Seeing Jesus in the Power of Prayer

Kids 1st hospital visit - Mon, Jan 9th

SPECIAL REQUEST: I haven't done this in a while, but I'm asking you to read through this entire post and am humbly asking you to consider doing something very specific for us if the Lord so moves your heart. Thanks. 
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One of the most amazing things we have seen in our battle with cancer is the way God works through and answers prayer to accomplish His sovereign will. I have never been a bigger believer in the power of prayer than I am now. Let me share with you one example of what I mean.

When I took Kim to the ER late Friday evening on January 6th it was near midnight and the kids were already in bed and she ended up staying in the hospital for 11 nights straight. The kids were a bit traumatized when they awoke on Saturday morning realizing that mom had disappeared in the middle of the night and they were very eager to see her again but I kept having to break my promises to them and repeatedly pushed off their planned hospital visits because things kept going from bad to worse. Well, the kids finally got to see mom the following Monday night and I wrote a post on January 13th about an amazing way God spoke to us through His Word (an excerpt from that post is pasted below but you can see the full post HERE).

On Tuesday night (Jan 12th), I was reading our Children's Bible with the kids before putting them to bed. We've been reading through it in order and we just happened to be on the story of Lazarus. It was perfect because the kids had just seen mommy the night before and they wanted mommy home and wanted God to heal her now. But if you remember the story, Jesus kind of drags his feet and waits 4 days after Lazarus dies before he finally arrives in town even though he was earnestly beckoned by Lazarus' sisters Mary and Martha. It was a perfect word for them - we talked about how God may come later than we may like, but He always comes on time. Well, the very next morning, a friend shot Kim and me this email:

" This verse has been coming to my mind as I have been praying and I wanted to share it with you. John 11:40 "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" We will continue to pray for a miracle and that the Lord will be your strength so that your faith will not fail!"

This verse comes straight from the exact same story I read with the kids the night before - Jesus and Lazarus in John 11. I felt a great peace at that moment that even if our healing may come later than we may like, I know it will come in His perfect time.

This was one of those few verses that has stayed with us from the start and ministered to us in our darkest moments (one of which would come only two days later on the Friday the 13th "code blue" incident) because through it God was reminding us that His glory would shine - all we were called to do was to have faith and believe.

I didn't mention this at the time but the verse came from a friend named Stephanie that I had only met once before and her daughter was in Kim's preschool class at the Classical Consortium. Well, I finally got a chance to talk with her in person a week ago about this special verse and found out some more fascinating details about how it all came about.

Steph shared that she specifically remembers praying for our family in her bedroom the night before she sent the email to us while her husband was putting their kids down. The Lord impressed upon her heart to share "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40) with us even though the verse was completely unfamiliar to her and she never remembers reading it in her life. In fact, she didn't even know it came from the story of Jesus and Lazarus until I mentioned it later. Yet as she prayed for our family she recalls God clearly giving her those specific words to share with us.

She was hesitant the next morning to share this with us but in faith she did it anyways and that's when we got the email. As if that weren't enough, she then asked me if I could recall when  I read the story to my kids that night. I said around 8pm (that's when we always put our kids down) and it was then that she told me that she was praying for us between 7:30 and 8:30pm that same night. Crazy huh?

There is no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit gave her that verse from that same passage literally as we were reading the story that Tuesday night. The Spirit was active in two places at once receiving one prayer and answering another and using the exact same section of God's Word on both ends. Amazing.

Steph also told me that coming into 2012 and before this had all happened she had specifically asked the Lord to grow her faith and God has been so faithful in that request through our trial.

So here is where my personal request comes in. One of the great blessings from starting this blog is that we get many emails, messages, etc from many people (most we don't even know) asking us to pray for them as well. I guess they have seen the power of prayer through many of the testimonies shared here and it has moved and humbled them as much as it has us.

Sometimes the requests are very dire - like being recently diagnosed with cancer, or a loved one is dying and they are desperate for help. To be honest, I've struggled with what to do with these. We do regularly pray for so many of these requests as a family every night, but I can't help wondering if more could be done. I know that so many of you have prayed for us and that has played a large role in Kim's healing and I'd love to use this platform to serve others, and I've been praying about how to go about doing that.

So here's what I'm wondering for those that frequent this site:  Are their people out there who would be willing to sincerely pray for people you don't know that share prayer requests with us (with their permission)? (Of course, prayer requests are welcome as well) If so, please shoot me an email (seeingjesusineverything@gmail.com) or leave a comment below on this post saying so. If there is enough interest I'm willing to post a prayer request list on regular basis (maybe bi-weekly depending on updates?) that aggregates all these requests for prayer warriors out there and even track answers to prayers to encourage those who are faithful in praying. Not sure if this will go anywhere but I will sleep better at night for at least asking the question.

