Can you believe?

Last night I found out that the baby we've been praying for, A.N. has been diagnosed with a rare vascular disease called Kasabach Merritt phenomenon which stems from the type of tumor she has which is called Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma. She started chemotherapy yesterday in order to shrink the tumor. She will receive treatments for probably two years.
     My first reaction, of course, was, why? Why Lord? But then I quickly remembered He is He and I am just me and can't possibly know what plans He has for this little girl. Maybe, since this is such a rare disease, He will use her medical team to make medical advances for this disease. Maybe He'll use the baby's family to advocate for the disease and bring public awareness to it. We don't know. It's not our job or our purpose to know.
     From what I read, this is a benign tumor so I imagine the chemo is used to shrink the mass so it can be removed. We need to pray for her and her parents and grandparents to get them through this process.
     Her family wrote: "We are very overwhelmed and not sure what to think but we are trusting God's plan and know He will provide for us."
So, please keep praying. Pray without ceasing.

Continued prayers for our brothers and sisters in Christ:
D.D. who is having double or triple bypass surgery this Tuesday or Wednesday
D.A. who has leukemia
B.F. who is dying from cancer
S.S. who has pancreatic cancer
M.W. who has a lung or respiratory disease
T.H. who has stage 4 cancer
G.&P.T. a couple with multiple health concerns
A.N. a newborn with a possible vascular tumor in her hand. She's having an MRI done Wednesday morning. Please pray that the doctors figure out what's wrong and that it's not life-threatening.
S.S. suffers from chronic pain due to CRPS and damaged nerves
J.F. heart condition in hospice
D.I. diagnosed stage 4 prostate cancer, great pain
C.T. seeing the surgeon Tuesday, 3 more chemos before surgery
P.B. a friend of hers, Dad is sick
H.C. chronically ill
W.C. severe diabetes
B.K. no more bone or tissue degeneration from rheumatoid arthritis.
M.H. immense knee pain from surgery and is having surgery on left knee 1/24/20
G.H. - suffers from the after-effects of a stroke
D.H. breast cancer and is not doing well
L.P. blood pressure problems

Send me anyone you would like for us to pray for this week to archadia7@yahoo.com and put in the subject line Prayer Request.

Remember to pray with your whole heart and believe that God will heal these people!

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Mark 9:23 NKJV

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Please join me this week in praying for healing for these brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering from disease or illness. Pray boldly and with your whole heart, knowing that whatever we ask for and do not doubt, God will do.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Why Christianity? Part 2

Why Christianity?
#2 Because we can see Jesus working in our daily lives.
Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child, is a charity that our church supports. Every year the congregation donates items for the boxes: pens, pencils, crayons, paper, glue, small toys, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, socks, etc. Then, in November, the children of the church pack all of the items into individual boxes that are then sent off to children somewhere in the world; we don't know where our specific boxes go until sometime in December. One year, they were sent to Madagascar, which I thought was really neat. We receive many wonderful letters from children who have received the boxes telling us of their joy and the impact this has had on their lives.
I hope you'll enjoy this video. One of my favorite lines from this is that these boxes allow the children "to experience God in tangible ways."

Please check out Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child, and consider making a donation.

Bible Verse Isaiah 40:6-8

I wanted to share these verses to emphasize that nothing in this world is certain; material things won't do you a bit of good after you die, but one thing is certain, and steadfast, and true...that is God's love for you. He is always, always there for me. He answers every single prayer. It may not be the answer I want, and it may not be within the time frame that I want it, but He always, always answers.

"...The voice said, "Cry out!"

And he said, "What shall I cry?"

All flesh is grass,

And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades,

Because the breath of the LORD

blows upon it;

Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands

     forever."

Isaiah 40:6-8 NKJV



John MacArthur* wrote of this:
"Isaiah elaborated on how transitory humanity is: here today, gone tomorrow. People pass away like plants under the hot breath of the withering E wind. James used this illustration to teach the folly of trusting in material wealth (James 1:10,11). Peter used it to illustrate the passing nature of everything related to humanity (1 Pet. 1:24, 25).

*MacArthur, J. (1997).  The MacArthur study bible, NKJV. Thomas Nelson.
Visit Grace To You to hear sermons by John MacArthur.
(I highly recommend this bible. It has been an invaluable asset in my bible studies.)

Why Christianity? Part 1

I received a writing challenge last weekend to retell a story from the Bible, in my own words, to emphasize what is important about it to me, and what I would want to tell someone else who had never heard of the Bible story. It occurred to me, that this would be a great idea for other aspects of the Bible, as well, and could also incorporate my testimony. So,...

Why Christianity?
#1     Because, Jesus loves you.
When I was a child, I went to Sunday School almost every Sunday. We would sing, "Jesus Loves Me" almost every Sunday. There was never any doubt in my mind that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. There was no reason to ever question if I had faith in Him because I just took it as fact what the Bible said, that He loved me, that He died on the cross to pay for my sins, that He promised me eternal life in Heaven, and that one day, I would be with Him, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit forever.

I feel so blessed to have been taught these basic truths, and want to share them.

Jesus loves me! This I know, 

For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to Him belong,

They are weak but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He who died,

Heaven's gate to open wide;

He will wash away my sin,

Let His little child come in.

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! loves me still,

When I'm very weak and ill;

From His shining throne on high,

Comes to watch me where I lie.

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He will stay,

Close beside me all the way;

He's prepared a home for me,

And some day His face I'll see.

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

The Bible tells me so.

For those who don't know

"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."

John 3:16 (NIV)

If you proclaim Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will spend eternity in Heaven.  Jesus died for you, for your sins.  It is the greatest gift.  Spread the word.

Making a Difference

A story that I heard years ago:

Once there was a really bad storm that left thousands of starfish stranded on a beach.  They could survive there for a while, but they wouldn't make it until the tide came in, and several were past the point where the tide would ever reach them.  After the storm had passed, a boy was on the beach.  He picked up a starfish and threw it back into the sea, and then another, and another.  He kept doing this over and over again.  An older man showed up on the beach and saw what the boy was doing.  He went up to the boy and laughed, saying "My boy, look at all of these starfish.  You'll never be able to save them all.  Do you really think you can make a difference?"  The boy looked up at the man while throwing another starfish into the sea, and said, "I just made a difference for that one."  He bent over to pick up another starfish, and threw it into the water, "I just made a difference for that one, too."

How often do we see things happening around us that seem insurmountable, and therefore we do nothing, because we think doing something small is the same as doing nothing at all?