"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3 I spoke this verse on repeat during the last few weeks of Michael's hospital stay, and it was a necessary reminder this last month, too. There was a profound shift in my spirit a few days before that fateful Saturday when we were told Michael was dying and there was nothing more they could do. The truth of those words became our banner - a banner that wrapped us in a coco

"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." Over the years, this has become one of my life verses. And not because I love sitting back and letting the Lord do exactly that, it's because I need the reminder more than most. I love taking action. Need a door kicked down? I'm happy to come do that. Michael operates in a similar way. But I love that, here in Exodus 14, in what should feel like an action-packed moment, God is quintessentially telling Moses to chill an

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we ask or think, according to the power that works in us." Ephesians 3:20 38 days of massive internal bleeding. Over 100 transfusions. Metastatic cancer. Pain. Loss of a loved one. Respiratory issues and oxygen support. One ineffective procedure after another. None of those things sound like "abundantly more". None of those things sound like answered prayers. None of those things sound like blessing. But I can tel

"You need to put your affairs in order. The scope didn't go as planned and he's bleeding out." "There aren’t any more procedures or surgeries we can offer that can fix this." "Emory and Vanderbilt both said no to a transport." "There aren't any options left. You need to have some hard conversations and make decisions regarding life support." It's nothing short of miraculous that despite hearing one piece of bad news after another this past Saturday, a deep, unwavering peace s

24 transfusions. 7 procedures. 3 long hospital stays. This month has been the hardest of our lives. Not only has Michael endured the ongoing internal bleeding and our family has been separated, but we have been hit with one painful thing after another. The cancer has grown. The procedure didn't work. You're not going home any time soon. There may be a new malignant mass. Your brother/brother-in-law is in heaven now. A potentially life-changing surgery is probably your only op

It’s been three weeks since Michael was in the ICU and he was recovering well at home. As hard as it is for him to be still, he listened to his medical team and took it easy so his body could heal. When he had the first procedure done, we were told that after the initial three days, this kind of internal wound does not reopen. He would be able to get his hemoglobin back up and not worry about recurrence. However, Michael started bleeding internally again a few days ago. They

"No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised." (Romans 4:20) While this passage is speaking of Abraham, it's a message for us today, too. Like Abraham, we can choose to allow trials, hardships, and what feels like a delay of a promise to weaken or strengthen our faith. God may feel like He moves slowly in our linear, one-sided viewpoint, but His