Under a Cover of Prayer

For those of you who are in the dark about what has been happening the last couple weeks, I deeply apologize. Part of it was wanting to be sure before we broadcast anything, and part of it has been that we have just been in survival mode.

A couple of weeks ago, Josh started having pain under his arm. At first he thought he'd just pulled a muscle working in the garden, but the pain kept getting worse and worse, and then he noticed a swelling as well under his arm. We thought it just might be a swollen gland, but after a couple days, he was having trouble doing anything with his arm and began having night sweats and cold chills in bed.

So he went to the doctor to get it checked out. The doctor thought it was probably just an infected gland, and gave him a round of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, but because cancer is genetic in Josh's family, though that he'd better do an ultrasound to cover all the bases.

The ultrasound results came back showing not a swollen gland, but 7 lymphnodes of varying sizes. The doctor was fairly alarmed, and said that the surest and quickest way of finding out if the lymphnodes were benign and infected or malignent was to do a biopsy. So a couple of days later, Josh went in for a simple surgery. They made a cut under his arm and took samples from 2 of the lymphnodes.

The results came back on Monday - NOT malignent. Josh said he's never been happier to have an infection in his life!

Like I said earlier, I think we've been in survival mode the last couple weeks with everything that's been going on. I just couldn't think very much about the biopsy, because if I did, then my mind started going over all the "what if's". But, try as I might, it was really difficult to sleep for a couple of days. I think I have a much better understanding of the feelings and thoughts people go through when they hear the word "biopsy"!

But I have never felt, as much as I did at this point in our lives, the peace that comes from the knowledge that we are covered in prayer. Over the last week, we have received more encouraging emails from so many individuals saying that they were praying for us - and so many more emails from individuals saying that they were so thankful with us about the results. I took such comfort in the knowledge that there were men and women of God rallying around us - I could almost picture you: around your tables, in your living rooms, congregating as a church, in your beds, on your knees, in your cars, with your families - praying for us. How can I begin to say "Thank you?"

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." James 5:16

Please continue to pray as we consult with the doctors about how to treat this infection. Josh's fevers are gone, but the lympnode under his arm is still swollen and painful.

We are thankful - thankful that the results were not more serious, and thankful that the results allow us to continue with His work, and continue raising our family here in Cochabamba.

We love you all!