Filed Under Grace- Documenting Answered Prayer

 

I'll make a list of God's gracious dealings, 

all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God…
— Compassion lavished, love extravagant…

Isaiah 63:7-8
The Message

Let's begin, shall we? In case you missed it, I introduced this new carnival yesterday.

For this first post, I owe you an update on John, my brother-in-law. I introduced him here and updated here. Goodness, that was 5 months ago! The reason why I haven't posted any new information is because there has been nothing to report! In this case, no news is good news. Thank you, Lord!  John has been working, and there have been no new health issues to report. His roommate had pneumonia this winter, and that was a big concern, but John has not been ill. We were also concerned he would contract H1N1, but he's avoided that as well. We are thankful.

Do you have a praise? An answered prayer? Share them here, but please read the rules first. Thanks!
Blessings to you!

John Update

I spoke with my brother-in-law John this morning and received his current medical status.

If you don't know what I'm talking about maybe you missed this post.

His CMV is active again. The virus is undetectable in his body, but it is affecting his left eye. Every time it reoccurs, his eye sustains more damage and the blurriness increases. The doctor said it will be a fight to keep his  eye, and the natural progression is for the CMV to move to the right eye. The doctor was actually surprised it hasn't affected the other eye yet. Present worst case scenario: eventually John would go blind. John will receive treatment every two weeks to try to keep the CMV in his eye under control. He also has monthly blood work to check his HIV viral load and his CD4 count. He is on HIV meds that are currently controlling the viral load but his CD4 count is presently low,(229) barely above the CDC's threshold for AIDS. HIV meds need to be tweaked often to keep these numbers under control. (Sorry about all the gibberish. Some of this is for my Dr. dad.) I need to research this a bit more to have a better understanding of the numbers and the lab history.

The bottom line is, John's afraid. He wants to know what is going to happen. He wants to know what his chances are. He wants answers. But there aren't any. We just have to wait and see how his body responds to treatment. But he's been treated twice, and the CMV keeps reappearing. He wants to prepare himself for the worst. But how does one prepare to go blind? And will it come to that?

John is not mad at God. He said that. He says he brought this on himself. But he never expected his sight to be the issue he would face. He is grateful for your prayers.

I'm not sure what to ask you to pray today. I guess I'm afraid to ask God to do anything more than what normal statistics would allow. I just don't know the stats. But I do know my God. And He's done the impossible before. So throw caution to the wind. Ask big. Ask for healing and that the damage be as little as possible. But mostly, pray that God would move John's heart in a big way. Pray for inner healing. Restoration.

Thanks, my friends.
You are a blessing.

P.S. Last week I asked you to pray that we would communicate with John better about his health status. Our conversation today was an answer to that prayer as well as the fact that he gave me access to his online medical chart.

A Tough Post

I broach this subject publicly with some hesitation, but at this point, prayer is a greater need than privacy. I post this with permission.

We are a family touched by HIV/AIDS. The diagnosis came 8 years ago for John, my husband’s twin brother, and until recently he's been essentially healthy. Earlier this spring, after experiencing vision problems, he was diagnosed with Cytomegalovirus (CMV), which in healthy individuals rarely causes illness. Because of his HIV, CMV almost cost John the eyesight in one eye. He underwent a lengthy treatment at that time, and appeared to recover. He has since suffered a relapse of CMV and also recovered from pneumonia. Today, he appears healthy, but his health is precarious.

He recently requested we begin praying for him. Robb and John’s family live out of state and John has preferred to remain emotionally distant from them. We are his support. Being a twin myself, my heart understands and aches for my husband and his twin brother as we face the road ahead.

Please pray with us.

• Pray that John would feel the love and forgiveness of Christ
• Pray that Truth will prevail and all false beliefs will be exposed
• Pray that John would find comfort and peace in Christ instead of fear
• Pray for protection from illness, especially as flu season approaches
• Pray that we would communicate clearly with John and have an accurate understanding of his health status. The unknowns are hard. Denial comes easy.

Thank you.