Praise Report on Joy

Quick update on Joy that is taken directly from her Facebook page Joy's Journal.

PRAISE REPORT: 48 hours ago we were told there was nothing left for doctors to do to save our daughter and they would be removing her ECMO (the bypass machine working as her heart and lungs) the next morning. We cried, we believed, we prayed, we reached out to others asking for prayer. 24 hours ago we learned there was something the doctors could do, but they were not sure if it would help. Today our little girl (just 29 days old) had her 2nd heart surgery which repaired a hole in her heart valve! She already looks better!!! She still has a long road to travel, but God is Great and God is Here! Our whole world changed in the past 48 hours because you prayed with us and God worked miracles. Thank you is not enough, but it is all we have to give. Thank you!! We are blessed!

Thank you all for praying! Please continue to cover Joy in prayer as she has a long road to recovery.

Psalm 95:1-7 NIV

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;

    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before him with thanksgiving

    and extol him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God,

    the great King above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth,

    and the mountain peaks belong to him.

The sea is his, for he made it,

    and his hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us bow down in worship,

    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

for he is our God

    and we are the people of his pasture,

    the flock under his care.

Praising and praying,

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God Made the Heavens

Matthew 19:26 NIV

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Today is cloudy and rainy so I decided to head out the door for a mountain hike, which I could not convince my son to join me on, even the thought of searching for different animal tracks could not peak his interest this wet, rainy day. 

I was met with a wonderful eye full! This first picture is the look out from 3/4 up the mountain on a pretty clear day about 5 days ago. I am showing you this one just so you can have an idea of the depth of the next pictures.

 The pic below is from a similar view just a bit further back and a bit of a different angle. I want to show you the amazing clouds and how they make the whole valley disappear.

Do you remember Lon? He has disappeared from the blog world again and this time I lost contact with him via email. A while ago, I promised him the next time the valley was socked in with clouds I would hike up the mountain and snap some pictures for him. Well, these pics are not that stunning because the sunshine at the top was missing, but none the less, these are beautiful and I wanted to share them with all of you. 

I am hoping that Lon will stop by and see these pics and know that today, as in many times, I was thinking of him and praying for him. This walk was taken with Lon in mind and I hope he sees these pictures. 

Jeremiah 10:12-13 NIV

But God made the earth by his power;

    he founded the world by his wisdom

    and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;

    he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.

He sends lightning with the rain

    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Blessings,

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Baby Joy updated

Updated: Last night as David and I sat by Joy's bed, struggling with the idea of letting our daughter go, GOD HAD BIGGER PLANS! He gave Joy's doctor a dream explaining what was wrong with her heart. Today, instead of struggling to say goodbye, we received news that Joy has an issue that CAN BE CORRECTED! She will be having her second heart surgery in the morning, and every minute is a gift, but HOW AWESOME IS OUR GOD? He is hearing our prayers! We Are Blessed!!!

Baby Joy was born on October 2 2012 with a serious heart condition. I just found her Facebook page, Joy's Journal, yesterday and the call for prayer was urgent as the doctors were preparing to remove her from life support this morning. Here is a miracle report from her page:


