Supernatural Support

Nikki looked much better when we went to visit her in hospital today. She was sitting up in bed and was so happy to see her children. The doctors have still asked us to keep visitors to a minimum though. Her oncologist was off for the weekend so she will see him again tomorrow morning and he will make some decisions then about where to proceed from here.

I have had many people comment on how strong Nikki is and how she has handled this whole ordeal so bravely, which is true. I have also had comments from people about my own strength and courage in this situation. From my side, I usually reply that I walk daily in God's grace, strength and peace... The truth is that both Nikki and I as well as our families have witnessed God's incredible goodness and faithfulness and provision for us in the middle of this storm (Psalm 117:2 "For His merciful kindness is great toward us"). I have often had people ask me how it is that we are so strong and so brave.

Our pastor, Mark, used 2 Chronicles 16:9 as one of his scripture references in his sermon today, and this scripture suddenly opened up for me (I love it when that happens). It reads:

"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."

So that's the answer then: When our lives and our hearts are committed to Him, He strengthens us supernaturally. He strongly supports a heart that is completely His. I am talking about mighty, supernatural support. Supernatural enabling is available to us as His children. That is the strength and support we know.

Psalm 46:1: "God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble."

Psalm 34:19: "A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all."

Note that trouble in life / a need for strength and support in these passages (and many like them) is assumed. Knowing God in the centre of these inevitable troubles / trials is the greatest blessing. When we face something this big, something way beyond our own strength and power, we can walk in His strength and allow Him to fully support us. And I am so thankful for that! I have no idea how we would find the strength out of our own resources.

Nix is still in hospital and will probably stay there for the next few days. The situation hasn't changed much but she is comfortable which is good. The doctor asked that all visitors stay away for now with the exception of Adrian / family if necessary so that she could rest as much as possible. So I didn't see her today. My mom and Adrian went through this evening.

Pete and I have the children with us this evening. We all spent a lovely day in the sun at Afton - riding King, climbing trees and playing up a storm with friends and cousins and they are all sleeping peacefully now on our lounge floor after a movie and a midnight feast.

Please pray for peaceful sleep for Adrian - he is absolutely exhausted.

Phil 4:7 "The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"

Psalm 121:1 - "I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."

Nikki was re-admitted to hospital today after a particularly difficult night. I am glad she is there as there now and they are finally dealing with the problem. There is only so much you can do at home. They did some tests and found that she was dehydrated and very low on potassium, both contributing to the problem. In addition, she was absolutely exhausted. She is now hooked up to a morphine drip, a saline drip and a potassium drip and she is much more comfortable. We are on our way to visit her in a few minutes. I really pray for a good, restful time for her while she is there.

All that being said, I chatted to her earlier today and she was not the same person she was last night when I left her to try and sleep. She was so excited to talk to me and these were her words:
"Evie, I feel SO GOOD! My body feels different- I felt something change in the early hours of this morning. I just know something has changed. I got out of my bed and knelt down on my knees with no pain for the first time in 3 years!"

This mail came in to my folks today from Jessica who was at the meeting with us yesterday. I thought I would share it with you. As Nix said, if one life is touched and changed through her walk, it was all worth it:

"I would like to thank you for the privilege of allowing me to join you in prayer for your beloved Nicki. I was totally blown away by her testimony and her faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ. She is truly a mighty warrior in God’s army.

To hear her speak with such authority in the knowledge of who she is in Christ was a humbling experience. When Nicki spoke of her victory over her illness and declared that if it brought people to Christ then it had purpose I was reminded of the verse in 1 Philippians where Paul is in prison and declares;

12 Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, 14 and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

What a wonderful daughter you have and I honour you both for being the loving parents that you are and for bringing up your daughters to love Jesus.

Love and blessing,

Jessica"

Amazed

I am so overwhelmed! Today's prayer and worship session was just lovely. Nikki stood up and spoke so courageously about her spiritual journey over these years and declared that she knows she is healed because Jesus bought her healing with her salvation on the cross 2000 years ago. It's a done deal. Her heart's desire was to stand up and praise God today in the middle of this trial. And that's just what she / we did.

Thank you so much to all who were there with us and to those who joined in with us from across the miles. It was such a time of encouragement. She was just elated after that and was so touched by all who came - seeing all her precious friends and family there to support her just made her so happy.

Nikki took quite a hammering on her body having been out today and all day yesterday and not having rested enough in between and so she was in a lot of pain tonight. I have been with her all evening since the meeting, rubbing her back and trying as best I can to make her more comfortable. This is the first chance I have had to update the blog - I thought that many were probably waiting for news. So I am going to sign off - I am officially exhausted!

Good News!

Pete and I have been out and it's getting late but I thought I would post a quick "good news" update.

