please pray for Elijah...

Don't let that happy little smiling face fool you... this is a very serious Saturday post.

This little boy is Elijah. He is six years old and has been diagnosed with cancer--an inoperable brain tumor. Elijah has been through chemotherapy and radiation, and he is not doing well. During the period of radiation treatment, his tumor grew to almost three times its original size. The doctors have stopped radiation and have basically said that he will not survive. His parents, Rick and Melanie, have not given up hope and are praying over him.

There is an institute in Houston, TX, where they are trying to get him into a clinical trial. The treatment is going to cost about $150,000, and it is not covered by insurance. His parents have about $60,000 to get him there and get the treatment started but are desperately trying to raise the additional $90,000.

This family are direct friends of dear friends of mine and are asking for as many people as possible to pray for Elijah-- and also for his mom and dad and brother, Gabriel (8). They need a miracle and would love for others to pray as well.

Though I don't normally do this kind of post, this is all God's work, and I wanted to share this urgent need with you. I've been posting much lately about miracles, and this is one of those big ones... and, we know that NOTHING is impossible for God! Please pray for Elijah and his family. If you would like more information about Elijah, to see more photos of him, or if you have a desire to donate in any way toward his treatment, please visit the site set up by his family. (every $1 adds up... and think "loaves and fishes"! God is in the business of multiplication!)

Our dear heavenly Father, we thank You for this precious life! We pray You would give him and his family a miracle-- that You would heal his little body! We ask for finances for whatever treatment may be available, for wisdom of doctors, for peace and comfort for his family, and for all the glory to go to You for this miraculous provision! Thank You, Jesus, that You love Elijah! Thank You for miracles!

miracles...big and small...

God does two types of miracles:

small miracles and big miracles.

Small miracles, like making a

blind man see or a deaf man hear.

Or big miracles, like changing the seasons

or making grass grow.

~Augustine

witnessing a miracle...

A couple of days ago, I witnessed a miracle. No, really. I did. It was a modern-day miracle.

Miracles, you know, come in all sizes and shapes. Some are big, some are small. Some even seem like "chance happenings." But, we who believe KNOW that God does miracles in our daily lives if we will open our eyes to see them.

My friend, who is a very organized person, could not find a file containing several very important documents. It was not just your run-of-the-mill ordinary important file but one she needed for legal purposes, and there was a very tight timeframe in which to produce it. She had looked in the place where it was supposed to be, and it was nowhere to be found. She looked in any other places where it might be, and it was still nowhere to be found. She spent several days looking for the file, but it was just missing. We kept praying that she'd find it.

With the deadline looming ever nearer, my friend woke up exceptionally early Friday morning with the missing file on her mind. She was very tempted to go the very human reactions of exasperation and frustration and anger... but she refused to let the enemy have any ground in this battle. She refused to go to those "old places" of the flesh and determined she would instead, stand firm against the enemy and find a place of peace...trusting in God no matter the outcome of the search.

She put on her armor, prayed for peace, and went back into the garage to search for the file. She bravely faced the file cabinet, prepared to search through every file in every drawer until she found the one she needed. She opened a drawer, and there-- in the first drawer, in the very front WAS THE MISSING FILE!!!

Seriously! It was a miracle!! And, to me, it was somewhat in the same vein as Jesus turning water into wine... making something out of nothing... or like a lost sheep being found.

To me, it was a very vivid reminder how important are the every-day bits of our lives to our Father. And how He loves showing Himself when we refuse to agree with our flesh and the enemy, when we trust in Him, when we rest in His place of peace.

Thank You, God, for the everyday --yet not so everyday-- miracles in our lives!

To You be all the glory!!

seeing the miraculous...

I have been thinking quite a bit the past few days about miracles... how they are more commonplace than we think--if we but have eyes to see...

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush

afire with God;

But only he who sees

takes off his shoes.

The rest sit round it

and pluck blackberries.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

God, we ask that You would mold us into those who would see Your presence and take off our shoes...

seeing the miraculous in the "common"...

The invariable mark of wisdom is

to see the miraculous in the common.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The common"... being that which we see in every day life...

and do not appreciate for the very miracle that it is.

Just because it is "common"

does not make it any less miraculous...

Like, for instance...

a nut...

or a fruit...

or a rock...

in a shape --a heart--

speaking of a Father's amazing creative love!

Or, draining the "water" from a tree...

to boil down into a gloriously sweet treat
called maple syrup!

Or, to see ducks walking by

with heads of brilliant metallic royal blue...

which, in just a slight turn of their heads,

shine an amazing emerald green!

Or, how a small, strange, papery egg sac stuck to a rock...

will produce hundreds of delightfully garden-loving praying mantises! (manti??) Or how a spring flower pushes its head through the snow and debris
to blossom in the spring sunshine

where no seed was planted ...

but comes up year after year "on its own."
Or, the strikingly amazing rainbow colors...

of an ordinary vegetable which would commonly be green...

These are all "miraculous"

in the common of our every day lives.

I am grateful that we have a Creator who daily

displays miracles for us

if we will have the eyes to see

and hearts to understand!