thread for middle age to older Christian women.
Comments
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Dear Ladies,
It's so wonderful getting to know you better and having others join our group!
Sue, I'm so sorry you are having to have the thorocentesis again, now on the other lung.:-( I'm praying the procedure goes well and that the fluid doesn't return. I'm praying for you, for The Lord to strengthen you and encourage during this time. It's hard not to be weary during times like this.
Anita, Debbie, and Kate - praying for you all.
Mini - Praise The Lord for the SSI medical provision. I'm praying for the additional SSI help.
Lucy - I'm praying for you and your husband for financial help and guidance. I love the bracelet! Your jewelry making skills are excellent!
Nancy - I've been meaning to tell you that studies have shown that women who exercise do better on arimidex than women who don't. There were two studies presented last Fall showing that women who are active have less joint discomfort. And there was another study that included one group on arimidex and another group on a placebo. The study showed that there wasn't too much difference between the groups regarding joint issues, both groups complained of joint discomfort. But there was a higher recurrence rate of breast cancer in the placebo group. So with this all in mind, it's worth being on the arimidex unless you have a severe adverse effect. If you'd like me to send you the links for studies let know.
Ladyb - welcome! We all know how hard it is waiting on the tests results. I hope and pray for good results and comfort and strength to move on to the next step if the results are otherwise.
Bev - thank you so much for talking with my friend and praying for her!
Sharon - I'm praying God will work out things well with the sale of your home and will give you peace about this big decision.
Everyone - please pray for my friend Elissabeth who is having double mastectomies later today (July 17th). She has really been struggling with making decisions in addition to this being her first surgery and coping with the lost of her breasts. She had a normal mammogram last September, then felt a lump in late December which ended up being cancer with a positive lymph node. She then had to have chemo first. It's been rough and now she's to endure surgery. Thankfully she knows The Lord. Please pray the surgery and recovery goes well and pray for me and Bev as we encourage her.
It's now way past my bedtime...
Love, Deborah
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Hi Sue, you are in our prayers for sure. So sorry you have to deal with this on your other lung now. I know it is disheartening but don't dwell there. Remember...we are covered by the blood of the Lamb. We need to run to our stronghold at times like this. The blood of the Lamb is our stronghold and our refuge and our fortress. We are inaccessible to trouble if we believe and have faith. These are words I say in my prayer every morning when I pray over the pill I have to take every morning.
Ladyb - welcome...you will not regret finding us. This is a very special group of ladies and I just thank God for leading me here. I know He gets the praise for it. You are in our prayers as you start on your journey. Just always remember, you are not alone...even on the days you truly feel like you are. Our wonderful Jesus is a prayer away the Holy Spirit is amazingly strong when you need Him. I have grown so much in my faith during my journey that I can't even explain the overflowing love I have for my savior. God is with me every step of the way on this journey and I get excited just talking about it. Just continue to praise His name and His love for you. AMEN!!!
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Dear Ladies,
It's so wonderful getting to know you better and having others join our group!
Sue, I'm so sorry you are having to have the thorocentesis again, now on the other lung.:-( I'm praying the procedure goes well and that the fluid doesn't return. I'm praying for you, for The Lord to strengthen you and encourage during this time. It's hard not to be weary during times like this.
Anita, Debbie, and Kate - praying for you all.
Mini - Praise The Lord for the SSI medical provision. I'm praying for the additional SSI help.
Lucy - I'm praying for you and your husband for financial help and guidance. I love the bracelet! Your jewelry making skills are excellent!
Nancy - I've been meaning to tell you that studies have shown that women who exercise do better on arimidex than women who don't. There were two studies presented last Fall showing that women who are active have less joint discomfort. And there was another study that included one group on arimidex and another group on a placebo. The study showed that there wasn't too much difference between the groups regarding joint issues, both groups complained of joint discomfort. But there was a higher recurrence rate of breast cancer in the placebo group. So with this all in mind, it's worth being on the arimidex unless you have a severe adverse effect. If you'd like me to send you the links for studies let know.
Ladyb - welcome! We all know how hard it is waiting on the tests results. I hope and pray for good results and comfort and strength to move on to the next step if the results are otherwise.
Bev - thank you so much for talking with my friend and praying for her!
Sharon - I'm praying God will work out things well with the sale of your home and will give you peace about this big decision.
Everyone - please pray for my friend Elissabeth who is having double mastectomies later today (July 17th). She has really been struggling with making decisions in addition to this being her first surgery and coping with the lost of her breasts. She had a normal mammogram last September, then felt a lump in late December which ended up being cancer with a positive lymph node. She then had to have chemo first. It's been rough and now she's to endure surgery. Thankfully she knows The Lord. Please pray the surgery and recovery goes well and pray for me and Bev as we encourage her.
