{"id":6525,"date":"2018-02-19T10:43:57","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T18:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/?p=6525"},"modified":"2018-04-11T11:03:55","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T19:03:55","slug":"a-word-of-grace-february-19-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/a-word-of-grace-february-19-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"A Word of Grace – February 19, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Dear Friends,<\/p>\n

This message is about events that occurred a week ago, but I was too overcome with awe and reverence to write about them until this week for reasons you will understand as you read. God is great and God is good! Blessed be his name!<\/p>\n

I pull into the driveway late Friday afternoon.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a difficult week of transactions, meetings, contracts and conversations.<\/p>\n

The rain is coming. The winter was dry, but now that March has come the gray clouds scud in off the Pacific full of water. I am glad to be off of the freeway before the storm hits. Southern Californians drive poorly in the rain.<\/p>\n

I see a text has come in on my cell phone while I was driving. It is from my friend, Dr. Melissa Kidder.<\/p>\n

She is four days out from a twelve hour Whipple surgical procedure to combat pancreatic cancer. Usually, this procedure would be performed in the early stage of the cancer if appropriate, but Melissa was diagnosed at such an advanced stage with metastasis to the liver that her condition was deemed inoperable. She had less than a five percent chance of living out the year. She has made it fifteen months now.<\/p>\n

I wrote about her and her journey several messages ago.\u00a0 An incredible 28 cycles of chemotherapy, radiation, her determination, and the fiercely faithful support and prayers of friends and family drove the cancer out of the liver and reduced its \u201cmarkers\u201d making the surgery a possibility.<\/p>\n

I visited with her in her hospital room, Thursday evening. She was alert and cheerful despite post-surgical pain. The procedure had been a success.<\/p>\n

The tissue had been removed with clean margins and there was no visible dissemination of the cancer. The preliminary pathology reports were negative for residual cancer cells.<\/p>\n

Melissa was characteristically cautious. \u201cWe won\u2019t know for sure until the final pathology report, but whatever it is, it is.\u201d She said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe surgical oncology fellow dropped me by an article,\u201d she said. There isn\u2019t much research on patients like me, because there aren\u2019t many of us. But the article shows that patients like me who have had the Whipple have a medium longevity of five years and the improvements and studies continue. So there you go!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere you go, indeed,\u201d I replied. \u201cYou are going to see the milestones of your children\u2019s lives. I believe it! I know that every day since June has been another step over the frontier of known medical knowledge about survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe prayed each and every one of those days to see the dawn of the next day and I have never doubted you will make it. There\u2019s a reason why I texted you Psalm 128:16 last week: \u201cMay you live to see your grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome days I prayed through tears when it was tough for you.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t understand those tears at first, but I\u2019ve learned you really can\u2019t pray in intercession for another over time without stepping into their place. That means my gut wrenched with Jesus\u2019 compassion for you. It was a new experience for a rationalist like me, but I wasn\u2019t going to quit on you or the others holding you up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melissa said, \u201cIt\u2019s all grace. I knew the word and would use it, but until I experienced the need for grace and received it in answer to prayer. I didn\u2019t know grace. Now, I do and I am so grateful I am choked up all the time, but they\u2019re happy tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMe too,\u201d I said. \u201cLet me pray in thanks before I go.\u201d Through tears, I prayed thanks for Melissa, her medical team, her supporters, and the good news.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now in the driveway, just at sundown, I read Melissa\u2019s text\u00ad<\/p>\n

Mark Reeves (her surgical oncologist) just stopped by my room again (he\u2019d been here earlier this afternoon). Final pathology is back and he himself reviewed it as well with the pathologist.<\/em><\/p>\n

NO CANCER WAS FOUND.<\/p>\n

It hurts to cry my happy and grateful tears . . . but so worth it! So as Sabbath starts\u00admy heart is literally overflowing with joy, thanksgiving and feelings of blessing. I have such insufficient vocabulary to express what I\u2019m feeling.<\/p>\n

Anyone who doubts God and the power of prayer doesn\u2019t know the story of this journey.<\/p>\n

I texted back\u00ad<\/p>\n

Oh, Melissa!!! I just read this after I pulled into my driveway. I am texting you through tears of joy and relief. Life is the ultimate Sabbath blessing!!! He has heard our prayers and has healed your affliction. He has made you an instrument of His grace and a proclamation of His love and mercy. Praise His Holy Name! . . . Thank you for telling me. God bless you, Melissa! God bless your life and family! I so treasure your friendship.<\/em><\/p>\n

When we agreed we would fight the cancer over a year ago, prayer was our weapon, but the Lord was our power. Praise His name! Happy Sabbath!!!<\/p>\n

Melissa is now safely home, her recovery progressing uneventfully. Her friends and family continue to praise God and pray in gratitude.<\/p>\n

Awestruck reverence has been the common reaction. Another physician friend texted, \u201cWho says the Lord only worked in the old days . . .? This is so amazing! Praise Him for all His mercies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loma Linda University is a place of faith. We believe in the best medical treatment and clinical science as instruments of God\u2019s love for his children, but the care is deployed with prayer. In the corporate offices of the Faculty Medical Group, there is a painting of a surgery in progress with Christ standing behind the surgical team, giving his power and presence to their efforts.<\/p>\n

Witnessing a \u201cdeath-sentence\u201d diagnosis be transformed into a miracle of life for someone we love and have prayed for daily has overwhelmed us with awe. None of us praying were \u201cexperts\u201d on prayer, if there is such a person. We just prayed our love and our hope and faith grew along the way. God did this!<\/p>\n

I thought about writing this message last weekend, but I was worshiping the God of miracles who healed Melissa and changed the rest of us in the process.<\/p>\n

One nurse executive engaged in praying for Melissa described the experience\u00ad<\/p>\n

As I read (your text) and the message from Melissa last evening, I can\u2019t help but picture the Lord rejoicing with Melissa! I believe that He uses the story of others for the encouragement of others! I can\u2019t help but think of the number of people who have been impacted by Melissa\u2019s journey.<\/em><\/p>\n

I know as I read the verses and prayers from you each day they not only reflected just what Melissa likely needed but others on the prayer chain as well. I know often the exact words or scripture I needed came during my own faith valleys or my doubt in Him in other circumstances. Often it was a scripture read long ago and tucked in my brain somewhere that was brought forward just when I or another needed it. Proof that His word is living!<\/p>\n

He has told us that He works all things for good and this is a poignant example of that! Have been blessed to be a part of the prayer team (I was blessed far more than I blessed her!). What a gift!<\/p>\n

I will say watching the journey and praying for her, whatever God\u2019s will was (and is) to be has truly changed me! It has been such a demonstration of faith in Him and of the fierceness of true friendship and love!<\/p>\n

I will end this message here, because what has happened is beyond words. With renewed faith, I invite you, \u201cO taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him\u201d (Ps 34:8).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Under the mercy of Christ,<\/p>\n

Kent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

\"KentKent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.<\/p>\n

Finding God\u2019s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent\u2019s passions. He has written two books,\u00a0Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places<\/em>\u00a0published by Review & Herald in 2002 and\u00a0Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God\u2019s Love Through Prayer<\/em>, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God\u2019s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, \u201cA Word of Grace for Your Monday\u201d that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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