Friday, March 30, 2012

Our Story

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

It is literally impossible for me to describe to you all the things that has happened to Sarah and I in the last two years. But I will try to share with you where it all began. In July 2010, God began to deal with Sarah and I. I had started preaching a series of messages at the Church on divine healing. I had always believed strongly in the power of healing but for the most part I had not seen too much in the supernatural. While I was studying the Word of God on the Subject the Holy Spirit told me to read the Book of Job. After reading the first 7 chapters I realized that I needed to get back to my subject of healing, after all, Job was not about healing but about suffering. I immediately turned to the Book of James chapter 5 and the first verse that I saw was verse 11, "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." Now God had my attention. What was going on? Why was this happening to me? A weird feeling came over me as if God was trying to tell me something. Suffering? Me? I had always believed that suffering was always from the devil and that blessings were always from God. But could God actually be wanting me to go through some type of suffering?

Well, shortly after this Sarah had a doctors appointment and was told that she had Renal Cell Cancer (cancer of the kidney). We were floored to hear this but our doctor, who is a Christian, told us that there was absolutely nothing to worry about because all they had to do was to remove the kidney and she would function very normally for the rest of her life. We were relieved to hear this news. Then, in September of 2010 Sarah was scheduled to do lab work in preparation on the surgery. After reviewing the blood work they found something disturbing. She was immediately sent to a specialist for tests. After the test results came back I received a call from Sarah telling me that the Doctor wanted her to go immediately to the U-Mass Medical Center and begin immediate chemo-therapy because she has leukemia. Not just any leukemia, she had the worst form...Acute Myeloid Leukemia. There was only a 30% survival rate for this cancer.

I want to say that I felt that God had prepared me for this but that was not true. I was floored! I told her not to go and that we would stand together in agreement to pray for a miracle. Her doctors pleaded with us not to do this because if Sarah got the slightest cold or cough it could turn fatal. This was on Thursday, September 23, 2010. She came home and we prayed. It was hard telling our family and friends the news. I felt lost as to what to do next. Upon advice from our Doctor and our District Pastor, Bob Wise, we decided to bring Sarah before our Church the following Sunday for prayer and if by Tuesday she remained the same then we would go into the hospital.

News about Sarah spread to all our friends and family and it quickly overwhelmed us. I felt led of the Lord to start a daily blog to keep everyone informed as to what was going on...I never expected that the blog would turn into telling my own personal story of what we were going through. Tuesday came and we were told that nothing had changed. I felt disappointed in God because I so wanted to see her healed from this...now we had to go through it. We met with Dr. Nath on Wednesday morning at 8 am across the street from the hospital. Sarah had her bags with her ready to begin a 6-8 week hospital stay with intense chemo-therapy. Little did we know that God was taking us both on a life changing journey that would change our lives. Her treatments lasted nearly a year but through it all God showed Himself powerful to us. Everyday God showed up! God began to reveal His true nature to me in a way I had never before known. Trials turned into great triumphs. About halfway through the journey we were encouraged by a dear friend to get the blogs published. This became another miracle when Tate Publishing agreed to contract to us a book entitled, "Weak in Body, Strong of Heart."

We have learned that God can test our faith and release in us life changing miracles if we are willing to trust Him. The journey has changed our lives as well as our trust and dependence upon God!
Romans 8:18 is true in every way... "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

What is your story? Never be afraid to ask God why...He always has a purpose in all that He does.

Thanks for listening,

Pastor Kent



2 comments:

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  2. I have followed your journey from the first word. May your writings touch the world the way you've both touched my heart! xoxo

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