It's now way past my bedtime...
Love, Deborah
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Deborah we will pray for your friend. It is always a difficult step ok matter how prepared you think you are.
Anita please check in I agree we haven't heard from you.
Did anyone see my post about the genetic testing? Would like some input from you ladies if at all possible.
I may also be scheduling a hysterectomy soon as I may be at risk being as my aunt had ovarian cancer. So I just want it all removed to lessen my chances for ovarian and cervical. I should know more in a couple of weeks when I meet with my onc.
Blessings ladies...Fight the Fight...we are Warriors in Christ!
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This is something I started to add to my morning prayer this week before I even get out of bed...
My life has been redeemed from destruction. No weapons that were formed against me will prosper. For with long life will He satisfy me and show me salvation. The angels of God will watch over me less I dash my foot against a stone. I will live long and I will live strong. I am under the cover of the blood of the lamb!!!
So powerful to me...
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Thank you one and all for your prayers. Deborah, I'm still up so as to take my last pills of the day. Looks like I'll be napping tomorrow! My prayers are definitely with your friend. Sounds like she's had a rough journey so far.
A picture of Moses having his arms held up for him so as to get through the battle came to mind as I was praying over all of us tonight and I read your prayer request. How wonderful we have our Christian friends and family to hold us up in our battles when we're too weary to hold them up on our own.
Lucy, I never thought to pray over all my pills! I need to start doing that very thing. I haven't had any of the genetic tests done so I have no answers for you. I did have a hysterectomy in '09 for my endometrial cancer and never looked back. I had everything removed - I sure didn't need any of it at my age! I will pray over that decision and for Divine wisdom in making the right choices.
Now it's my turn to get some sleep, lol. Sue
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Sue, praying for you today. Your reference to Moses reminded me of a call I got from our dear Bible study leader and what she said when I told her about my diagnosis....she referenced Moses and said to just picture her and all my friends standing beside me, holding up my arms during the whole BC journey. Sue, we're holding up your arms today - and like the Israelites, you will be victorious through our precious, powerful Lord.
Praying for you, too, Nancy/BW - today is your stress test, right?
I spoke with Deborah's friend, Elisabeth, earlier this week and it was such a joy and blessing to be able to encourage her and hopefully ease her concerns about surgery a little bit. So many folks (including y'all!) have helped me along the way - being able to pass a little help along just reminds me of all you've done for me.
Lucy, thanks again for the insert about God catching us or teaching us to fly. I've repeated that to so many folks. You are such a blessing!
love y'all - Bev
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I'm praying for all of you wonderful ladies. Sue, I especially feel for you. I've had lung issues and had both a thoracentesis and a thorchotomy when the thoracentesis didn't do the trick. Not fun. I'm asking God to give you comfort during your procedure.
Blessings
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Hi ladies,
I just wrote a very long post to everyone in general and some in particular. I lost it when I hit send. My internet went down temporarily. Sharon I feel your frustration when that kept happening to you. Now a few minutes later it is fine. I don't have time to write it all again but maybe later. I am praying for all of you and the needs mentioned. Take care.
Love,
Nancy BW
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Thank you all for sharing. I, too, am a Christian and I am so blessed to be married to the most awesome man. He would gladly take my disease and my pain, if he could. He was so upset when I was hurt so severely by the radioactive dye (we had no idea they would not give me some type of lidocaine or sedation, knowing that I have a somewhat rare pain syndrome called RSD or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, in the breast, brought about by injury during one of the presurgery procedures (stereotactic wire placement in radiology, overcompression). I had so much difficulty finding anything on the internet about Radiation's effect on RSD, until a nice person at cancer.net referred me to this site. I need wisdom about choosing between brachytherapy or traditional 6 week radiation, which is complicated by the RSD.
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Hi Butterfly - I think you're new here - welcome! You seem to have some tough decisions ahead - I'm not familiar with all that you're talking about but I sure can pray for wisdom for you and the doctors. What a blessing that you have such great support from your husband - God is good!
I just watched a video and found it amazing and humbling when I think of what I complain about......hope you can follow this link if you're interested (it's a young man with many physical limitations who has an incredible spirit):
https://www.youtube.com/embed/H9S3n_tILKo
Still praying for all the ladies who had procedures, surgery and tests today.
Bev
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Butterflyla
I had the contura balloon brachytherapy. I am glad that is what I did. We live 70 miles away from the cancer center, so we took our motorhome into the city and stayed in it. I had the treatements twice a day for 5 days and was done with the rads. If your BS/RO say you are a good candidate for it I would suggest you go for it....,
Vickie
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Evening Warriors...