Joy’s miracle story: Emphasis are mine

...Miracle #1. When Joy was born the hospital in GA performed a heart cath. They took pictures for more than 3 hours. They told us she had no pulmonary arteries, at all. What those doctors did not tell us was that she would be considered lucky to last a year and surgery would have likely not worked. Instead they sent us home and told us to follow up with a cardiologist. When we had our emergency almost two weeks ago, I told the ER cardiologist here at Children’s what her cath had showed. He frowned and then recommended a CT/angiogram test to see what showed up. THEY FOUND PULMONARY ARTERIES! They recommended a surgery to put in a shunt (which would need to be replaced as she grew) to connect the arteries to her heart and a patch to make the blood flow a little better through them. Due to her oxygen levels they went ahead with surgery this past Thursday. While coming off bypass did not go as planned we did get notice of a real surprise to everyone….HER PULMONARY ARTERIES WERE ALREADY CONNECTED TO HER HEART!! There is no need for a shunt which means a LOT fewer heart surgeries!! Now the doctors have said that while is not unheard of these structures being missed in a cath, her CT very clearly shows a space between the arteries and the heart. I claim MIRACLE! God grew those vessels in response to prayer and he placed it into her heart! 
Miracle #2. While Joy’s surgery went better than expected, coming off bypass proved very difficult for her. She had two heart attacks when they tried to remove the bypass machine. Due to the trauma of the heart attacks and the extended bypass, her lungs collapsed. The doctors worked for two days before being able to get them even a little inflated. When they finally did, the doctors explained her lungs were so sick that she would be on a special ventilator (an oscillator) for at least a week before moving back to the regular vent. Well, ladies and gentlemen, she moved back to a regular vent last night! It only took her 24 hours to recover! God climbed down in her lungs and healed her!
God is working right here in Room 420. He is working in the lives of the staff and in our hearts as well. We are so very blessed to have each and every one of you as part of our lives. Our Joy is PROOF that God is listening AND acting. Joy is still seriously critical and all of this could change in an instant, but we KNOW that God is working and using our daughter for such an incredible testimony. We are thankful and We are blessed!

As of last night Joy has been critical and the doctors were planning on taking her off of life support this morning BUT they noticed something...

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!!! They are NOT taking her off today! They think it may be a valve issue! We are going to heart cath to see! This is very risky, and we could still lose her at any minute, BUT GOD IS HERE!!! Please keep praying, we need miracle number 3!

Please join with me in prayer for Joy, for miracle number 3 and a completely healthy, restored baby girl. God is good! Press in with me. :)

Mark 11:22-24 NIV
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

We believe Lord God, we believe! Praying and praising!
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Peace

John 16:33 NIV

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Peace. Just the sound of that word feels so good. True peace can only be found in Jesus Christ and a relationship with Him. Are you down today? Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Take heart! Jesus has already overcome what you are going through just look to Him and He will give you peace!

I'm linking up with Barbie for Fresh Brewed Sunday.

Blessings,

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John ThreeSixteen

John ThreeSixteen; JT

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

JT is a blogger friend who in the past couple years has become very dear to my heart. His posts are always so deep and profound and I found myself always eager to read what he has to say.

On September 26, JT put up a post about some health issues he was having. JT is fighting cancer...I have a tumor on the part of my brain that controls vision.  I also have several other tumors in my brain.  I have a cancerous mass on my lung and another tumor in my back.  I also have several tumors in my lymph nodes. Taken from JT's post A Personal Note

JT has such an amazing love and faith in God. The knowledge and wisdom he has comes through in all of his posts. His life glorifies God and I just know God is very proud of him.

Please pray for JT and his wife. They have no surviving family and no children but I know they have the love and support of God who is walking through this with them.

Please pray for my recovery and pray for my wife.  She is devastated.  We have no children.  We have outlived the other members of our family.  If God calls me home she will not be alone.  God will be by her side.  Thank you for your prayers. Taken from JT's post A Personal Note

Father, my God. You alone deserve to be worshiped. You are magnificent and awesome. I honour and adore You. I truly want to thank you for creating JT. He has blessed be so much and I have learned a lot from reading his blog posts. I thank You Lord for bringing JT into my online life. Lord, Healer, You know JT's heart and his love for you. You know how he desires to be healed here on earth. Father, I stand in the gap for my brother and ask You to have Your healing hand upon him and remove this cancer from his body. I ask that You say the word for healing in JT. I ask Lord, that the cells in JT's body will only produce good healthy cells and that the cancerous ones will be stopped and put into reverse and become healthy again. I rebuke cancer in the name of Jesus. Thank you Lord for walking beside JT and his wife. Lord I ask that Your presence is tangible and that Your hedge of protection is around this beautiful couple. Bless JT's wife Lord and give her comfort and peace. Wrap her in Your arms and hold her tight. Thank You Father for listening. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ my Saviour amen.

