Breakfast: Lord, We Need You

With regard to Adam's recovery, there has been a lot of good news during the past two weeks. Thank God for hearing, and answering our prayers!

I sense a lot of relief and optimism among family and friends. Maybe I am wrong, but it seems to me that with Adam's progress, there is a risk of complacency. The temptation is to go about our daily business and not set aside time for prayer.

I say that it is time to get on our knees. Adam has more distance to go on his journey to a full recovery. We should be thanking God for the work He has done in Adam, and we need to be asking for continued healing. It is not time to let up, it is time to "pour it on!"

    If we've ever needed You,
    Lord, It's now, Lord it's now.
    ~If We've Ever Needed You, Casting Crowns



It is my hope that the experience of praying for Adam's healing is not a temporary excercise. Rather, it is my desire to continue the habit of spending increased time in prayer throughout my life. There is, and always will be, a need to come to God in prayer. For the past eight months, Adam's full recovery has been one of the centerpieces of my prayer life. It will continue to be, until he gets to 23!

Romans 12:11-12

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

We have our marching orders — serve the Lord with zeal and keep praying! This morning, thank God for the work He has done in Adam. We can also pray for Adam to continue making progress with his eating. I certainly have no expertise in this area, but I have to believe that returning to normal eating would greatly assist the healing process.

Introducing Patricia Ashby

And, as we ramp up our zeal, let's put it to work for Patricia Ashby. Pat is the sister of my sister-in-law, Bev Root. Pat's situation is simply put, dire. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2009. She had a radical, double mastectomy within a couple of weeks of detection.

Today, Pat has Stage-4 breast cancer that has spread to her lungs and lymph nodes. She has a particularly aggressive and drug-resistant form of cancer that has spread in spite of radiation and three courses of chemo, each more toxic than the one before.

Pat is now undergoing the most toxic of all — last-resort chemo. It makes her extremely ill, and puts her at risk for cardiac arrest. She will lose her hair again, and she risks nerve damage to her hands and feet. However, the doctors tell her that the alternative is that she has six months to live — so she elected to endure last-resort chemo.

The hope is that the chemo will shrink the tumors she has, stop new ones from forming, and keep the cancer from spreading to her bones, brain, and other organs...at least for awhile longer.

Folks, you know as well as I, that Pat is in need of the Great Physician. Just as doctors and therapists have assisted Adam, he has been able to reach 20 on the coma scale because of the work of our Lord. The staff in North Carolina told Amy that Adam would never be able to speak or understand language. Yet, he already has!

If there was any urgency lacking in your prayers. If there was nothing inspiring you to great zeal...it's here. Pat needs our prayers!

This morning, pray for Adam's continued healing. Pray that he would keep moving forward until he reaches 23 out of 23 on the JFK coma emergence scale! Then, pray for Pat Ashby. First, pray that she would be at peace. Pray that she would find comfort in Jesus Christ. Then, pray that God would work another miracle. Ask for healing for Pat.

Surely as Jesus has had His hand on Adam, and surely as He raised Lazarus from the dead, so too, can he heal Pat.

John 11:38-44

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

What might make Jesus so moved to heal Pat? Many of us on our knees, praying for her healing.

Meet with you at lunch time.