PRAYER

As many of you know, Woody is a man of prayer. He just gave up leadership after several years of the Monday Night Prayer Meeting at our church. Also he is currently chairman of the Deacon Hospital Visitation Team of which he has been a part for many years.

When he visits the sick, more often than not he prays something like:

Almighty Heavenly Father, what a Mighty God you are. There is nothing you can't do--no sickness you can't heal, no miracle you can't perform, no problem you can't solve, no sin you can't forgive, no need you can't provide for, no life you can't revitalize. Lord, your Word says that even youth grow tired and weary, young men stumble and fall, but they that put their faith in you shall renew their strength, and they shall soar on wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Lord, we know ____ put their faith in you a long time ago and we know that once again you're going to restore him/her. And that's what we pray for--that you would heal him/her in accord with your will. And help them to feel your presence. Give them strength and perseverance and help him/her to know that we love him/her. In Jesus' name, Amen.

In addition, if Woody knows the person has cancer, he'll include something like the following:

Lord, in your infinite wisdom you knit ____ together in his/her mother's womb. And every cell was designed to perform a specific function so that he/she could properly glorify You. Lord, we ask that You would restore ____ so that once again every cell in his/her body performs the function it was designed to do. And if there is any cell that is in his/her body that is not part of your infinite plan--that it would be removed--by whatever means necessary so that ____can once again glorify You properly.

Woody says that he has prayed those prayers a time or two for himself, but basically his prayer is for God's will to be done. He also is praying that God will draw him closer to God and grow his character through this experience.

So I am soliciting your prayers. First for me, as I have health problems of my own; and all this is putting a lot of stress on me. Pray that I have the strength to help Woody in the ways that he needs to be helped and that my "ailments" stay at bay.

Secondly, pray for Woody--primarily that he will be healed. His attitude and spiritual condition are good. But he is in quite a bit of pain and has almost no use of his left arm and hand. I am specifically praying for a miracle for Woody.

If you don't know what to pray--pray one of the prayers that Woody often prays for others.

As we approach these treatments, please pray that there won't be any show stoppers to keep him from beginning these treatments and that he'll have the strength and perseverance to make it through the first set of treatments (14 infusions in 5 days in the hospital, 7 days home, then 14 infusions in 5 days in the hospital again). And that his immune system will be able to defeat the melanoma.

Today he still seems to be recovering from the effects of his Zometa infusion. In some ways I wish that he hadn't had this infusion so close to his IL2 treatments. He was starting to show that he was regaining his strength after his surgery and ever since the infusion he seems to have lost ground. Again, he didn't sleep well last night since he had slept so much during the day. He is hoping for a good night's sleep tonight. Tomorrow we will be going back to see Dr. Holt for his post-op visit and to get the MANY staples removed. The latter he is dreading!