Bold Confidence

I awoke from a dream about 2:00 a.m. As dreams do, it faded almost instantly, except for the image of confident children swarming boldly into their mother's kitchen and helping themselves to fresh cookies. In the few moments before I fell asleep again, my mind raced to Hebrews 4:16, "So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it." Being a person who desperately needs mercy and grace, this invitation is good news. I picture the mother going to the door to call, "Fresh cookies! Come and help yourself." And I imagine the rush of anticipation that floods the little hearts. I picture our gracious God calling from the door of his throne room, "Fresh mercy! Fresh grace! Come and help yourself to all you need whenever you want." This is far better, infinitely better, than still-soft and warm chocolate chips melting on the tongue. This is life!

Kemo was sweet yesterday. No ill effects. The oncologist said he was encouraged that the CA 125 was climbing less steeply, so he continued with the Doxil. (Accessing the port was another story, requiring numerous pokes and three nurses. I kept saying to myself, "So find a bigger problem." If that doesn't make sense, read yesterday's post.) I came home with enough energy to cook dinner and clean the stove which had finally reached the point of no return. I had planned to use the evening to put out Christmas decorations, which would have been more fun. Since I'm up so early this morning, I think I'll start that project right after my devotions. We're having Chuck's department here for a Christmas dessert party Sunday evening. I'm looking forward to that, because they're all special friends. I want the greens and angels and lights and bows to be out to welcome them.

Many of you told me you were praying about yesterday's treatment. Thank you so much. I believe that every day is a miraculous answer to prayer. Feeling this well is definitely not typical.

Had I mentioned that I needed to upload the new magazine files to the internet yesterday morning? Everything worked perfectly, and the designer in Orlando has already downloaded the files so we can discuss them by phone on Friday. We prayed for the technology to work, and it did. Last night as I was listing three good things that happened, I included that. (If listing three good things doesn't make sense, read back a few days.) Then as I identified the reason it occurred, I wanted not only to thank the Lord but also the I.T. specialists in our office who are so smart and so sweet to keep computers and networks bug-free. I'll do that today.

Love,
Carol