"Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street." Lamentations 2:19
Will you join me and the Lonoke County Community for a most historical prayer event? Fathers, mothers, grandparents, friends and teachers will join together for an evening of prayer for all of Lonoke County.
We will be praying for the spirit of death to be removed from our community. We have had 18 deaths, children age 19 and down, die in Lonoke County in the past three months. It is time we stand as a community and pray together!
When? The actual prayer time is tonight from 7:00-8:00 p.m. But any prayers, anytime would be appreciated!
I interrupt the new house tour to bring you some important news. I do not like politics, especially after all we have seen over the past year. However, our nation is getting ready to face a critical moment in time. Tomorrow is election day. No matter who wins, we know things are going to get ugly. They are predicting this election to be close. This means roughly half of us will have the "Don't blame me, I didn't vote for ___________" chip on our shoulder. I'm not sure which will be worse, all the campaigning these previous years or the out lash that will happen after all the votes are counted. People will hold tight to their convictions and to the passion they had voting for their candidate and will sit back, pick apart and complain when their candidate doesn't win. And it doesn't matter which side you are on, it's going to happen. I challenge you to be the exception. Let's lay claim to a greater authority than the man in the oval office and whose higher allegiance transcends American politics.
I received this powerful information from a friend, who got it from Ragamuffin Soul. I found it very convicting and it helped me to see what I need to do. I need to pray and now I have some direction - I need to pray backwards. Will you join me?
All of the following is taken straight from his website.
I have not seen division like the one I see within the American church walls, ever. I think we need to hold tight to our moral and spiritual values, but the division that is in the air right now is MASSIVE. I honestly believe God himself is looking down upon his church and crying. So what should we do? We should pray.
Those who are voting for Obama should pray blessings over McCain. Those who are voting for McCain should be praying blessings upon Obama. We should stop moaning and complaining about inexperience, Alaska, taxes, teenage pregnancy, terrorists, wardrobes, racism, and Katie Couric. We in turn need to pray.
Pray for what? PRAY NONPARTISAN 1. Pray our leaders would grow in faith. 2. Pray our leaders would grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. 2. Pray for their marriages. 3. Pray for their children. 4. Pray for those around them. 5. Pray for their emotional and physical health. 6. Those on the left pray for McCain. 7. Those on the right pray for Obama.
We will continue tomorrow with the new house tour!
Brian Hamilton received his ultimate healing tonight. He has left this world and is with Jesus, free of pain, free of cancer...healed. Healed. HEALED!
Please be in prayer for all of the family. I will not be traveling up there this weekend as planned. I may try to go to the service, but will depend on what is going on with our house sale. If I don't make it for the service, I plan to go up there some weekend soon.
Here is a message from Kristina, "When Jesus is ready to take him, I will be ready to let go. I am at peace with this and know that he will be healed once in the presence of God. I talked with Makayla last night, and she is a trooper! She looked me in the eye and told me to keep the faith and not lose hope. And here I've been worried about talking to her! Anyway, continue to pray for a peace with Brian and plenty of grace for the rest of the family."
My sister, Cynthia, heard a song on the radio this morning. She said it touched her heart, even before knowing what today would bring. Here are the lyrics.
Weak and wounded sinner, lost and left to die O, raise your head, for love is passing by Come to Jesus, come to Jesus Come to Jesus and live!
Now your burden's lifted and carried far away, And precious blood has washed away the stain. So, sing to Jesus, sing to Jesus, Sing to Jesus and live!
And like a newborn baby, don't be afraid to crawl And remember when you walk, sometimes we fall... So, fall on Jesus, fall on Jesus Fall on Jesus and live!
Sometimes the way is lonely and steep and filled with pain. So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then Cry to Jesus, cry to Jesus Cry to Jesus and live!
Oh and when the love spills over and music fills the night And when you can't contain your joy inside, then Dance for Jesus, dance for Jesus Dance for Jesus and live!
And with your final heartbeat, kiss the world goodbye Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and Fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus Fly to Jesus and live!
Brian is getting sicker by the day. It has been amazing to see just how quickly this cancer has progressed. Part of which we feel is an answer to prayer, because we have asked God to not make Brian linger and continue to be in pain any longer than necessary.
Kristina has been very emotional. It's getting very real. They brought in a hospital bed today. Tonight he will not be in the bed with her and maybe not ever again. She is also very exhausted. She was supposed to have The Talk with Makayla tonight. So far, they haven't told her the seriousness. But tonight at dinner, Makayla made a comment and said, "When Daddy gets better, we're going to do something special." They knew it was time to tell her. I was brought to tears tonight just thinking about how it would feel for me to have that conversation with Rachel. I cannot even begin to imagine having to do that.
My sister has even more posted over at her blog if you want to read more. She told me tonight that she was reading from the booklet that Hospice gave Kristina. It maps out exactly what to expect and about when to expect it with Brian's particular cancer. It lays out a time line that helps you gage about how much time is left. Cynthia said that from reading it, she is guessing Brian has one to two weeks left. And to think, less than a month ago his doctor said he had four to six months left.
Sorry if this is disjointed, but my mind is muddled with emotion. I wanted to get this update out so people can be praying for them. All you prayers are greatly appreciated. I am going up there this weekend to spend some time with my sister. So, I quit now for fear of rambling on...
Our extended family got some bad news this week. I can only ask any and all of you who stop by here to say prayers for the Hamilton family.
Kristina Hamilton is my sister's (Cynthia) husband's sister. She is married to Brian and they have one daughter, Makayla (7) and one son, Braedon (2.5). A little over three years ago Brian was diagnosed with Melanoma, which was contained to one lymph node and removed. He was going for check ups every six months. This past Thanksgiving, he went back because he had started having severe headaches. The news wasn't good. Two tumors were found in his brain. He started an agressive radiation treatment and went back last week to see how it was working. Well, it wasn't. In fact, the tumors had grown by 30% and he has been very sick. He is battling nausea, headaches and personality changes. This past Thursday he suffered his first seizure. And in the last month, he has lost 30 pounds.
One tumor is in the front lobe and is about the size of a quarter in diameter. This tumor is in the part of the brain that controls personality. The tumor and radiation is causing swelling, which is causing his personality shift. The other tumor is in the back of the brain and about the size of a double yolk egg. After seeing that the radiation has not worked, his doctor told him that baring a miracle, he had about six months left.
Please pray for this family. Kristina and I are the same age. She said she feels like God has been preparing her for this since he was first diagnosed over three years ago. She is amazingly strong right now. Makayla knows her Daddy has cancer and that it has something to do with his head. Beyond that, I don't know if she knows the severity. Kristina said she will be told things on a needs to know basis. Braedon was a big Daddy's boy before Brian got real sick. Now he won't have anything to do with his Daddy. I'm sure he is scared.
Pray for a miracle. We know God is capable, but should He chose not to heal Brian, please pray for mercy. Pray he won't have to suffer and he can get some normalcy back and spend quality, fun time with his kids and Kristina.
This has really hit home for me and my sister, Cynthia. We lost our father when he was 37, the same age as Brian. Cynthia was 13 at the time and I was 8...almost the same age as Makayla. It isn't anything you want a child to have to go through, I can still remember how hard it was on me and my sister. I also think of my family now. I don't know what I would do if I lost Jon Paul. He is the love of my life and a great husband and father. All this just brings everything into perspective and you realize just how precious life is. Thanks in advance for all your prayers...
