Sunday, January 15, 2012

my favourite things/new beginnings

Danielle
her beauty shines
from within

it always did

a young girl
with enough life and joy
to keep one smiling
long after she's flitted
off to dance
or play

a young wife
a young mom
the beauty
ever  present
and when her  world
would seem to fall
away...

His beauty holds her up
The One who always did
and always will...
still...holds her up

He remains the same
and in His love
He promises He will be there

so the beauty remains
and always
will

and I marvel
and weep

for
all
this
beauty

Danielle
her beauty
by God's grace

my favourite things

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Here is a part of her story... be blessed
We also ask your prayers



Bigger than me!

The day before we were to receive the results of the biopsy, my Dad, heavy-hearted, drove to work, to share Christ's love with the men locked away in the Kamloops Correctional Centre. About 18 men filled the chapel that day. And Dad says, "they sang their guts out!".
After a time of singing, they usually take time for prayer requests. Dad, stood in front of these men, their lives full of hurt. Dad's life was hurting too. He began by asking them if they might pray for him that day, and pray for me.
A man stood up... and Dad's heart sank. This was not the sort of man Dad would've chosen to bring the name of his little girl before the Throne of God. He was hard and scarred and mean.
They all bowed their heads and waited to hear what this man could possibly have to say.
"Dear God, I know I don't talk to you very often...", he began. And then, Dad said, he could not believe the prayer that proceeded to come out of his mouth! This man who could be described a lot like this: "despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not", this man, began to plead with God... for me!
As he cried out to God to remove this disease from my body, my Dad looked up to see tears streaming down his tattooed face. He glanced around the room to the other inmates, rough, wounded men, weeping with heads bowed... for my Dad... for me!
The man sat down, and Dad, looking into the faces of each one there, told them, "the world out there thinks you guys are nothing, worthless, the scum of the earth, but you have shown me today that you have hearts of compassion and love!"
A prisoner came up to my Dad, following chapel, put his hand on Dad's shoulder and said, "He's gonna heal her, Rev. Cause we need a miracle in here."

... This is so much bigger than me!

What a miracle it would be that, through my Dad, my life, MY life, my LIFE could somehow touch a prisoner's soul and let him know that he is LOVED, that he is FORGIVEN, that he is WORTHY OF LOVE regardless of what he has done... and maybe that knowledge could actually set him FREE!

12 comments:

  1. Danielle's story as related at the end of your poem illustrates in such a powerful way the danger of writing off the "unlovely", of "esteeming them stricken of God". How many treasures are hidden in earthen vessels that seem to have no redeemable value . . . forgive us LORD for turning away for such as these.

    Standing with you in prayer for Danielle and her loved ones.

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    1. Thank you Andrea for your prayers... many of us agreeing together

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  2. What struck me is that Danielle wanted her healing for the man to get his. "Delight thyself also in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Ps. 37:4 I'd say this qualifies. How precious!

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    1. I know eh Dawn!!! blessed me out of my socks! Standing on holy ground!

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  3. wow. just wow. that gets the tears flowing down this unscarred un-tatooed face as well. such an amazing ministry. and testimony.

    God does restore, our health and our lives. blessings to you!

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    1. glad you could witness here with us this amazing 'God glory'
      May He be praised and honoured through all our lives.

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  4. Oh my....I think the above comments express my feelings-I don't have the proper words right now.
    Thank you so much for sharing this-this post needs to be shouted from the rooftop.
    Love, Debra

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    1. Like Jesus said, if the children don't praise Me, the rocks and hills will rise up to do so...
      Let's shout from the rooftops together that our God is a Mighty God! Thanks Debra!

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  5. Beautiful story, wonderful and humbling.We know a miracle working God.

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  6. a post from Danielle at http://www.facebook.com/pages/NewLife-A-New-Beginning/271762069554170

    More Infearmation

    Today we met with our oncologist. The cancer is now considered Stage 3. They have not yet completed all the tests to see if it has attached to any other organs, which, if it has, would bring it to it's final stage of 4.
    From the MRI results, there is a very large tumour with a large blood vessel feeding into it, along with a couple more tumours in my breast. Many lymph nodes are also full of cancer.
    This is an aggressive, fast growing cancer, not run by hormones like most breast cancers are, but by a protein called HER2.
    I will begin chemo treatments next week, on Thursday, the 2nd.
    If all is clear in the rest of my body, the chemo will go on for 4 1/2 months and then my breast will be removed as well as many, if not all of the lymph nodes on that side. After surgery, I will undergo a month of radiation, five days a week. THEN, they are proposing putting me back on chemotherapy.

    I tried to absorb all of the potential side effects that this chemo treatment will bring. I think I've gone numb.

    As Chloe says every night, "I want my normal life back."

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  7. I must enter this along with the above comment... it has been a year and our hearts rejoice in what our Lord has done for a whole year extra. Danielle's mom wrote this today:
    I am bursting with gratefulness!!!! The xrays of the lump in Danielle's back came back 'all clear', nothing to report!!!! AND her tumor is SHRINKING!!!! We have measured it and it is several centimeters smaller and getting smaller all the time. I just want to run screaming down the street.
    -----------------------
    Thank you Lord for each day you give, for every breath... each one Your gift. We are truly thankful!

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