Today Nix and I trekked through to Vincent Palotti hospital dreading another awful Acites tap. When we got there, the doctor did an ultrasound of the area to check the fluid levels in the abdomen. He found that there was not much more fluid build up there since the previous tap done not even a week ago. He investigated a bit more and found that, although there is fluid in the abdomen and the liver is enlarged, the biggest problem was that the colon was very backed up (she doesn't mind me sharing this - when Adrian offered her a Jolly Jammer biscuit, she replied, "Better not, I'm jolly jammed as it is :-)). SO - They decided not to do the tap and gave Nix some medicine to deal with the problem. This was such a relief, I immediately lost the headache I had been carrying around for 2 days and Nikki walked out of there a different person! I cant tell you how much better she looked! We met with her oncologist briefly on our way out, (Nikki had him laughing in no time when she told him she would take the oral enema as long as it wasn't second hand) and he told us that Medical Aid had finally approved the new course of chemo.

Praise God, what a blessing this day was!

P.S. Another blessing for the children - a gorgeous new pony arrived at Afton today, his name is King Cuddles or King for short (appropriate with all the royalty living there already!!). He belongs to our lovely cousin, Deborah and her girls, who are (sadly for us) emigrating to Australia next month. He is the love of her children's lives and they are happy that Hannah, Dan, Megs and Sydney will be loving him and looking after him when they go. What a special gift! Thank you Debs, Gill, Ella and Izzy - you'll never know how much this means to them xxxx

Nikki's abdomen is swelling daily. She is very uncomfortable (she compares it to feeling 12 months pregnant - Pen you would know the feeling!) The doctors have prescribed morphine now which she can self administer. She took her first dose this evening so I will wait to hear how her night went and if there were any interesting dreams... She is booked in for another Acites tap at 1.30 pm at Vincent Palotti hospital tomorrow to drain off some more fluid. Among the myriad dreadful tests, injections, pokes and prods she has experienced in the past 3 years, this one was by far the worst for her. I will be driving her through for the test tomorrow (pray for me too please, this is the most difficult thing I have had to face in my life. By God's grace I stand but I am in need of so much of it right now).

The most amazing thing about Nikki is her sharp wit and her crazy sense of humour. She can be lying in the most awkward position, racked with pain and she thinks of the funniest thing to say. (I would love to mention one of the examples from today, but I don't think any would be appropriate to share on this blog! I'll keep you guessing then...) With all of these odd and scary things happening in her body, she never fails to find the funny side, find a pun or a reason to laugh. She just keeps us so grounded in all of this. I just love her to bits.

Please pray for God's grace and strength for brave Nix tomorrow, also that this blimmin' tap would be more effective than the last one was, also that the medical aid would finally approve her next course of treatment to relieve this swelling (sigh...)

I have posted some images below of Cancer Survivor's Day which my mom, my aunt Maylon, Nix and I attended about 3 weeks ago where Nikki was dancing up a storm. The top pic is taken of her dancing with Linda, who is a breast cancer survivor and a special friend whom she met through this walk and the pic below is taken with fellow Fish Hoek-ite, Amanda Power, who is also a breast cancer survivor and who now talks, and campaigns for breast cancer awareness.

Urgent call to prayer

This is an urgent call to prayer on behalf of our lovely Nikki. As I sat with her this afternoon, she felt that time is critical. She felt that we needed to pray and worship as they did in the days of old before commencing battle. They sent musicians ahead of the troops singing "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His love endures forever". We believe that instead of focusing on the circumstances, we should focus our eyes on our God who is so much bigger than anything we face here on earth. The battle is His.

So we will be meeting to worship and pray on Thursday at 3 pm at Valley Christian Church, Fish Hoek (above the OK furniture store). This meeting is open to ANYONE who is available / keen / able to come and pray / worship with us. (Please spread the word). It is not a scheduled church meeting, VCC have very kindly made the venue open to us for this purpose.

These are some of the scriptures Nikki has held firmly in her heart for a number of years now as she has walked this road. We continue to believe these promises for her:

Psalm 91 (This she calls her "911 prayer")

¹ Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
² This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
³ For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
⁵ Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
⁶ Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
⁷ Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
⁸ Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.

⁹ If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
¹⁰ no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
¹¹ For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
¹² They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
¹³ You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

¹⁴ The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
¹⁵ When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
¹⁶ I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”

Psalm 118

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.

¹⁷ I will not die; instead, I will live
to tell what the Lord has done.

Psalm 139

¹ O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
² You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
³ You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
⁴ You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
⁵ You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!

⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave,^[a] you are there.
⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
¹² but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!

Psalm 27

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation—

so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
so why should I tremble?
² When evil people come to devour me,
when my enemies and foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
³ Though a mighty army surrounds me,
my heart will not be afraid.
Even if I am attacked,
I will remain confident.

⁴ The one thing I ask of the Lord—
the thing I seek most—
is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

¹³ Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness
while I am here in the land of the living.