Please join your heart with mine in intercession for this dear brother of ours. Thank you!

Jeremiah 33:6 NKJV

'Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth."

Blessings,
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SBS: Shaken Baby Syndrome

Psalm 127:3-5 NIV

Children are a heritage from the Lord,
    offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
    are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
    whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
    when they contend with their opponents in court.


SBS: Shaken Baby Syndrome

Have you heard of this? I really have not heard of this before. I do remember my mom warning me to be very careful with my babies heads and to make sure I didn't do any quick and jerky motions or I could hurt them. I really didn't know there was a syndrome, one that is very deadly to babies and that this sort of thing happens ALL of the time.

Please meet Cheyenne Ray. Isn't she adorable?! 

Cheyenne is a victim of SBS. She was left in her father's care for less than 1 hour when he lost his temper and shook her because she wouldn't stop crying. This happened in August and today, by the grace of God, Cheyenne is alive and thriving. She has suffered for this as the shaking fractured part of her skull and she had a massive bleed in her brain which is causing developmental issues and issues with her eyes. The doctors said if she survived she would be a vegetable but her mother, Amy, would not even here this and took this to God and asked Him to heal Cheyenne. Our mighty, awesome God heard and answered this prayer.

Cheyenne is a fighter and has an amazing mom who is fighting for her daughter. Please pray for Cheyenne as she has a long recovery road ahead of her. She will be having surgery on Monday as there is still bleeding behind her eyes and part of her skull needs to be put back into place.

You can follow her story on Facebook which is kept up to date regularly or on her blog page Prayers For Cheyenne. 

We need to spread the awareness of SBS. I had no idea that this happened and the fact that it happens often is unbelievable. Just about one month after finding out about Cheyenne, her mom Amy posted about another baby who was shaken by her mom but the outcome was not good at all. The baby died and the mom was imprisoned and charged. This is pretty serious stuff and I think people just don't realize how much serious and irreversible damage can be done.

Cheyenne is very blessed. Please pray that she will recover 100% and this up coming surgery is smooth. Pray that people become aware and will walk out of the room and cool down before shaking their child.

Malachi 4:2 NIV
But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.

Blessings
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Humble, Gentle & Patient

I would like to share a prayer request with you. Mary sent this in and gave me permission to share it. Please join your heart with mine and pray for Mary, that God would fill her with an over abounding amount of grace, love and peace for dealing with her mother.

Please pray for Mary, who has a fraught relationship with a narcissistic elderly mother, yet who continues to visit and pour out love. Mary needs a download of grace to be able to continue. The criticism she is always subjected to has been taking a toll on physical and mental health. Mary is in need of a breakthrough: The Lord makes ALL things beautiful in His time- is the desire of her heart

Psalm 19:14  NIV

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart

    be pleasing in your sight,

    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 37:3-4 NIV

Trust in the Lord and do good;

    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Take delight in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Ephesians 4:2-3 NIV

 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

I'm praying for you Mary, keep walking in the direction the Lord has laid on you. Blessings sister.

Blessings,
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A Father's Plea

Joey Keller is fighting multiple relapse medulloblastoma, brain cancer. Joey is 9 years old and right now is in the hospital suffering from low sodium in his brain and the doctors are fending off seizures. Joey is in need of our prayers.

His father, Nickolas and his mother Elizabeth, put together a video in hopes of seeking prayer warriors to battle for their son. This family is trusting God to heal their son and their faith is so strong in the Lord, it is a beautiful thing to witness. Right now, though, they are very weary and are in need of prayer support.

Here is the video named Team Joey-A Father's plea. It is touching and full of faith. Please, if you have a moment, watch this video and pray for healing.




