Live Out Loud

What has God been doing in your life? Our lives have been turned upside down. For the last 5 weeks we have had a totally different focus in our day to day lives. Before we went to the hospital 5 weeks ago, each day we went about our routines making decisions based on what we thought our priorities were. We thought we were doing good things, many of them had to do with our involvement in church.

When we heard that Josh had a life threatening illness, most of our priorities changed. Many of the things that we thought we had control over changed. Many of the decision that we were accustom to making were no longer important. A crisis has the tendency to refocus our attention. We cannot do anything to change Josh's health so we have been forced to either look to the world for hope or put our trust in Jesus.

We have learned that even in the shadow of the valley of death (when we walk past deaths door) that God is faithful to sustain us, and He allows others to watch Him sustain us. We have believed for many years that God wants to use us to influence the 8 - 15 people whom He has strategically put in our lives in a positive way.

There is no question in our minds that we have seen people here in Houston positively influenced in their walk with God. We have seen Gods children choose to make sacrifices for God's benefit and we have seen doctors and nurses begin to wonder what kind of God gives His children peace and hope in a time of crises. The doctors and nurses have watched a God's children have cared for us in ways that they don't understand.

Many of you have been walking this journey with us and praying that Josh would be healed. We would love for you to share your story with us. To hear what God is doing through you to impact the world around you.

Send your story to brian@fbcdalhart.org and we will begin posting them on the blog and on the churches web site.

Monday Josh had a bone marrow biopsy. He tolerated the procedure well, and gave Ilene and Debra some laughs as he came out of the anesthesia.

He continued throughout the day without a fever, feeling pretty good. The doctor finally came in around 4pm and told us that the biopsy results were back. They told us that his bone marrow was pretty much wiped out by the chemo (which is what was supposed to happen). Based on that they will wait for a little while before starting chemo, they would like to see the bone marrow start producing again before they start the next round of chemo.

They encouraged Josh to continue to eat and drink as much as possible, and get as much exercise as possible.

He had a good night without a fever and we are hoping and praying that this will continue throughout the day. We have been to this point before (three times) were they are saying he could go home if he doesn't get another fever, so we are reluctant to get our hopes up again, but they say they are willing to let Josh get out of the hospital for a few days before they start the next round of chemotherapy if he continues to do well.

We have been blessed by you comments and emails and we keep you in our prayers. Our continued prayer for you is the same as what the Apostle Paul prayed for the church in Thessalonica.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

¹¹ So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. ¹² Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Live your life in such a way, that those around you would see that you are a Christ Follower. Thank you for your continued prayers. We are looking forward to hearing about what God is doing in your lives.