Hope in Unanswered Prayers

Barbara Holloway left the earth early Wednesday morning. Since then I waited to post this in case I got some amazing revelation that improved the tone of the post, but that just hasn't happened. She was a very strong and devoted believer and we know she is in her rightful place, at the "beginning" of eternity with the Lord. 

Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

There are no more tears or regrets in heaven. There is no more sin. Nothing to dread. No hurt feelings, pain, or sorrow. She got to go where we all should be. Where we all would have been if it weren't for the sin that Eve (first) committed in the garden. Barbara left this nomadic life where she was a stranger and didn't fully belong for the only place that isn't true. She made it to the end of the long race, where the Lord greeted her with His passionate joy and love.

We should all rejoice that Barbara is in heaven. Instead of coveting our neighbor's car/job/house/husband/well-mannered children/toned body/savings account/friends (pick whatever best applies), we should covet her new life. She is home and we are not. 

But there is one problem: She didn't want to go. 

Psalm 139:16, "Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

On the surface, and maybe a few layers beneath that, it feels like the ultimate betrayal by the Father. He promises, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." (John 15:7). I assure you without any hesitation or confusion, Barbara asked to be healed and to stay on earth. She asked time after time. I'm told thousands were praying for her. She wholeheartedly believed He would heal her, until the very last agonizing breath, she believed He would answer that prayer. 

We can rejoice that she really was healed, but let's not pretend that was the answer she was looking for. She asked to be healed on earth and He chose not to do that. He could have done it but He knew better. He alone knows what is best for you, best for me, best for Barbara. He knows what God-glorifying things will happen on earth because her time on earth ended. He knows what other pain or problems she avoided by moving to heaven. He created her, you, me, and everything on the earth. He numbers and ordains all of our days, and He makes no mistakes.

Colossians 1:15-17, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

We might want to know why He answers some prayers and not others, but we might never know. We just have to trust. That's what faith is all about, the confidence in what we hope for, the assurance of what we cannot see (Heb 11:1). We don't know the reasons, but we are never left alone with the answers. Jesus understands our feelings. When He saw Mary mourning over the loss of her brother, "He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled" (John 11:33). The Jews even recognized it and said, "See how He loved him!" (John 11:36). Jesus had already planned to raise Lazarus, so we don't know if the sadness had anything to do with why He raised Lazarus from the dead, but regardless the words convey His true feelings. Jesus didn't sin, so He wasn't wrong in feeling enough sorrow for some combination of Mary's loss, the earthly loss of Lazarus, and maybe  for the confusion and sadness produced by His not preventing the death, that He wept. 

Barbara was in horrendous physical anguish at the end of her life. It was torture. But she never lost the hope of the living. She trusted fully in her Savior, even though He seemed to turn His back on her. The big picture is that He helped her to end up where she should be, where it is perfect and beautiful, pain-free and carefree, instead of where she thought she should be. Praise to the Lord Almighty who knows so much better than we do! Please pray for her family's sadness to turn to joy as they see the ways He turns Barbara's legacy into more fruit on earth.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Did cancer ruin my child or did I do that myself?

This whole time I've felt so fortunate that our kids were young when dealing with the cancer. I hated hearing I could die before they'd be old enough to remember me, but it was so much easier than having to deal with the emotions and questions that an older child would have posed. Or, so I thought. It's been almost a year since the diagnosis and the toll it's taken on Abigail has finally become apparent.We tried to keep everything as "normal" as possible during treatment, but obviously we didn't succeed. Everything changed, as it had to. She was only 3 when the doctors first started telling me I was going to die, so she hadn't been through anything difficult. Nor did she have any clue what sickness, cancer, or death were. Added to that, she used to only see Grandpa for holidays, and suddenly he was here full-time, babysitting several times per week. Then he moved away and Grandma moved down. Now she's going to preschool every day, but I drag her to doctors or leave her with sitters at least once a week. She was a trooper through all of it and I thought she was unscathed--a few months ago she said she'd never seen me cry. Clearly she had forgotten the low times from last year, like when she'd begged me to go just one day without crying.

Well, my treatments have been done since June, but the aftermath has just begun. And worsening. I've had to leave overnight a few times and it sets off really bad behavior. She's also having nightmares and outrageously naughty behavior at school. Anytime I will be away from her she wants to know exactly what I'm doing and I have to promise I'll be back. Most issues seem to involve control--she wants it--so we're trying to help her feel super secure but still teach her that she isn't the boss.

