Fighting with Faith.....

You know when you get ready to go through a tunnel,and the old saying is "hold your breath until you come out". Well you hold your breath and you cant wait to see the light knowing the end is almost there and you can let your breath out.....Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is always comforting


Sometimes in our life we don't always see the light at the end, we feel like we are stuck in the middle of that tunnel and can't get out .  But in the midst of being in the middle we have the hope that we will get out and be able to breath again. 

As everyone knows I was diagnosed February 17, 2014 with cancer. It was a huge shock to Chad and I, we just thought it was a cyst on my knee and since they couldn't drain it, they would remove it.  But God had other plans and it is a very rare sarcoma cancer. Last week seems like a huge blur, the doctor tried to do a biopsy in the room and it didn't work , so we had to go back the 20th and do an open biopsy. So we went back and a very dear friend and sister to me drove us so we could just relax , and they did the surgery, and he had to remove 80 % of the tumor because it started to grow out of my skin. They told me to come back Monday March 3 for the results. They said if its the sarcoma they think it is then it will be 3 months of chemo and 3 months resting then 6 months recovery, so they said give them a year and i'll be good as new.  

I'm still believing and praying the biopsy comes back and the doctors say "Wow we dont know how to explain this but its not cancer" and if God choose for it to still be cancer then there is a reason. Last Monday I asked the doctor what caused it, and he said bad luck. So I don't believe in bad luck .....I believe that God has allowed this to happen for a reason and everyone is going to see His hand and work in this, and He will get the glory. 

It has been a tough week and I have had some sad moments, but we can feel everyone's prayer and love, that's what is getting us through. We were able to go in for the weekend to see our parents and family, we both needed that as well as they did. God gave me the strength to have fun, laugh and even cry with our family. My knee is still sore, but as time goes it gets better. 

I cant ask God right now " Why  Me?" because Chad and I have already seen Him in our youth, family,friends and us. So I don't want to ask because we are all growing in Christ and becoming stronger . There are so many songs that are helping me and getting me through this. I am trusting and believing that what ever happens and what ever we go through God has us and He isn't letting us go. One song that says everything we are praying for is  'You Can Trust Our God', by love and the outcome. We can trust our God , He knows what He is doing, it might hurt now but we won't be ruined. I won't be ruined from this, Ill be stronger and ill be a different and better person from this . I'm already learning through this and knowing we have everyone's love, and prayers it just absolutely amazing . Words can never explain how much Chad and I are so grateful to have yall's love. Thank you for the women who have reached out to me that has gone through this or a family member that has gone through it. Your encouraging words are very uplifting and thank you for thinking of me.  

To end on a very happy note.....last night we picked up our kids for Aftershock and I walked into our room called The Well and all of our sweet kids made posters and hung up, and cut out different shapes with different encouraging sayings on them and hung them from the ceiling. They also printed out my motto: Fighting with Faith and put it on a huge cross that we have in our room, then the cherry on top of the ice cream one of our sweet youths, she did an interpretive dance to Casting Crown Who am I... Wow I am so loved, and very honored that God chose us to be their youth leaders and for me to be their big sister! 

Again everything that keeps coming up in devotions .. Songs...sermons and out of peoples mouth is Be Still and Know.... So that's what I am hanging on to and knowing in the end He wins and Ill be back to normal. Just what ever your going through I know it might hurt or seem so hard, or you think your in the middle of that tunnel but don't give up , He is pushing you through and know you will come out even stronger , and as Mandisa says "You will be an over comer"

Thank you again for praying, emails, love, text, phone calls and just thinking about us. Because when we are sad that's what uplifts us 

" Be strong and courageous . Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you" Deuteronomy 31:6

  

God almost killed ME.................

As I sit and think about the last three years and how God has used me and actually healed me I'm just so thankful. Maybe you also are struggling with a health issue that you don't understand. Read On ........Maybe I can help.

 I'm a missionary in Eastern KY and my husband Chad and I have been here for 7 years. We were both called by God to KY and move from White House TN , at the time we were just friends. Chad moved up in September 2006 and we started dating while I was still In Tn. We prayed for God's will and that Christmas he asked me to marry him. I was so excited because through prayer and listening to God I knew that's the one he created me to be with. We got married in October 2007 and I moved up and we started our ministry together. It was a huge adjustment , we go to both having jobs, I was a hairstylist to living Faith-based, where we just depend on God to give us what He wants us to have when He knows we need it.

