Wendy's Aaron and Hur

Today didn't go quite as Wendy had expected, or how we had prayed. Wendy's hemoglobin did not miraculously increase over the past week. In fact, it decreased again significantly- so much that it is impressive she is upright! I teased her today that she has a pet vampire living under her bed! Needless to say, she earned herself a seat in the infusion chair today for a transfusion. The procedure took about 3 hours, and went smoothly. There are no anticipated (negative) side-effects, and she shouldn't have to return to the Dr. until her next appointment on the 21st. 

In the meantime, I suspect she will feel like a million bucks tomorrow considering how low her counts were, but in the meantime, it was a tough pill to swallow. Every delivery of "hard news" is a reminder to Andy and Wendy that things aren't the way they planned or hoped. A reminder of the fact that there is cancer in her body. A reminder that cancer is stealing from them. These are hard moments with tears, when our hearts are screaming on the inside and quite possibly out loud too! We KNOW God has a perfect plan, that He has NOT looked away. (Quite possibly today the plan is that she will FEEL better.) However the human emotion of disappointment is not quite so easily explained away...

When I texted with her this afternoon to see how she was doing, she responded that she was doing well-mom on one side and dad on the other. (Andy was with her this am too!) It immediately brought to my mind the story of Aaron and Hur in the book of Exodus. The Israelites were facing their first major battle in the wilderness, Joshua leading the troops. Moses had realized, as he watched from a nearby hill, that when he lifted his arms (and staff) toward God, Joshua and his army were winning the battle. If he lowered them, they began losing. Eventually, Moses became weary, and so Aaron and Hur responded by holding up his arms until the Israelites were able to finally defeat their enemies. Moses was a hero in this story, and his strength came from accepting help from his friends- two men God had ordained to be with him on that hill. 

At this point in the battle, both Andy and Wendy have days, like today, where it feels like holding up their hands toward the heavens is simply too much to bear. They KNOW God is waging war for them against cancer, but the fight is exhausting. God has ordained our friendship- the ability, the privilege, the responsibility of standing alongside Andy and Wendy on this battlefield, so that on days like these, we can say sit, rest, let us hold you up. Your intercessions to God on their behalf are heard. Your texts, calls and Facebook notes are each a tangible reminder that they are not alone. You are Wendy's Aaron and Hur. Though the battle wages on, her victory is certain.

Blessings-K