Nancy - looking forward to hearing from you on your next post. That has to be frustrating to type all that and then loose it. I haven't had that issue thank goodness.
Butterfly -glad to hear from you. I must have missed your story as I don't recall what all is going on. This is a great board and you will be so glad God directed you here. Please share again what your story is so I know better how to pray for you.
Ladies I will ask for specific prayer for me as my nurse called me today to advise me to stop taking the pill for a week as my liver panel has shown an elevation from my last test a month ago. So she said my onc wants me to have a break for a week then they will do blood work again. Then if it is going back down and it is good they will have me start the pill again and test it again and if it is stable we will keep moving forward. If it doesn't stay lowered then they will consider lowering the dosage of the pill.
Also, I had an amazing revelation from our. Lord today on my way home from the office. I always pray every day throughout the day that I am covered by the blood of the Lamb. I was listening to one of my cd's and the guy was referring to how the death angel passed by the houses that had the blood of the Lamb on the door posts. I was amazed as it just came to me that when I say that in my prayer that I am claiming that over myself and so I am inaccessible to trouble. I also recall the scripture that states: 1000 will fall at thy hand and 10,000 at thy right hand yet I will be untouched. It all just came to me with such brightness. So I just praised God and sobbed...what a blessing from God. Or as Bev claims, a kiss from God.
Blessings Abundant...Lucy
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Hello Gals,
I am praying for all of you and keep up on the posts. I am playing catch up at home and also doing PT as well as pray over going through with my sprint triathlon. Therapy has been grueling but I know that it is working because my muscles are getting stronger and are feeling pretty exhausted when I am done. They changed my program when they heard I was considering this race. Sounds silly that I want to do it but it is more about me feeling like I have come back from my injury than it is about the race. More about victory rather than giving up. I feel like I need to do it as a way of saying I am not a quitter and I am going to do whatever I can to get back to being me again. So far I feel that God is not putting roadblocks in the way.
Sue: my prayers are with you girl. I pray God will meet all your needs and bring you through this rounds without needing further surgery.
Nancy: hope all went well with your test.
Lucy: keeping you in,prayer over new decisions. Wish I could answer your question but so not know anything about to share with you. Lucy, sometimes I realize how often that I do not pray over the simplistic of things or those things that do not seem important or things I feel I should not bother God with. He wants to here it all...right.
Deborahanne: I will keep your friend in prayer. Praise God that's he knows and trusts Him. I know that He will give her comfort and peace.
Debbie, Kate, Anita, I am sure there are reasons for your silence but we want you to know that we are praying for each of you. We haven't forgotten you and neither has God.
Bev: thanks for sharing that link. I was watching this one of Rick and Dick Hoyt. It is just an incredible story about a man's desire to make his handicapped son feel awesome. I read the story but the You Tube video says it so much . It is humbling.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=64A_AJjj8M4&feature=...
Char
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Welcome Butterfly and LadyB. I hope you find this site a real blessing to you as you go through procedures and decision making.
Char
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Hello all.
Welcome butterfly to this wonderful thread. You will find lots of support here. I've not had the procedure you're asking about but I will certainly offer up prayers for you in the decision you have to make. It's so hard!
You too Lucy. Everything has been going so well for you so I'm just chalking this up to a little speed bump in the road. Last fall before we knew I had the leg tumor, I was living on ibuprofen. It threw my liver enzymes into a frenzy so the doctor had me stop all over the counter meds. A week later, everything was back to normal. I'm praying yours will fall back into line in no time.
Nancy, I think we've all lost a post at least once (I for one have lost several). So frustrating! We need a save button!
Deborah, I was so burdened by your prayer request for Elisabeth. Her surgery should be behind her so do let us know how she is doing.
Thank you mini for your insight. I think your surgery was worse than mine from what I read. If you can do it, I can do it so thank you all for your prayers.
I had the thorocentesis today and all went well. I had a doctor I'd not had before and he was awesome. Very kind and gentle and reassuring. Once home, I ended up sleeping all day! And, I mean all day. The nurse told me my platelets were down again, despite my having a blood transfusion in lieu of chemo last week. I'm scheduled for chemo again tomorrow so I'm hoping my counts come back up. We're reducing the doses and dividing them into two weeks rather than one. Prayers for my counts to come back are certainly welcome because I sure can't figure out why they're so low.
Looking forward to watching all the links.
Have a great night! Blessings. Sue
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Thanks for the encouragement Sue...this is the first time my liver has shown any strain so I have faith and trust our Lord. Glad to hear a week can make a difference. Might know our bodies are amazing and I am reading prayer support books on healing and I literally pray over myself daily and or nightly. Maybe I will post some of my favorite ones as they may be helpful to some of you.