Through the next few years I start getting sick and have no idea what is going on. I have mood swings, I gained a lot of weight , I was having migraines and constantly sick. Until one day when God wanted it to be revealed what was going on. In Feb 2010 I got so sick that I couldn't stay out of the bathroom. I kept migraines and I could feel the pressure in my head. We went to GA the first of march for a GIC missionary conference and then it all happened. My eye crossed and I started to see double I was so sick, there was a dr there, he got me so meds and the rest of the week was hard. We had to share what God was doing in our lives and our ministry which is building a youth camp. I had to be obedient and still believe He had me and was going to get me through it. So we got home I saw a dr and he took ct scans and everything was fine but told me to see a ophthalmologist  .  In 3 seconds after her looked in my eye he saw it, a pseudo-tumor in my cerebral brain! I have never heard that and I instantly heard tumor and that was it, I was scared. But he went on telling me my body thinks I have a brain tumor and that's why I have been so sick. I saw this dr four months prior to get glasses and he didn't see it, so that's how quick it developed. When i got home that day, I went out on to our porch and cried out to God I was angry because I moved 5 hrs away from family gave it all up for His work and now I'm sick. He instantly said " that's not your body but mine, Galatians 2:20 says I no longer live but you live in me, and your mine" WOW, He gave me that so I would have the peace that everything is going to be ok! And I felt the peace the whole time. I went months not hearing from Him but felt Him and I knew He was teaching me things. I learned a lot about myself, a lot of things I had to change! It was a God thing, you will see that shortly! 

So I started going to UK hospital to get spinal tabs and seeing a neuro dr twice a month for 10 months. The pressure got so bad they kept warning me I could wake up blind. My eye went back to normal 6 weeks later and they kept me on high dosages of meds. I was loosing eyesight and I couldn't go anywhere I was so sick. Through the next few months they talked to me about the next steps and how I should prepare myself. In sept 2010, I had to have eye surgery because I was loosing my eyesight and they wanted to stop it. It was very painful and....... It didn't work. So the next few months they kept saying you need to get a shunt put in, and I was so scared of that. The last few months I knew it was all God and I had peace but not about the shunt. In Nov they said its time to get the shunt my pressure is bad and you need to come in two weeks to do it. Well that would be in Dec

And I love Christmas so I said I'll pray about it. We had so many people praying for us over us these last few months, and we were all seeking Gods will.
 

The exact week I was suppose to go and get the shunt my daddy called and said there is a chiropractor in our home town and he wants to look at me before I do the surgery. Well I've never been to a chiropractor and I thought he cant help me. Chad and I prayed and I made an appt for dec 20 when we went in for Christmas.   Chad and I prayed before I went in and as we walked in the door they were playing Christian music, I instantly had peace. When the drs at UK hospital told me to get the shunt I didn't have peace at all, but with this I did. He prayed over us and gave it to God before he started working on me . He worked on me for 5 hrs and I went one hr with no migraine ! God is amazing. So I saw him the two weeks we when in TN for Christmas and for the next two months. We would go in every two weeks, I was getting better no migraines, I came off all my meds, and the chiropractor prescribed natural supplements and God was healing me! But there was still something going on so my chiropractor found another chiropractor closer to us and he specialized in women's health. 

I met with this new chiropractor August 2011 and he did a muscle test on me and found out I'm allergic to gluten, I have Celiacs.  I started seeing him once a week every week for 6 weeks then every other week for 12 weeks. Now I am up to every 3 months. I've been gluten free for 2 years and I feel like my old self again. I've lost 62 pounds no more headaches and I'm healed! So if God didn't allow me to get sick with the pseudo-tumor I would have never found out I'm allergic to gluten. And that's what caused the pseudo-tumor, I've had celiac my whole life and didn't know it. I was diagnosed at 17 with IBS but drs didn't know much about gluten then. This was Gods plan all along. He had to take me through it all to get me out on the other side and now I'm so much healthy. 

Sometimes we don't understand why things happen, but God always knows the end results and He knows what's best for us. I'm totally blessed and would do it all over again. I've learned so much about the healthy way to eat we are going to incorporate that into our youth camps. I've grown closer to God, and I've seen Him work in ways I can't even explain! He is the great Healer!