A real turnaround

2:46 p.m. Today's project was to travel to Orange to deliver a package of Mary Kay product that had been returned to me in the mail twice--once for wrong street address and once for wrong zip code! We looked forward to visiting with our nephew who stays home with his preschoolers, while dropping off his wife's foundation. While there, we may have arranged a tentative deal for his professional videography for Heidi's wedding! It was on from there to Shinoda's wholesale warehouse for all things decorative in Santa Ana, to register as a business vendor. Steve and I picked up the two last hurricane candle centerpieces we needed for Heidi's reception tables.


After eating our pack lunch in the parking lot, we quickly drove home, stopping at Vons for a few sundries. It was only about 1:30, and all was going smoothly when the text message came in that sent our day on an entirely different trajectory. It was from Heidi's dear friend Shea, about her mother-in-law Bea, a long-time sufferer with bone marrow cancer. The notice pictured is about testing for a bone marrow donor match to be held at our church on Sunday.

The text message read:


Mike's mom is in the hospital with kidney failure and multiple fractures in her ribs due to the cancer. Please pray for God to perform a miracle and to heal her. Thank you!


Last month, a number of us had been called upon to take meals to Bea and her husband Mark after she fell and suffered intense pain in her spine. Though Steve and I were upbeat as we visited and prayed with her, I could not shake the feeling that the cancer was attacking her bones. She was not out of pain for a few weeks and has been using a walker. Now kidney failure...I do pray for God's comfort, healing, lifting of pain, and His abundant mercy on Bea and her family.


It's amazing how a day can absolutely turn around in a split second. I stood paralyzed over my shopping cart as Steve and I immediately prayed where we were. There was no consciousness of anyone else around until a nice gentleman who probably had waited for our brief prayer to finish said "excuse me" quietly. I quickly repositioned the cart as I forwarded the prayer request to my younger daughter. Don't remember if I even apologized, being in such a teary-eyed daze.


Gathering myself together was hard, but I wanted to be cheerful for Steve, who swiftly forgot about the issue. For safety's sake, we sat in the Jeep for several minutes before driving home, praying and quietly talking about us getting tested as a possible match. I called the church to see if a cancer survivor is even eligible to give blood or bone marrow. We'll keep checking on that.


Christians, whether the victims of potentially terminal diseases like Bea (or my Steve with his Alzheimer's) or close family members sorrowing because of the loved one's suffering, have the Lord to run to, and the assurance that He is with us always. Many of us turn to the Psalms at times like this when sadness threatens to overcome us. Psalm 116:1-9 gives me great hope:

I love the LORD, because he has
heard
My voice and my supplications.
Because he has inclined His ear
to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as
long as I live.

The pains of death surrounded
me,
And the pangs of Sheol laid
hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
Then I called upon the name of
the LORD:
"O LORD, I implore You, deliver
my soul!"

Gracious is the LORD, and
righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
The LORD preserves the simple;
I was brought low and He saved
me.
Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the LORD has dealt
bountifully with you.

For You have delivered my soul
from death,
My eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
I will walk before the LORD
In the land of the living.












The Lifestream Bloodbank phone number is 909-885-6503 for more information, and this Sunday March 6, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at Calvary Chapel Moreno Valley, there will be testing for possible bone marrow donors for Bea in Room 101.