Originally published Wednesday, 12 June 2013.
Brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. 1 Thessalonians 5:25 (VOICE)
In a couple of weeks doctors are going to kill my husband. Or at least they are going to try.
In just 18 days he'll be starting his stem cell transplant. A procedure so life changing that all the days leading up to it are counted -3, -2, -1. In essence my husband will be -10 440 days old on the day they give him the stem cell transplant.
Medical professionals term the day they infuse the stem cells day 0 or your second birth.
In medical terms my husband is going to be born again that Friday they infuse life into his dead bone marrow. His old blood will be gone and a new life begins.
I spoke to someone the other day about how this procedure is a medical marvel but I didn’t really feel that way, to me this procedure is something that scares me.
I’m becoming a caregiver who doesn’t want all the facts - just tell me what I need to do when it’s needed. I don’t need to know all the variables that can go wrong.
I can’t find words to describe how I feel at the moment, to paint how I feel about waiting for my husband to go into hospital and receive a whole new immune system.
Denial might be the best word to describe how I feel.
For the past few weeks instead of the upcoming procedure we’ve been focusing on a holiday we’re taking a few days prior to the procedure. A holiday we’re currently enjoying, and not thinking about all the things that come after that.
I’m scared of the after.
I find myself praying at the oddest times, praying when I didn’t even realise it, uttering words I don’t understand to God, pleading that everything will be okay.
There is honesty in the prayers that I rarely show in person.
But I can’t live here forever so I’m asking you to pray for us: for Xylon, for me.
I ponder if Paul sometimes felt the same when he penned in his letters: "pray for us". I wonder if he sometimes wrote it out of fear because he was scared of the hard times coming in the future.
Perhaps Paul requested prayer because of hope.
Prayer gives hope that everything might not be okay but that in hard times God will be close. (tweet this)
Today, I want to encourage you that if you’re going through things that are more difficult then you could have imagined you would be hopeful enough to ask people to pray for you.
There is a quote I love by Elisabeth Elliot:
Things happen which would not happen without prayer. Let us not forget that. (tweet this)
There is hope in prayer. Hope that tomorrow might feel different then today. (tweet this)
{Prayer}
Lord Jesus, please help me to make it through the hard times that are coming. Thank you for the hope that I have in you that after having done everything I can all I need to do is stand while you fight for me.
If you need prayer I’d love you to post your prayer request in the comments so this community can pray for you. If you post a comment please take a moment to pray for the two people before you.
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Picture credits: Sunset & IV bags: Wendy van Eyck | Mug: creationswap.com | Design: Wendy van Eyck
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