A Good Morning

This was Sunday's lunch -- only one of the wonderful meals Lisa prepared for us while we were in Washington DC. It was a thoroughly pleasant weekend.

Our Michigan friend brought us a frog-shaped cookie jar filled with notes written by other friends back in Michigan. Even the note paper was printed with frogs. So much love there! You can imagine the happy moments we spent reading the notes.

My blood count yesterday showed improvement on several fronts: My white cell count (fights infection) is higher than it's been since October. My hemoglobin (carries red cells for energy) is 12.3, higher than it's been since early February. I'm so thankful. The doctor advises, and we concur, to continue another cycle with Taxol. Kemo went smoothly yesterday, and I'm feeling great this morning after a long night's sleep.

Yesterday morning Chuck read this to me:

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” He is really enjoying the one-year Bible in The Message paraphrase by Eugene Peterson. But does the Bible really say that? I recognized it as the favorite verse of my friend Joyce, who died of cancer several years ago. It’s at the very end of Matthew 6.

A day earlier, he read these startling words: “Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply.” (That’s from earlier in the same chapter.)

This morning I get to participate in the meeting of the group that will award cash scholarships to aspiring writers on behalf of the Evangelical Press Association. I wish we could help them all; there's a lot of dedicated talent among the applicants. It was enlightening to read their entries. And then, if I'm still wide awake in the afternoon, I'll be back at my desk refining the draft of the next SIM magazine.

I hope your day is great.

Love,

Carol