Lucy
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Quick question...at the beginning of this thread it shows the original person who started this board named Spar2, does anyone remember chatting with her and what is she doing now? Just always been curious being as I know I sure am glad this board is here for me. Lucy
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Welcome Butterfly. I am sorry that you have had such a tough time during procedures leading up to radiation. Have you done a search on this website to see if there are any threads that speak to your unique situation? I have fibromyalgia and we tend to have heightened nerve responses to pain so I can appreciate your dilemma. I will say that early on in my 33 radiation treatments I started having significant nipple pain and I wore these foam pad bandages which my RO gave me and then I ordered some online. Have you had a consultation with your RO yet. I know mine mentioned some radiation alternatives but had reasons why they were not good for me. Hopefully that person can guide you to the right treatment for you. We can certainly pray for you as well.
Kudos to a supportive husband!
Nancy BW
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Hey ladies
I must admit that tonight I am beyond wiped out but I am going to post this one last time if it kills me. lol If I lose it this time you will probably hear me hollering clear from Illinois. I had my stress echo test this afternoon. I was quite nervous about it. Not so much because I feared a blockage but since I had injured my rotator cuff during my breast ultrasound I was a little gun shy and afraid of injuring my knee which already has a torn meniscus. I used my knee brace and it all worked out fine. They couldn't tell me too much but one lady said did you notice that we didn't run out of the room and come back with a doctor to talk to you. So I am taking that as good news.
Lucy- this morning I saw a green hummingbird land on my tree in the back as I was eating breakfast this morning. It looked like the pretty one you posted with the awesome verse. It was a gift from God. I am a backyard birder and I have never seen a hummingbird land. I rarely see them at all and they usually flit in and out very quickly. I like your no weapon formed against me shall prosper verse. That is a great one to pray before getting out of bed every morning. It is a battle out there for sure and for Christians even more so.
Debborah- I prayed for your friend. I remember how terrified I was going into my first surgery. I can't imagine going into the surgery she had as your first one. I know many of you have had chemo and mastectomies and I am in awe of your courage and grace. Thank you for sharing about the exercise and Arimidex. That gives me hope as I am into fitness and nutrition.
Mini- I am still praying for that SSI second portion to be approved.
Sharon- I hope your house sells quickly and that you can find another place that you will love and can call home soon.
Char- I am impressed that you are going for a triathalon. All I can say is you go girl!!!!!
Sue- I thought your procedure was tomorrow when I saw your post. I didn't see that it was dated from yesterday. I have been praying and I am glad it is over for you and I hope that you will not have to do any other procedures. I sure hope that the resuming of chemo with a little tweaking will make a world of difference in how your body tolerates it. We are all holding up your arms as a few people have mentioned like they did for Moses.
Ladyb- Praying that your Tues Onc apt. goes well and that you can develop a treatment plan that is best for you.
Bev- I have a feeling you are being rather hard on yourself when you talked about procrastination after rads. You have been through an ordeal both physically and emotionally and it is exhausting going through rads to top it all off. I am still wiped out and I imagine you were feeling fatigued as well so you should cut yourself some slack. I admire the fact that you were able to hook up with friends from this thread plus all the other traveling you did. You know what I think. You are putting people first in your life and that is so important and admirable. Did you have your annuals this week? Infusion?
I am looking at tomorrow as the beginning of my normal life. I don't have any procedures scheduled until the fall. I am celebrating tomorrow with some friends (in my mind anyway) We are doing a picnic in the park and then watching an outdoor A Midsummer Night's Dream which is an annual Shakespeare in the Park series.
My plan is to miraculously get my energy back so I can visit my mom who has dementia. My sister and I are her caregivers and unfortunately because of my diagnosis my sister has had to do it without me for the last several months. I want to be down there for my birthday. I have told my mom all along that was what I was shooting for and I hope it will happen. Aug. 3 is the targeted date. My mom lives three hours away.
Okay I am going to hit send now. Please work this time!
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Lucy, May 18, 2012 is the last she posted on BCO. I hope she is doing well and maybe has moved on and doesn't want a reminder of her dx. I hope that is the case.Nancy BW
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greetings to the many wonderful women that stop in here and send up a prayer, Char, thank you for your kind words. I have been doing weekly Abraxane all year, and have scans every 3 months that remain stable. I can get discouraged about side effects, and the lymphadema (legs) and neuropathy. Have fallen enough to start asking about a wheelchair. Have been in a bible study this summer that is so positive, I love it. One of the things we are encouraged to do is pray daily the scriptures that Dodie Osteen prayed when she was fighting her cancer. Can be found online and in her little book she wrote about it.
