Answered Prayers

Greetings in the Name of the Lord

Much time has gone by since I last wrote anything. SInce that time many hard and hurtful events as well as many blessings have occurred in our lives. Don was diagnosed in Feb with Carcinoma of the right tonsil. We had returned to the US for tests and this was the outcome of those tests. Now 6 months later he has had surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Also he has had to have 7 teeth pulled to prepare for the radiation and he developed bilateral cataracts. All from the chemo. So he has had both of them removed and can once again see. He had a very hard time with the side effects of the chemo and radiation. He lost weight, developed a terrible rash much like a severe sunburn combined with chicken pox. He got a yeast infection in his mouth and many blisters there also. Swallowing became hard and he became limited at times to yogurt and smoothies. But that was some of the bad stuff. The blessings have been incredible... We had our church here provide us with a home for 2 months and it came stocked with every thing we needed. It became our refuge and haven. Then our friend gave us her home while she was in Zambia and when her family came for the beginning of school another brother and sister in the Body of Christ offered us a place with them. Beyond counting the body of Christ has piled the blessings on us. Car to drive, food, money for expenses and especially prayers. Prayers like you couldn't imagine. Notes, calls and visits all gave us such hope and comfort. Also time for me to have alone and in places of creative beauty so I could have time alone with God. It has been such a healing time for us both. At first when all of this happened we wondered about our purpose at Namwianga since we had to leave for a long time. We had to be reminded that trails come from Satan and he isn't in charge but God is. If the apostle Paul was always in God's will for his life and still he had unbelievable hardships, how much more should we trust that even in the midst of these hard scary times we were still in God's will and now it seems as if we will be able to return to our work for God in Zambia. How precious is the love of God and how grateful we are for his gift of work to us. So now we plan on visiting family and recovering from the treatment and then around the first of October returning to Zambia. One of the thougts I received in this time says it best" Prayer is not getting what we ask for, rather it is being changed in ways that are unimaginable" Kathleen Norris. So this time we pray is God's way of changing us in ways we cannot even imagine.
Don and Laura