Monday, February 9, 2009

Delayed for a reason

I found myself over the past few months wondering just what God was thinking. I had every hope of being in PNG this fall and getting used to the culture and routine of things by now. It was very difficult to keep waiting on God to move. The finances just hadn’t come in for me to go like they should have, I mean if I was being faithful in sharing the need then why wasn’t God bringing in the funds to enable me to go??
It is funny to me that I profess to believe in the sovereignty of our God and yet in those moments when I cant see I begin to doubt Him. Yet he works in spite of my doubt!
I went in to the dermatologist in Dec to have a couple of moles removed from my head based on a history of carcenoma thinking that it was best to do that now before I was in the bright New Guinea sun and only antagonizing them.
The doctor asked about another mole on my neck wondering if I had any more and after looking found a 3/4 inch one in between my shoulder blades that had her really concerned. I had both the one on my neck, the one on my back and two more on my head removed. The biopsies showed that two of them were stage three melanoma. The doctor wanted to do more tests, and the biopsy had shown that they had missed some of the one on my back.
They ended up removing a 3 by 2 by 1/2 inch section from between my shoulders and two lymph nodes for further testing. It turns out that the cancer had spread to one lymph but no farther and that the surgery had removed it all. I will have to do one more recheck in three months and another in 6 months and if all is clear then I can leave at that point.
I find it incredibly encouraging and humbling that God knew all along what He was doing. The doctor said that as advanced as it was that it was only a short matter of time before the cancer had spread to my entire lymph system and became much much more dangerous. To think that he caused things to go slow and gave the doctor the wisdom to see. I am so grateful for His hand in my life.
Please pray that my back will continue to heal and the soreness will go away.
Please pray that the tests will come back clear in March and August.
Please also pray that God would bring in the finances both for the doctors bill and for the support to head out in 6 months.
His timing is perfect and all is in His hands. If he can do this I can’t wait to see what else he is capable of in the future. God is so amazing!