Mark 11:22-24 NIV
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

Praying and praying for you Joey! Keep on fighting son and never give up hope.

Blessings,
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Written for our Learning

Romans 15:4-5 NKJV

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus. 

God has really been speaking to me about watching and waiting. Scripture is being opened to me and the promises of God are jumping off the page at me. 

My heart has been so heavy for the sick. The physically sick and the spiritually sick and I find myself in intercession most of the day as God lays their precious faces on my mind. This is not an easy battle for Satan does not want me here and he has been attacking, but God keeps showing me that He is Sovereign and His Word is true I just need to believe and trust in Him that He's got this. 

As I stand under the attack of the evil one I know my Lord is defending me, so I fight with the armour of God on and look on the people around me with the love and patience God has for me. 

I'm linking up with Barbie for Fresh Brewed Sundays

Blessings,

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Watching and Waiting

Our Daily Bread has some amazing devotionals and today's devotional really spoke to me and I just wanted to share it with you. 

Watching and Waiting

Isaiah 18:4 NIV

This is what the Lord says to me:

    “I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place,

like shimmering heat in the sunshine,

    like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

In Isaiah 18, it appears that the whole world is set to battle God’s people. Yet what is the response of the Almighty One? “I will take My rest, and I will look from My dwelling place” (v.4). His stillness may appear to have been an acceptance of the conspiracy against them. But it wasn’t. God’s response was His reminder that He acts in His timing—at just the right time according to His will.

I think of Jesus waiting 4 days while Lazarus lay in the grave (John 11:39). Was He unaware? Did He not care? Of course He cared! He was waiting for the right time to act and to teach the lessons He wanted to teach.

The Bible records God’s “delays,” many of which seem at the time to be inexplicable from our point of view. Yet every delay flows from the depths of His wisdom and love. If nothing else, delay, if we accept it, can produce the quieter virtues—humility, patience, endurance, and persistence—qualities that are often the last to be learned.

Are you in distress? Does the Lord seem distant and detached? He is not indifferent to your plight, nor is He unmoved by your pleas. He is waiting while His purposes are achieved. Then, at the right moment, He will intercede. God is never in a hurry, but He is always on time.

Turn not aside, discouraged one;

Stir up your gift, pursue your goal;

In God’s own time you’ll see Him work;

He’ll give you hope and lift your soul. —D. DeHaan

God is worth waiting for; His time is always best.

Blessings,

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Lord, Our Lord

Psalm 8:1 NIV

Lord, our Lord,

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Emily: has been doing really well. Her scans came back stable. Emily is fighting Neuroblastoma and is on a new trial treatment that she was approved for.

Right now Emily has just received her last day of round 1 antibodies. Please pray for no fever and a quick recovery.

Emily is one tough, fighting girl who has been battling this disease for 2 years! That is almost half of her life as she is only 5 years old.











NEW Hannah: is another 5 year old battling cancer. I don't have permission to post her picture, but you can check out her blog by clicking on her name.

Right now Hannah is having another round of chemo therapy and it is not going well. She is having a reaction to the medicine and needs your prayers. She has been admitted to isolation until this is under control.

Ian: Is undergoing another round of chemo and is having a drop is blood cell counts. Last month he had a scare as the scan results were questionable and will be having scans again soon to see what is going on. Please pray for no infection and for clean scan results.

Jordan: Is a 15 year old boy suffering from bone cancer. He options grew very slim and his parents and him opted to not have his leg amputated because the chances that the caner would be stopped were very slim. Right now Jordan is undergoing radiation and is being covered in prayer 24/7 by prayer warriors all over the world.

Jordan has a amazing amount of faith and really loves God with his whole heart. Please pray for this cancer to be gone and for the pain in his legs and back to leave.

Psalm 103:1-5 NIV

Praise the Lord, my soul;

    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits—

who forgives all your sins

    and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit

    and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Thank you for your prayers! God's children were told to pray about everything and to not stop praying.