Perhaps as one last encouragement I took a few select prayer requests that were posted on this blog and the date they were posted and highlighted in RED below when and how they were answered. Further proof that God is good and He hears our prayers.

In His Grace,

Peter & Kim

PRAYER REQUESTS ANSWERED TO DATE

POSTED ON JANUARY 13, 2012 HERE

-Please pray that the cancer would respond quickly and completely to the treatment. 

FULL REMISSION ONLY 10 WEEKS LATER.

-Please pray that she would be protected from any infections or complications to the treatment.  

KIM NEVER EXPERIENCED ANY FEVER OR INFECTIONS DESPITE BEING NEUTROPENIC SIX TIMES THROUGHOUT HER TREATMENT.

-Please pray that God would be glorified by Jesus shining through us, as we journey into the unknown.

WE BELIEVE GOD HAS GLORIFIED HIMSELF BY SHINING THE LIGHT OF JESUS IN OUR DARKEST TRIAL. 

POSTED ON JANUARY 14, 2012 HERE

-Please pray that my wife will be able to take the Rituxan med without the same severe reaction she had yesterday.

KIM WAS ABLE TO TAKE THE RITUXAN MED WITHOUT ANY HINT OF ISSUES FOR THE NEXT 5 ROUNDS.

POSTED ON JANUARY 18, 2012 HERE

-Every time you pray for us PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE lift up a prayer for this dear family (Joe, Jennifer, Emily, Brie and their brave son, Andrew, as they are still in the process of trying to properly diagnose this cancer and are also seeking a bone-marrow donor match.

ON FEBRUARY 22ND ANDREW FINDS DESPITE HAVING A RARE FORM OF LEUKEMIA WITH NO TREATMENT PROTOCOL HE IS IN FULL REMISSION.  

POSTED ON JANUARY 30, 2012 HERE  

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE If you commit to wanting to help Andrew, please know that there are literally thousands of others (like Connor) who are faceless victims of an insidious disease who also need your help and please follow through on your commitment. Also, please pray for these families - they are walking through an unspeakable fire of intense heat - that we cannot even possibly fathom. 

HUNDREDS IF NOT THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE RISE UP AND REGISTER WITH THE BONE MARROW REGISTRY AS DRIVES ARE RUN ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND EVEN INTERNATIONALLY.  

POSTED ON JANUARY 11, 2012 HERE

This morning while I was driving the boys to a friend's house I was at a stoplight when my thoughts began to run wild and tears began to well in my eyes. When I looked in the rearview mirror Caleb was staring right back at me from the 3rd row seat of our minivan with these really big, concerned eyes. I quickly started a conversation on Star Wars legos (which is the ultimate purpose of life for my two boys) to smooth it over but I know Caleb is absorbing everything in his sensitive little heart. Please pray that I would be strong for him. I am not as strong as these emails may appear.

POSTED ON JANUARY 31, 2012 HERE

Please pray for our children. Caleb has been having nightmares about mommy dying  

ON MARCH 3RD WE REALIZED GOD WAS WORKING IN CALEB'S HEART IN A PROFOUND WAY UNBEKNOWNST TO US THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE MONTH OF JANUARY WHEN I DISCOVERED HIS JOURNAL IT ALL CAME TO LIGHT RIGHT AFTER HE SAW MOM WHISKED AWAY IN AN AMBULANCE 

POSTED ON FEBRUARY 24, 2012 HERE

We WILL find a match for Andrew and Connor and many others through these efforts - I KNOW IT! Please continue to pray in faith.

-ON MARCH 8TH  7 YEAR OLD CONNOR FINDS A BONE MARROW MATCH (AFTER 5+ YEARS OF SEARCHING)

-THE VERY NEXT DAY ON MARCH 9TH, ANDREW'S CHROMOSOMAL DEFECT DISAPPEARS. DOCTORS ARE MYSTIFIED. 

-11 DAYS LATER ON MARCH 20TH, ANDREW FINDS A BONE MARROW MATCH. 

- BOTH BOYS RECEIVED THEIR BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTS WITHIN 24 HOURS OF EACH OTHER ON THE SAME FLOOR OF CHILDREN'S MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AND CELEBRATED THEIR NEW BIRTHDAYS ON MAY 16TH & MAY 17TH.