Anita
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Praise God...sweet lady Anita!!! Great to hear from you. Missed you so. Glad you're hanging in there. We need to private message and get caught up. I have questions and I am sure you can help me.
Thanks for posting..
Have a blessed rest of the day Warriors in Christ.
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Yeah Anita, good to hear from you. Sounds like your treatment is going well.....except that darn neuropathy and LE. I'm battling that as well.
I ended up not having chemo today. My platelets are still too low. The onc. decided it's time to switch to the Eribulen (Halaven) which I will start on next Friday. The only SE she's worried about is an increase in the neuropathy - yippee - but feels the other SE's if I have any, will be manageable. I'm still pretty wiped and can't seem to figure out why I can't get the platelets back up. Praying it's not the cancer progressing. My blood work looks good otherwise. I'll be praying through the week that I can handle the new drug without any real SE's. Time to start psyching myself up again. The upside is that the infusion is a quick one. An hour of prep followed by a 1/2 hour infusion. I'll still have part of my day left when I'm done!
Hope everyone is well tonight and has a wonderful weekend. We're getting a huge heat wave - ugh!
Blessings. Sue
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Hello, my name is Deloris and I am from Arkansas. I have been dealing with cancer for 23 years now , started with breast cancer and spread to the bones. I had a recent pet scan and results show two lesions in my liver and I am just scared as all get out. Also have it worse now in my left leg and will have radiation next week. Doctor told me to be prepared to start chemo and I have always been afraid of chemo, I guess because of all the horror stories I have heard. I am just hoping for some reassurance that chemo is ok. Doc said the lesions are very small. I have never had chemo, just radiation. Right now I am on faslodex, xgevia and tamoxifin.
I love the Lord with all my heart and try to live the best I can for him. Looking for friends to talk to.
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our son called tonight, he had nicked the 5 month old grandbaby's finger while trimming her nails and it bled a lot. I felt like she would be ok but he might not! I told him I would pray while he called the pediatrician's office and his wife held pressure and soothed our Jocelyn. I'll be darn if they didn't take her on in to urgent care, where the bleeding stopped before the doctor stepped in. So God answers prayer,
Anita
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Hello Delorisann, Welcome! You will find lots of friends here and Christian support. It's great thread to get hooked up with.
Wow - 23 years. You have certainly done well. As for the chemo, we are living in a good time. There are more and more drugs available today than there were even five years ago. I've said it a 100 times. For each day that we live on, we're one day closer to someone finding a cure. God is directing our journeys and He will use our battles for His glory. It's normal to be scared. Sometimes it's just getting past that initial diagnosis that we've all had to live with. Until you know what type of chemo your onc decides on, it's hard to know what to expect. Looks like you've been on hormone blockers and the bone shot. I did chemo 5.5 years ago and then went on maintenance with the hormone blockers until they stopped working (like yours did). I've been on chemo (and Xgeva) ever since and it hasn't been too bad.
Feel free to check in here as often as you need to. There's usually someone up keeping the light on.
Blessings. Sue0 -
Thank you all for praying for my friend Elissabeth!!!! Your prayers have certainly been heard! The surgery went well and except for the post anesthesia nausea she's doing well.
I have a busy weekend and week ahead with work and preparation for teaching young children at VBS 3 evenings next week and I'm also preparing to teach a Women's Bible Study next Thursday.
Meanwhile, I'll be reading your posts and praying for you.
Lucy - you asked about genetic testing. I was told I wasn't a candidate. Also, you mentioned changing your diet. My diet hasn't changed. It was already consuming a pretty healthy diet. I don't juice but prefer to eat whole foods and occasionally healthy smoothies. I avoid soy products. I don't consume too many sweets and I haven't drank soda for almost fifteen years.
Welcome butterfly! I'm praying for you!
Sue - I'm so glad your procedure went well! Praise The Lord you also had a wonderful doctor! I'm praying your counts improve and you'll be less tired.
Anita - good to hear from you! I'm praying you'll get some help to minimize the side effects you are having and that you'll have measures to prevent falls.
May God bless your weekend! Deborah
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Deloris - welcome! My heart goes out to you. God is most good to bring you here for comfort, encouragement, and dear ladies who will pray for you! There's a variety of women with different stages of cancer and treatment. Several of us have been through chemo and some are currently receiving treatment. We all love the Lord and rest in Him. I'm praying for you! May these verses bring you comfort in knowing that Christ understands your suffering and He will help you through these difficult times. Love in Christ, Deborah
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Romans 12:12
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