTH: "The Lord of Hosts" The commander of the angelic host and the armies of God. Isa. 1:24; Psa. 46:7, 11; 2 Kings 3:9-12; Jer. 11:20 (NT: Rom. 9:29; James 5:4, Rev. 19: 11-16).

During one of the many sessions for which we were specifically praying for Pat, there was a particular woman who seemed to be the main intersessor for him. After we were through, Pat said, "I saw the darkness lift out of me, I'm free!" Later we spoke with the woman, and she named all of these people in her family who had cancer and died. She herself had cancer, she had a nerf ball size tumor removed from her. She claimed dominion over it and said the family pattern stops with her. She did not undergo any radiation or chemo, or any treatment after that. And she is cancer free. They found cancer in her daughter. They claimed dominion over her and she believed and she has no cancer.

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By your faith you are healed

Throughout the New Testament, there are accounts of Jesus healing people. A few examples are the woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for 12 years amd the 12 old girl whose parents thought she was dead: Luke 8: (this was copied from crosswalk.com)

40 So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. 41 And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. 43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. 45 And Jesus said, "Who touched Me?" When all denied it, Peter and those with him ^F60 said, "Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?' " ^F61 46 But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me." 47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. 48 And He said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer; ^F62 your faith has made you well. Go in peace." 49 While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher." ^F63 50 But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well." 51 When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in ^F64 except Peter, James, and John, ^F65 and the father and mother of the girl. 52 Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping." 53 And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But He put them all outside, ^F66 took her by the hand and called, saying, "Little girl, arise." 55 Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. 56 And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.

There is an account later on in the book of Luke in chapter 9 where a man begs Jesus to heal his son, because the deciples couldn't do it:37 Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him. 38 Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, "Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child. 39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. 40 So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." 41 Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." 42 And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.

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Both Pat and I believe he is healed. The question is how is God healing him. Was it instantaneous? Is over time? Is it through the doctor? He tossed and turned all night, praying and repenting and asking for wisdom. He also spoke with the person who interceded, another person who has a virus in his heart and on a transplant list, who was claimed to be healed, and Dee a very wise woman with whom the Lord had been telling her "no emphesema" and was recently healed.

Dee a very faithful and devout woman, was not healed over night but over time. She stayed on her meds until recently when she could finally "breathe again!" Even with all this in front of us, I still questioned whether in our case, if he did continue the chemo, would it be a step out of faith? I remembered one of the Pastor's saying in regard to, he and his wife building a house at seventy and putting all they had into it, about limited faith. The Pastor said that God said he didn't have enough faith to believe in a house all at once. But piece by piece he guided him to build the house. When I asked the Lord for clarification on Pat's situation, I received that Pat's stepping out on faith was going to the meeting. God has chosen to heal him, it is up to Pat as to how. That God will heal him dispite the chemo or I guess you could say in conjuction with the chemo I feel I also discerned. The Lord said again I have a plan for him.

The words that Pat kept hearing was "even the birds must gather their food." Through much internal debate and anguish, he has decided to believe that God is working through the doctor, and is bringing a bible with him. He still is believing he is healed.

Do not be afraid, only believe.

Update: I originally had a question mark in parenthesis at the end of the title. Pat asked me to put an exclamation point there. A pet/ct scan is scheduled for Oct 5.