Trust His Heart

Two and a half years ago, at a regular yearly checkup, it was discovered that my husband's PSA had gone up from 1.9 to 3.3.  The doctor promptly ordered a biopsy of his prostate.  As a result of that biopsy, Mike has battled prostate cancer since January of 2008.  The more natural treatment that we felt led to use to fight this battle has seemed to work well for him.  At his last checkup nearly six months ago, the doctor found that one tumor was dead and the other had diminished blood flow and it was more than 50% smaller than when he was diagnosed.  Even though, during treatment, his PSA got as high as 6.9,  in January of this year it was once again below 2. 

With this exciting report ringing in our ears, we were given permission to go back to Honduras with the understanding that Mike would continue his meds.  The doctor also suggested that he add another medicine to his regime.  He was also to get monthly PSA readings and was told to return again in six months for another check up.  But, while in Honduras, certain symptoms began to return and his PSA slowly began to climb.  His last Honduran PSA report, which was taken the first of June, had reached 4.9. 

He realized that the only thing he was doing different was the added medicine.  If we've learned one thing through this experience, it is that people sometimes respond differently to different treatments or meds.  He immediately stopped the new medicine and went back to his old regime and, praise the Lord, when we came back to the States the 6th of July and he had blood drawn for his latest PSA, it had dropped to 3.4!

Tomorrow, at 7:00 a.m., Mike and I will catch a plane at DFW airport and fly to New York City.  We are supposed to arrive at La Guardia airport at  1:15 p.m.  We will grab a  cab and head to 60th Street, right off Park Avenue, in Manhattan.  At 2:30 p.m. he will see Dr. Robert Bard, M.D., PC.   Dr. Bard, who is a leader in clinical imaging and radiology, will examine Mike and tell us the status of his prostate cancer. Dr. Bard uses a 3-D power doppler ultrasound imaging technology which has been shown to accurately differentiate between cancerous and benign cells.  When we leave his office, we will already have the results of the scan.  Then we'll take a taxi back to La Guardia and, at 5:00 p.m., we will catch our return flight and arrive back at DFW around 10:00 p.m. tomorrow night.

We ask for your prayers, that God will have His perfect will in our lives.  Of course, we would love to hear that God has completely healed Him of his cancer and that we can go back to Honduras and our work and the lives we had before January 2008.  I won't lie to you.  That is what I would like to hear in New York!  But sometimes, what we want and what God wants are two different things. 

Years ago, Mike and I both gave our lives to Christ.  We told the Lord  we would be, as Mike likes to put it, "Triple A Christians":  Anything, Anywhere, Anytime!   We meant it then... and we still do!  Whatever it takes to bring honor and glory to His name and cause the lost to accept Him as their personal Savior, that's what we want. 

Please, please don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say.  I'm not trying to sound "holier than thou" or like we're "ultra righteous" or anything like that... because that certainly couldn't be farther from the truth!  In fact, it's really pretty scary to say to the Lord "Whatever it takes" and truly mean it... because only He really knows "what it will take" to accomplish His will. 

But you know what, in February of last year, when it seemed that Mike's treatment was  finally working and we began thinking that we might be going back to Honduras soon, he ended up in ICU for a week with a 75% blocked artery in his heart.  Several times through that episode I thought I was going to lose him.  Even though I was trying to be strong, I began to really question what God was doing in our lives.  But one night, about 2:00 a.m., after a particularly scary episode with his heart, I got in the car to head back to where we were staying in Del Rio.  That night I was really having a difficult time holding myself together and felt as though I was coming apart at the seams.  I started the car, only after I dried my tears and could focus again.  The car radio automatically came on when the car started.  It was tuned to the Christian station to which I had been listening.  At first, I wasn't even paying attention to what was on the radio.  I was too busy asking the Lord, "Why?" .   And then, what was playing on the radio began to penetrate my thoughts.  It was a song I had never heard before... and I've not heard it since, but my son later told me it is a well known song.  It was the chorus of the song that caught my attention.  It spoke to my heart and answered my question.  It went like this:

God is to wise to be mistaken.

God is to good to be unkind.

So when you don't understand,

When you don't see His plan,

When you can't trace His hand

Trust His heart.

That was exacty what I needed to hear!  That was my answer.  And that, my dear friend, is the key to having peace even when it seems that your world is crashing down around you!!  You see, there are still many, many things I don't understand.... and probably will never understand until I get to Heaven.   But, through the years, there is one thing I have definitely learned that I can count on...

 I KNOW that I can ALWAYS

TRUST MY HEAVENLY FATHER'S HEART!

And

I DO!!!

For more information about Dr. Robert Bard and 3-D power doppler ultrasound imaging technology go to WWW.CANCERSCAN.COM