Category Archives: Disease

Healed?

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For the last month I’ve loved blogging about my favorite sister, Mary. But I know she feels funny having so much attention focused her way. But my idea, as well as hers, has been to update readers on her progress while simultaneously directing attention to the Lord, who has been dramatically present each day.

Several blog readers have made mention of beautiful St. Mary’s Hospital where Mary had her surgery (owned by Mayo Clinic), some having visited there themselves, and one having trained as a nurse there.

photo(120)Just before surgery, Mary, Luke, and Stina took a brief walk around the historied hospital and ended up standing in the cathedral-like chapel, being reminded that God the Healer was at work within that medical complex.

Hospitals are full of doctors, nurses, medicines, and all manner of healing equipment. But behind all of those is the control of the Great Physician. And he doesn’t just deal in physical healing but also that of the emotions, mind, spirit, and most importantly, the soul.

One blog reader, Ann, wrote, “I loved… the chapel within the hospital. It was always a picture to me that God is at the center of real healing.”

I think of all the healing Jesus did in scriptural stories, and it seems that nearly everyone who asked was healed. People followed him in a pack, carrying the injured and ill along with them, confident that Jesus would heal them all. And usually he did.

In Luke we read, “The people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.” (6:19) So, why doesn’t he usually heal like that these days?

Healing 10 lepersThe only answer can be that he wants to use disease and accidents as teaching venues for healing in other categories. Maybe if our diseases were always healed outright, we’d walk away giddy with joy and forget to acknowledge or listen to the One who healed.

A biblical example of that shows 10 lepers racing off in their new, healthy bodies without acknowledging Jesus at all. Though one did come back, the majority didn’t. Maybe without our health struggles, we’d all be like that.

Mary doesn’t know what will happen in her earthly future, whether or not pancreatic cancer will revisit her, or if she’ll be healed. “There are no guarantees,” she said. But either way, her illness has driven her to the Lord with fresh eagerness to hear from him. Scripture has been her food, and she has gobbled up big helpings of it like never before.

Mary does have a guarantee about one thing in her future though. Her heavenly body, whenever it comes to her, will be miraculously healed, and that will include her heart, mind, and soul, too, because God will be the Healer who does it.

“I am God your healer.” (Exodus 15:26)

Mary’s prayer requests:

  1. Praise for gaining expertise with equipment and less dependence on pain meds.
  2. For a profitable visit with Dr. Truty Wednesday afternoon
  3. To find a comfortable position for better nighttime sleep

The Kindness of Strangers

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Whenever I talk to Mary (still in Rochester, MN), one of the things she inevitably mentions is the thoughtfulness of strangers. She can’t understand why people who’ve never met her might be interested in her situation, much less offer to pray for her.

Many of you blog readers are in the group she’s marveling over, and one of you, a woman neither Mary nor I have ever met, did something truly special last week.

Prayer shawl.In the days before surgery, someone named Rachel asked (through this blog) if Mary owned a prayer shawl. Though I’d heard of prayer shawls, I had the misconception only priests or rabbis wore them, and only in a church or temple.

My second misunderstanding was that prayer shawls were all about prayers prayed while the shawl was being worn, but Rachel straightened me out: “While a prayer shawl is being made,” she wrote, “prayers are being said for the recipient.” And here was a stranger wanting to make something beautiful for Mary, with prayer in every stitch. Astonishing.

Prayer shawlsRachel said, “The shawl can be used in any way someone would use a shawl, as a wrap, as a covering when resting, or just to touch while it rests beside you.”

I called Mary, and it didn’t take 2 seconds to say “yes”. For some- one who believes wholeheartedly in the power of prayer, such a gift was of grand proportions.

As God would have it, the shawl (of Mary’s favorite color) arrived in my mailbox the day before I drove to Mayo Clinic. The evening before surgery, Mary and the rest of us went out to dinner, Mary’s last food-by-mouth for many weeks (due to her feeding tube). Over coffee and dessert she opened the box.

Prayer shawlOnce again she was stunned by the kindness of a stranger. As it turns out, Rachel has made prayer shawls for many: she became a widow shortly before I did and wrote, “My husband was a great part of this ministry. He might come home from the dog park, the grocery store, or the community center and tell me about someone who was dealing with something in their life he thought would be made easier if they had a prayer shawl.” And Rachel would get to work.

Her selfless act for stranger-Mary moved us all, challenging us to watch for strangers in our own lives who might need encouraging. We never know when that person might be a messenger from God, because with him, anything is possible.

IMG_0605Rachel closed her email with, “I’m honored for the opportunity to make this shawl for Mary.” And now she is a stranger-no-more.

“Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:1-2)

 

Mary’s prayer requests:

  1. Praise for grown “kids” taking time off work and driving far distances to spend time with Mary and Bervin
  2. Praise for God’s provision of co-workers in Mary’s ministry work at home, who have picked up the slack for her since February 15
  3. For relief from rumbling gas pain in her abdomen
  4. For steady weight gain, despite only relying on the feeding tube for nutrition

Not Mary!

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Hotel roomMary and Bervin spent last week living in a hospital room at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Then over the weekend she graduated, making a move to a hotel across the street, walking over there on her own steam.

Throughout the week Mary pushed herself in every category. When nurses asked her to take 4 hall-walks a day, she took 6. When they asked her to get out of bed and sit in a chair a couple of times, she did it many. When she felt loopy from pain meds, she asked that they be decreased. Despite several set-backs, especially with nausea, she beat the surgeon’s prediction that she’d be in the hospital at least a week. Not Mary!

Most of us quickly seek the path of least resistance, because it’s the easiest way to go. Our natural bent is to find comfort, especially in the case of physical pain. But then there are those special people who quietly set comfort aside and take wise action instead, acknowledging that comfort and wisdom don’t always go hand-in-hand.

Fanny MayFor example, Mary loves chocolate. Good chocolate, like Fanny May. She says, “I’m familiar with each piece in the box. The curly-cues on top identify the filling inside, and I know them all.” Yet she wouldn’t dream of eating one after another. Not Mary!

Last week when several of us were in her room at Mayo’s, the Pain Management Team swept in, 3 doctors in white lab coats armed with clipboards and expertise. With knitted brows they studied the numbers on the IV and epidural screens, amazed at the low doses.

“You’re getting only minimal doses,” they said. “Would you like to increase them?” Not Mary! Her pain level was already manageable, a result of not medicating herself through the years.

How does a person get like that? Mary wasn’t always. She and I did some crazy things as teens and twenties, but the difference came in that she was quick to learn from her mistakes and their consequences, while I had to make them repeatedly to gain the same ground.

Mary often mentions dad’s example of being moderate in all things (except moderation, which was an always-thing). When she talks about him as a role model she’d like to emulate, I remind her she’s been doing it for years.

And now, with the raw discovery of pancreatic cancer and the massive surgery following it, her wise way of living has come in handy. She didn’t need high drug doses and felt stronger quicker than expected, even escaping her hospital room sooner.

In the hotelShe and Bervin will stay at the hotel near the hospital for a week or so. They’ll learn to manage her temporary feeding tube (batteries and bags of formula), making sure she’s close to professional help if needed.

May her speedy recovery continue!

“Wise choices will watch over you.” (Proverbs 2:11)

Mary’s prayer requests:

  1. Praise for Bervin’s exceptional care, love, and closeness
  2. Praise for the abundant “milk of human kindness” from so many
  3. For Mary’s patience while her “insides” heal
  4. To get the knack of managing the feeding tube