Hallelujah! The Devil Is On The Run!

"And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith" - 1 John 5:4

We were so excited by the good news from the doctors yesterday that we could hardly go to sleep last night. It was raining blessings all day and we didn't want it to stop. We woke up yesterday morning very encouraged and hopeful. We had that gut feeling that a good report was waiting for us and we couldn't wait to get to Mayo Clinic to talk to the oncologist. We met with a "fellow" doctor who was being supervised by Dr. Johnson. Her name was Dr. Bueno and that was a "good" sign to me!

She showed us the CAT scan from last month side by side with the CAT scan from Thursday on the computer screen. She said they were AMAZED by the results. The infected and enlarged adrenal glands and lymph node where the cancer had spread to had been reduced in size by half! The tumor on the lung did not show much change but Dr. Bueno explained that it was still excellent news that the chemo drugs were having such a dramatic effect on the areas it had spread to. At this rate we can soon focus all attack specifically on the tumor. She said they had never expected such dramatic results. They had only hoped to relieve symptoms and improve Johnny's quality of life.

So we are claiming this battle a victory and marching onward to win this war one step at a time! We have the devil on the run and hereby serve him notice that he can run but cannot hide in Johnny's body. Our friend Connie Hail from Marianna has received a similar report of victory in her own battle against cancer and we are taking her advice as she writes us:

"Needless to say were are shouting the victory...............but are even pressing harder in our prayer time..............the devil would love for us to lighten up because we have had a good report but he has another thing coming................we are going to blast him even harder.........No devil is going to take me down. He has messed with the wrong chick!!! I will live and not die to declare the works of the Lord."

I love her fighting spirit and refusal to be intimidated. She calls and leaves us messages speaking "the word" and has sent us healing verses to read and speak aloud. Her faith is contagious. It is amazing to me how God sends us angels from unexpected places in times of our need. We have never met Connie. She found us through Johnny's highschool friend Kay Trammel who writes often to encourage us.

So many other angels have found their way to us in the forms of friends, family and strangers. We continue to find our mailbox full of cards, letters and surprises. My cousin Maureen Bowdren has started a "relay for life" raising funds for cancer on behalf of friends and family she knows who are battling the disease and ran a track from 8pm til 6am the other evening carrying Johnny's name on a torch. My cousin Robin sent us a delightful "prayer box" she made filled with pieces of paper she had stamped with bible verses and encouragement. The box was covered with butterfly ornaments. This leads me to a story about why butterflies are significant to us.

Last week before Johnny had made a good turn from the chemo storm I brought him upstairs to the computer and read him my latest blog entries and people's comments. During the one entry describing a couple lost at sea and battling to stay alive I started crying while reading it and suddenly we both just burst into tears and clutched each other sobbing. Johnny told me to remember he would find a way to come back to me and always watch over me and protect me. He told me his biggest regret about dying was worrying about who would take care of me when he was gone.

I told him then about a pact that I had made with Scarlett long ago, that in the event of my death that I would come back to watch over her and Johnny and my special sign would be blue roses. That came from my favorite movie as a child called "The Thief of Bagdad." In the movie the "thief" was on an endless quest in search of a rare blue rose to save the princess. So, because blue roses are a rare sight I determined it would be an irrefutable sign to Johnny and Scarlett that it was indeed me! I had never told this to Johnny because i thought he would think it was silly. But last week I finally told him and he loved it.

He thought for a minute what sign he could send and his first idea was butterflies. I said "but butterflies are everywhere!" He just smiled and told me that was the point. So when we got the butterfly box from Robin we looked at each other and smiled. We placed it on what we are now calling our prayer table.

It is the coffee table next to the couch Johnny lays on when we do our "holy healing" sessions. It is filling up quickly. On it we have the healing water from Ephesus given to us by the Carter family. We have our plaque from my bible study teacher Shirley Howell that reads "I believe in miracles." We have holy water from 3 springs in one bottle given by our neighbors The Mayhues. They also have beautiful rose bushes in their yard and keep us supplied with fresh flowers that we put on the table. The Martins family gave us a "prayer blanket" that has been blessed and prayed over and includes a Catholic Rosary in a specially sewn pocket with slips of paper printed with healing verses. We have our healing book of verses from friend Connie Hail. We have our "Faith" plaque from my brother Jeff and wife Kim and kids Andy and Kellie.

Yesterday another treasure arrived from Chipola college. It was an 8X10 picture taken of Johnny and I with his Coach Johnson from his highschool basketball team. Coach Johnson was one of the greatest influences on Johnny's life as a teenager and taught him core fundamental values of life as well as basketball. We framed it immediately and placed it on the prayer table. Between the hundreds of cards from well-wishers and prayer groups and family the entire house is filling up with so much evidence of the Christian spirit surrounding us everywhere we turn!

Johnny sends his heartfelt thanks to all who keep him uplifted and strong in his faith. We also received a card yesterday stamped with "keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows." Thank you Shannon Williams for that thought and your sweet words inside. We hope to meet you one day also. Every card we receive from others is special and such a blessing. It gives Johnny something to look forward to each day. He re-reads each one many times and smiles.

There is only one way to handle such an outpouring and overflow of love. We take it and spread it. Johnny has begun to pray out loud spontaneously for so many people. I love his "man-to-man" conversational style of talking to the Lord. He apologizes for his simple words but I protest and tell him that is EXACTLY how God wants us to speak to Him - heart to heart - friend to friend - son to Father. I believe its not how "pretty" you say it. It's how much you mean what you say.

And so, I encourage each of you to walk towards the light of victory in your own battles of everyday living. Stay strong in YOUR faith. Talk to God everyday and lift your concerns to Him. He can accomplish that which we cannot. He is a promise keeper. He fulfills that which He promises. It is up to us to claim those promises by the simple faith of believing what He says is true. Keep the devil on the run in your own life with a faith that refuses to give him the smallest toehold.

It is a heavenly cause that is worth the battle we get up each day and fight again and again. The good news is - if you fight you will win. So never give up - never, never, never! Keep fighting. Keep winning. Keep the faith.

Beautiful Blessings!