God's Steadfast Love

[ESV] Lamentations 3:21–23

21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;  23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

This beautiful Scripture has repeatedly been called to mind during this ordeal (I am looking forward to preaching about it this Sunday!).

Denise continues to feel better every day. We are very thankful to God and to all who have been praying!

This week has provided some clarity in terms of our path forward. I had a talk with Denise's first surgeon, a wonderful woman who is one of the best anywhere at what she does. She considers it a miracle that the cancer was found when it was (sinus cancer often goes undetected until it gets really bad). She also sees God's hand in how Denise ended up with a top medical team helping her (in the future, we will tell more stories of all the miracles God has done to protect Denise's life). The surgeon said two things that got our attention:

1. She is certain she was not able to remove all of the cancer during the first surgery (she drilled out as much bone as she could without compromising Denise's teeth and palate).

2. This cancer is invasive and aggressive (words not usually associated with squamous cell carcinoma).

Her conclusion was that Denise should absolutely do the second surgery. After prayer and advice, we have felt an increasing peace about that path.

We also felt good about a conversation today with the surgeon who would do the second surgery (I will give more details about the specifics soon). We are still praying for a miracle that would make the surgery unnecessary, but we are grateful for God's healing however it may come. Should the surgery be necessary, it will probably happen in mid-November.

Through all of this, we feel very blessed by the steadfast love of the Lord and of His people. Thank you all so much!

In Christ,

Billy Ford