“Pray for Jeff”

 A post on Facebook from Haley.  Thanks for joining our family in prayer!

​

Mark 9:23 

 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

 

I'm not on FB much these days, but when a need arrives and prayers from the saints of God become more important than my "anti-social" tendencies, it's time to reach out.

 

To make a long story short on Aug 13, I took Jeff to the ER with stomach pain that wasn't going away. After scans, they decided to admit him and operate the next day. They suspected his appendix had ruptured but were uncertain. After surgery, they concluded that his appendix had indeed ruptured and found a Mucinous Adenocarcinoma of the appendix. (A "glue-like" tumor that had grown inside the appendix...and now had attached itself to his pelvic wall.) They also had to take about 6 inches of the small and 6 inches of the large intestine. He was in the hospital for a week. The doctors made it clear that chemo was in his future because they couldn't say whether they got all the cancer cells out or not. They did all they knew to do, but the cells are microscopic and are unseen to the eye and even to scans.

 

After much prayer, and extra time to sit here and seek the Father, we decided that God was leading us down the chemo road. I'm a big fan of natural medicine. I believe that the organic foods that God made are our medicine. I have a garden and grow herbs and fully believe in the power of food that God gave us. (Which I will be giving him daily!!)  I also know that God gave us doctors and modern medicine. While we hate the thoughts of chemo, hate the thoughts of something so unnatural going in his body, we understand this truth...if God is bigger than our storms, if he can calm the waves with a whisper, if he's bigger than cancer, he's also bigger than chemo.

 

We believe that God is going to use this treatment to do more than save his life right now. God has plans that he hasn't fully revealed to us yet, and that's ok. We are trusting him every step of the way and will follow his voice, no matter how crazy it sounds to us or anyone else. His voice is the only one that matters.

 

With that said, Monday, Jeff had his first chemo treatment. It was terrifying and I won't go into all the details but in the midst of the terror...God showed up as soon as we opened His Word. Peace was found in the crashing waves. He whispered and the waves were still. We know God has a plan. A good plan. A plan bigger and better than our hearts could ever conceive. We give Him glory for all He has done, for all He will do, and for keeping us in the palm of His hand...just like He said He would. Here's how you can help: Pray.

 

Pray that God continues the healing process, and that the chemo will kill only what God wants it to kill. Pray that the side effects are none. Pray that God's will be done. Pray that our strength will be renewed every day. Pray for our minds and thoughts...that they stay on the Father and His purpose, will, and plan. Pray that we can kick Satan in the butt one good time! We thank you all for the prayers you will pray. They mean the world to us. Thanks for battling alongside us. I'll keep you posted. We love you.

 

- Haley

 

Contributors: Joe & Dawn Barrett, Jeff & Haley Rowland, Megan & Adley Shuford, and Heather Barr.