I'm blaming cancer for ruining my child, but I might have done it myself. I'm a behavior analyst, how did I end up with the child who behaves so badly at school? There's nothing innately "different" about her, I really believe this is a nurture (not nature) issue. We're praying a lot about her behavior but don't know what to do. Maybe we're reading too much into it, and she is noncompliant because I gave her way too many choices until now. And now she thinks she should always have the chance to have some sort of "say" in what she does.

I don't like either of these hypotheses. So much of my fight against cancer was because I didn't trust God to raise them without me. I'm not sure I ever admitted that before. And now it turns out I don't know what I'm doing anyway. Awesome.

It will all work out, we just need to trust God with everything, and wait on Him for how to proceed. So much of parenting seems time-sensitive, but it will be better if I focus on being God-sensitive instead. God did one of the nicest things ever for me, and I'm going to focus on that: This morning I could not stop singing this song about trusting the Lord. Then I realized I was promising to trust Him but not really meaning it. I started to pray about it but got interrupted and figured I'd think about it more later. Instead, I checked my email and a friend had written to me about how she had this vision while she was praying for me (not about Abi, just generally). She could see anguish, doubt, and fear filling up my cup. Then those things were poured out and trust replaced it. Isn't that awesome? I often joke about how easy it would be to do what God wants if He would just send me a to-do list. This time He basicallly did! He made sure I got an email with His message, "TRUST ME".

People have had dreams and visions a few times for me before, but never anything so specific and timely. I take it as a HUGE honor, that He would do something so bold and clear to get through to me. It must be very important, and those are all issues I've been having. I can't tell you the comfort I get from how personal that message is. So, I will trust Him. God is mightier than my mistakes. I will trust Him today. And tomorrow.

Psalm 9:10, "Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."

Deut 1:30-32, "The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as He did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God
carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place. "

Updates and Surgery

I am doing great, praise God! I saw Dr. Rassam last week and he was back to his old self. A few visits ago he had changed his tune from saying I had a miraculous recovery, to saying we were just managing the cancer well. I have a little PTSD from all the bad news at this point, so whenever I walk into the place I am tense until after I see him. For the past two visits though, he has been back to normal. On both occasions he poked around on me and said, "I might start believing that you are actually cured of this too!". This is the highest praise and confidence anyone could expect, I think.

I was sure he would send me for a PET scan, but wrong again. He had two types of cancer marker tests done. Both for breast cancer, but one was a new addition, for people who already went through treatment. The CA 27.29 test (the one I've had done before) has a range from normal people of between 0 and 38. Last time mine was 26.5. This time it was 14!!! Zero is not necessarily the goal, because it can be good to have a few. The CA 15.3 test is the new one and I think the range for normaly people is 0 to 25, and this was 10!!! Hooray!!!!

I was waiting to hear responses before mentioning this, but I think I will not get any...for those who wondered, I finally sent notes to some of the doctors who told me I'd be dead soon. I couldn't get the right email for the one at Mayo so didn't send his, but did get one to the genetic counselor there.  I told her about my miracle and she responded, "I'm so glad you've had such a positive reaction to chemo!". That's fine. I sent a nice note to Dr. Litton but she never responded at all.

I started Tamoxifen and so far, so good. I think it acts as a stimulant for me--I'm being more productive with less fatigue. Unfortunately, I'm unable to sleep at night, too. I've always struggled with sleep, but lately it had been a bit better. Now it's taking me 2-3 hours to fall asleep. I see Dr. Rassam in a few weeks as a follow-up, so maybe he'll prescribe me something to sleep if necessary. I feel extremely, outrageously blessed by the lack of unwanted side effects from the Tamoxifen. I know it takes longer for them to develop with some people, so please pray that mine will continue to be awesome.

I got a call from Dr. Rosenbaum's office today. He is the plastic surgeon in Gainesville that I'm going to see about getting DIEP reconstruction. His assistant said his openings were filling up quickly, so she wanted to pencil me in for surgery now. NOW!!!! Not 1-2 years away like the more conservative doctor I saw here. NOW as in, over Thanksgiving or Christmas (the only 2 openings he has left this year)!!!!! I wanted the Thanksgiving one, because that would be basically a year from the time I was told I was dying to being entirely healed and reconstructed. However, I think Yaacov and my mom (the official helpers) will be more available over Christmas, so we'll probably do that. It'll still just be 13 months for all that.

For those of you who haven't seen me, my hair is looking good. I've had two haircuts now, and the pixie cut style I have looks intentional. A lot of people even prefer it to my longer hair, but I think that's because it's so different. Strangers stop me all the time to compliment me, so that's nice. I plan to still grow it out, then will look back at pictures and decide what was best.

I guess that's it. "Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of the lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name." Heb 13:15