We would like to thank everyone for your prayers, concerns, acts of kindness, and especially your love through this time of trial for us. The words just don't exist to express our appreciation of how supportive and comforting you have been to us.
We do not believe that it is God's will that anyone should suffer like this, but we also find no where in the Bible that says God will keep you out of harm's way. There are references that speak of what it's like to be in this world but not of it, how the sun shines on the good and evil equally, and how the rain falls on the good and evil alike. So, we all are exposed to the good and bad things of this life.
The Bible does state that God will never leave us nor forsake us. That He will not give us more than we can handle. That He will comfort and strengthen us. That He will lift us up on eagle's wings. And that, most importantly, he loves us so much that He sent His son, Jesus, the only perfect man to walk this earth to die on a cross to take our sins on himself that we may be forgiven and be in God's presence for eternity if we believe in Him. The Bible speaks of this life on earth as being a vapor, just a very short time compared to eternity. If you don't know Jesus, we ask that you seek Him out. Find a good Bible-believing, Christian church, study your Bible (the Book of John is a good place to start), and pray to God that He would reveal himself to you, so that you may know the peace, comfort and love He has for you.
God has performed a miracle. The tumor in Chris's brain was close to invading areas that are used to control his right side motor skills (ability to use his arms and legs), his facial muscles (including being able to swallow), and his speech area. It was so close to these areas that they asked Chris if he could stay awake during surgery so that they could keep a constant watch on maintaining his functionality of these areas. Chris charged ahead with a thumbs up and gave his OK. We didn't find out until later that he is one of a few that they have operated on awake. We had no guarantees going into the operation how it would come out, other than the doctor said he would try not to hurt Chris. Well, Chris came through. God guided the surgeons and gave Chris the strength to stay awake through 80% of the operation. At this point, Chris's motor skills and facial muscles are doing great. It doesn't look like he is going to need physical therapy. While he has some trouble finding bigger words, he is able to communicate quite well. We do have our Chris back! This is truly a miracle!
We are thankful that Chris was able to come home on Saturday. We believe this is another miracle as it was only 3 days after the operation!!! We will be meeting with the doctor on 1/29 to get Chris's stitches out, go over the pathology report, and find out what the next steps are in his recovery. Please keep us in your prayers through this time.
Lastly, I (John) would like to paraphrase a portion of a Bible story about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Before King Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown into the fiery furnace, the king said he would deliver them from this fate if they would just worship his gods and idols. Their response was (paraphrased), "Our God is able to deliver us from the furnace, but even if he decides not to, we will not worship your gods and idols." I have changed this a bit for application to Chris's situation. Our God is able to deliver Chris from this tumor, but even if He decides not to, we will still love and honor God.
May God bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and give you peace.
Thank you so much for everything.
John and Jeanne
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5 comments:
Thank you so much for your strenght and faithfullness through this time - I love you all dearly and am proud to call you family through Christ (Plus the basic adoption of my childhood ;)
What a well written, beautiful post. Your faith and love of the Lord is inspiring. It is so awesome to see the faithfulness of God even in the hardest of times. Thank you for your honesty, your example and your faith.
My biggest prayer for your family and especially Chris is that you will all feel the presence and faithfulness of God like you never have before.
What a beautiful message, you hit it on the head when you said that know matter what we are still going to Honor God. My prayers continue to be with you all.
Hi Mr. & Mrs. Caswell,
We were thinking of coming up Tuesday night, could you post how & Chris you are feeling on visitors and what time is too late, days work best...or is there a number to call you could get to us through Andy B?
Thanks, our love and prayers,
Nick, Casey & Mason
What a beautiful testament to the Love of Christ that even in the darkness we can witness the light. Dave & I will keep you all in our prayers continually. God Bless this blog for keeping us all close and God Bless Chris and family for walking through all of this with the Lord. Love, Dave & Bonnie
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