Blessings,
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Waiting on the LORD

Psalm 27:13-14 NIV

I remain confident of this:

 I will see the goodness of the Lord

    in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord;

    be strong and take heart

    and wait for the Lord.

I'm waiting on You LORD. Waiting for You to say the word that will heal the sick, restore the broken heart and save souls for Your Kingdom and glory. 

I'm waiting on You LORD. Waiting for Your peace to come and reign on this earth. For sin to be gone forever. For Your glory to shine always. 

I'm waiting on You LORD. Waiting for Your presence to lift out of despair those who are heavy with depression and loss.

I'm waiting on You LORD. Waiting for the rejoicing of reuniting with loved ones who have gone to be with You. 

I'm waiting on You LORD. Waiting to behold Your precious face and to hear the words, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

I'm waiting on You LORD, just waiting. 

Blessings,

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Baby Easton: warning graphic pictures

Philippians 2:9-11 NIV

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

    and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

Easton was born August 23 2012 with the nasty disease Epidermolysis Bullosa  EB attacks the skin on the outside and inside of the body. This little boy was born with a big portion of his skin missing. :( My heart just breaks for the amount of pain this little fellow suffers every single day. The agony his mom and dad go through watching their son scream in pain and there is not much they can do for him but manage the pain the best they can.

Right now, Easton is fighting infection and there is a big chance he has a bone infection as well. Please pray for this little boy, who even in amongst all of this pain he still can manage to smile and melt the hearts of so many people all over the world.

Easton is now developing blood blisters which require cleaning and bandage change every day instead of the normal every second day. This bandage changing is very painful for Easton as these sores are like a 2 nd or 3 rd degree burn and exposure to air is excruciating.

Easton, is the worse case the doctors have seen and they are doing everything they can to help this baby and his family. Please be in prayer for them. As God has led me to pray, He has opened my eyes to many, many more children who suffer from EB. I had no idea!!

Awareness brings about research and a cure. Let's be aware and speak up for these children who are suffering so much. You can read more about EB at the DEBRA site.

Ben

I am also praying for Ben, Ian and Charlie.

Ian

Ian

Charlie

Charlie

Thank you to all of you for praying and caring. I know these Facebook pages ask for money and prayer. I believe prayer is the most important of all. If you are not able or just not led into donating money that is fine. What is needed most is prayer. Prayer for healing. Prayer for mercy. Prayer for those who are able to donate to channel their money into these organizations that will support research for a cure.

Psalm 41:1-3 NIV

Blessed are those who have regard for the weak;

    the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.

The Lord protects and preserves them—

    they are counted among the blessed in the land—

    he does not give them over to the desire of their foes.

The Lord sustains them on their sickbed

    and restores them from their bed of illness.

Blessings,
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CPR Ezra 8:23 Re-Opening :)

Matthew 7:7 NIV

”Ask, and it will be given to you seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

Hello my blogger friends!! Oh how I have missed this part of my ministry so much! But, God has not let me rest at all! No, way! He has increased my ministry and I do believe I am a bit overwhelmed with all the prayer needs of sick children, it saddens my heart so much. It will take me a while to update the prayer page. God has led me into a prayer ministry on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr for which I will put up links if you are interested in following along there as well. As you can see I am giving this blog a bit of a make over, something fresh and new for the new things God is doing in this ministry. 

To fill you all in a bit, there hasn't been a resolve to the problem I am dealing with but that is okay because I am at peace with it. I have spent a lot of time praying and fasting and just really seeking God. I want to thank you for praying for me. I have been flooded with online love from so many of you. It is nice to know this ministry blog has touched your heart. Thank you for telling me how much you want me to keep this blog going. I have been so blessed by many encouraging emails and facebook messages. Thank you so much. 

Really, I just want to thank you all for caring and praying, I have been so blessed. 

2 Samuel 2:6 NIV

May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this.

God Bless,

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