STAGE 3

Seems like the stubble is hanging on for the moment, so I'm not gonna get that nice shiny, smooth head after all. So, I think we are off. They say 4-6 months for renewal. My fervent prayer is that by some miracle, I could have an inch of growth in less than 4 months (for the wedding). I would rather have a close cropped "military cut" for the wedding than the wig that is not me (I'll show you that soon and you'll agree). 

Ordered a few turbans and I am good to go!

STAGE 2

We got to stage 2 yesterday. Still lots of stubble. Hate to think I am shedding hair all over my food and house but I am pretty sure that's happenin'! Ha!!

STAGE 1

FRIDAY NOON HOUR ACTIVITY:

Richie and I decided to start easy and get the feel for the new look. He went down to 1/2 inch. This I could live with! But no, the 1/2 inch stubble is still falling out. I'm guessing that by Sunday, we could see a shine. 

GULP

Clumps of hair are filling my wastebaskets. One finger-brush through my scalp yields a good 30-50 strands, I suppose. I look at the heap piling up and I think, well, if I just don't touch it, maybe half of it won't be lost. 

My scalp feels like it is on fire. They told me that would happen from the radiation. No remedy.

I am not ready for Richie to get out his shaver yet.

I imagine that I am not unlike most. There is that image in the mirror that is the us that we know. Familiarity.

I am the least vain woman on the planet when it comes to hair. I keep it super short so that out of the shower I basically "shake it out" and go. I am very low maintenance. My hair is not my "crowning glory" and I don't labor over it ever.

And yet.

It is hair. It is mine. It covers me.

ACS let me choose a wig. There was nothing that was "me." I got one closest to my style but I don't like it. It is wiggy. It is artificial. It is not me.

I think I will stick to trying to find some pretty turbans or caps.

My sister-in-law Shirleen, who walked cancer's path 20 years ago (and won), assured me that she knows someone who can make me something elegant and beautiful to wear for Sam's wedding. I don't want pictures that will show "mop-head wig."

And so there are some tears in my near 48 hours, I am afraid. They will need to be released, and then I will be OK.

God's Holy Word says in Luke 12:7 that God has numbered the very hairs on my head. I believe every word God says in His Scriptures. If He said it, He meant it. And so Richie and I prayed last night that in His infinite mercy, He would return the exact same number to every follicle.

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY

AMBER WAVES OF GRAIN

I am so humbled that “there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). I am so grateful that I have a God who can take my anger and my insults and my why-have-you-forsaken-me screams and only whisper in my ear…

Daughter, it’s OK. No guilt. I made you and I understand you and your hurt. I felt forsaken too once. You’re OK. I know you love me. I’ve got you in my arms. Get it out. I love you with an everlasting love. Every word of your anger….past, present and future…..was forgiven at the foot of my cross. There is no condemnation.

The amber glow of God’s face.

His face of pure grace.

Soft waves blowing words from the Lord from Georgia to SD, as my best friend, who has been given the spiritual gift of knowledge, calls with things God has put on her heart for us. When she asks the Holy Spirit to impart a word to someone through her, she speaks truth.

She said that God wants us right now to rest in Him. That He sees we are battle-weary. He wants us to know the battle is His. We are to take Romans 8:26 and know it as a living reality. When we just don’t know the words to pray, the Holy Spirit inside of us is groaning in words that cannot be expressed on earth to the throne room of the Father, making our needs known.

We are to rest and let Him do the battle.

I was immediately led to 2 Chron 2:15, 17, where the Spirit of the Lord said to King Jehoshaphat, fearing the Ammonites waging war around him: DO NOT BE AFRAID OR DISCOURAGED BECAUSE OF THIS VAST ARMY (brain tumors). FOR THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS, BUT GOD’S. YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO FIGHT THIS BATTLE; TAKE UP YOUR POSITIONS; STAND FIRM AND SEE THE DELIVERANCE THE LORD WILL GIVE YOU.

Rest.

Waves.

Waves of blessed peace.

Our inner circle of prayer warriors has notched it up around us with incredible love and support and powerful prayer. Two men that we just met in December in Iowa have been faithfully calling on conference calls to pray and rebuke the enemy. One night they called each other and prayed for nearly 2 hours just for me!

My dear friend Cole who also has been imparting words of knowledge from Lord sends me email prayers and encouragement that make me weep. Yesterday she said almost the EXACT same thing to us, verbatim, that our men friends said on the phone the night before. It gave me chills. All in context that cancer has become the medical Goliath in our culture today. And he is slayable. God gave both of them that word-picture for me to hang onto.

My faithful Ben and Hur, Mary Ruth and Julie, so on fire for us for healing, so unrelenting in faith standing with us, warring.

When the ancient Israelites offered up their grain on the altars, they were thanking the Lord for his mercies and for supplying their needs.

Grain.

SIT UP AND TAKE NOTICE

Satan, with his evil intent to "steal, kill and destroy" (John 10:10) the lives of God's children, can take his vile brain tumors and stick them where the sun don't shine.

More to come.