John is selling life insurance this summer, and needs to dress in suit and tie each day... this is a familiar look for him after years of speech. He also had in junior high taken the preppy look wearing dress shirts and ties to school... then it became the fad to wear dress shirts... so he quit. He has always wanted to follow his own beat as far as dressing - stand out from the crowd. The other morning he came down - very proud of the tie he had found at a second hand store, but also wearing the glasses that remind us of the scary time 2 summers ago... when we discovered that John had cancer in the center of his brain!
He thought that the glasses added to his "educated/nerdy" look, but they remind us of the desperate couple weeks that we tried to discover why he had increasingly bad double vision. He had an old eye injury that we thought was flairing up, so we had made 2 visits to eye doctors and ended up with glasses and contacts...yet it continued to get worse! Finally on Father's day 2 years ago... we found ourselves in the ER here in Marshall, and after a CT scan heard the terrifying news that there was something in his brain! 
How wonderful to be now over 2 years later, and to have a year and a half of that without cancer! While we were in the trenches of the battle from Father's Day through his stem cell transplant January and February... we were being carried and lifted up into strong arms by all the prayers that surrounded us! We were as it is stated in the Gospel today..."At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him." We felt such peace and acceptance and trust and hope as we were placed before Christ by our friends and our prayer warriors by the thousands! There are many powerful things about caringbridge.org... the way that people wrote us about their prayers for us... one big high point was the week of prayer in the first week of December. There are still stories of people's prayer experiences that touch us deeply from that week! But also to see the numbers, day after day, that checked in and represented much prayer and concern that absolutely was mind blowing. For John it allowed him to be a strong and confident David in the face of the Giant Goliath - Cancer! 
Then there was also his family... How we came together and cared for his every need - most importantly placing him in prayer and through the amazing sacraments of Our Church... we brought John to HIM! It was "sunset" - the end of the day- in many hearts and minds to hear that a 20 year old man has lymphoma of the brain... well, it is a death sentence! I had a sister die of lymphoma at 28yo, and for me to hear that John had it in his brain was out of this world scary! How could he survive? We discovered early on with the help of Susan/Hallel - "Mom, this is the storm and Jesus is in control...give it all to HIM!"
PRAYER... so many prayers took us before Christ at sunset! Now we embrace the healing and so many rejoice with us! "It is a miracle!" Yes, we see in John a deeper faith and joy and acknowledging the Truth that has set him free! He struggled to know in his heart and mind and soul the reality of faith in Christ and in His Church, and that is now replaced with sure knowledge and love of HIM! Our Spiritual Mother also has touched John deeply, and he now loves her and honors her profoundly! 
John can say now without hesitation - "Thank you for your prayers, and please continue... because of them and because you brought me to HIM - I am healed!"
Lord Jesus, with Our Lady at your side, we love you, and thank you, and praise you for the healing we have experienced in our lives through the prayers of our friends and family! We are so deeply touched by you, our loving Savior, Your Mother, Queen of Heaven and Earth, Our Church that blesses us with the Sacraments and the Your Word, and the prayers and faith and hope of all those - our family and friends! The world has changed to one of healing, and Light, and Life. We embrace the "new normal" that has become our lives of healing. WE now go forward "proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God!" Christ is within us, and loves us with his life, and wants to show us the path to heaven! Jesus, we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb"I will trust in the mercy of God for ever."
"I like a green olive tree
in the house of God,
Trust in the mercy of God
forever and ever.
I will trust in the mercy of God for ever
I will thank you always for what you have done,
and proclaim the goodness of your name
before your faithful ones.
I will trust in the mercy of God for ever."
Psalm 52
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,"
Luke 4: 18
All but Gus... just wanted to "see" the family together.
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