Friday, June 27, 2014

He Has Done Everything Well

People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," Mark 7:37

Our family headed out on our summer vacation today. Because of the baby, we decided to fly to Colorado rather than drive. So, in less than a day, we went from hot, humid home to the cool temperatures of Estes Park and YMCA of the Rockies. We made a few stops on the way from the airport to the YMCA grounds and didn’t check in until nearly midnight.

We had rented two cars and Don had been a few minutes ahead of me. By the time we reached the registration parking lot, Mariel was running out to tell me which cabin we had and that we had been in it before. There are A LOT of cabins on the YMCA property, so to be in the same one twice is pretty unlikely.

Don led the way in the dark. I followed him up the asphalt paved roads and then to the dirt road that wound its way to our cabin.

In the dark, I REMEMBERED. I remembered which cabin it was. I remembered what God had promised me as I stood on the porch almost seven years ago TO THE DAY (see that post here.) I was completely overcome.

God had kept His promise to me. EVERY LAST DETAIL. He meant what He said and it was me that over thought and over analyzed. The majority of the things I wrestled with over the years in this blog were me trying to make more out of what He had said than simply WHAT HE SAID:

“The next time you are HERE, you will have another child.”

We had been back to the YMCA of the Rockies twice since I had heard that promise! And twice I had felt sorely let down by God.

Here was not the YMCA of the Rockies in general. Here was the exact same porch I had been standing on!!

The promise of Hope when I had cancer was a REMINDER of that promise, not a REVELATION. And, amazingly, I had forgotten!

What a glorious, awesome, humbling experience to hold my son on THAT porch!!

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day 2014

I am so grateful to the MD Anderson Proton Center for the part they played in treating my cancer. God used the precise nature of the proton beam therapy to keep my body healthy and ultimately contribute to the miracle of Max! They took this picture of Max and me that Don had taken and posted it on the MD Anderson Proton Center Facebook page in honor of Mother's Day.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Meet Maxwell Davis Allen


He has made everything beautiful in its time. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Advent: Week of Peace Testimony

Since God spoke to me at Advent, during the Week of Peace, I have been praying that He would give me an opportunity to give my testimony during Advent about Hope. Today, I had that priveledge:

Christmas is a special time for me for so many reasons. Sharing time with family and friends and, above all, celebrating Christ.

During the Christmas season of 2008, our church family of Trinity became especially meaningful because they lifted up my family and I while I was fighting stage four lymphoma.

Those who walked with us through the trial hopefully can remember the peace God gave me as the Holy Spirit had promised me even before my diagnosis that fall that I would be cured.

But at Thanksgiving, I lost a cousin who was fighting cancer and doing relatively well, and my faith in this promise wavered.

The next Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the week of Hope. During the week of Hope, we focus on God’s promises. God used those who led worship that day to remind me of God’s promise of healing for me personally and to restore my faith. He also chose that day to make another promise to me, to undergird my hope for my future. God promised that He would give me another child.

What I have learned since then about God’s promises is that they do not always come without pain. Fighting cancer was not pretty. It was painful and difficult. As a family, we had to make sacrifices and difficult decisions. But because I had his promise of healing, we had His peace in our lives through it all.

God’s promises do not come in our timing, but his perfectly orchestrated plan. When I get impatient waiting on God, He reminds me of Sarah and Abraham, and what can happen when we try to take God’s promises into our own hands.

And, God’s promises don’t always look like what we think they will. Blessings come in all different shapes and sizes. We cannot always predict what health, wealth or happiness will truly look like. But the only way we can find them is if we delight in the Lord (Psalm 37:4).

If we truly trust God at His promises, we can rest in peace, knowing that He is faithful to keep His promises to us. Whether they are directly from the Holy Spirit to you or directly from His Word:
For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee (Hebrews 13:5)

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. 2 Timothy 1:6-8

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40:31).
After being healed from cancer, as I looked for this “child of hope” that God had promised, I struggled with all of these things. Waiting is painful. I didn’t want to miss what God had for our family, and I was sure because of the toll chemo and radiation had taken on my body, it was through the process of adoption. The idea of “finding” that child at the right place and the right time was overwhelming at times. And, then, nearly four and a half years after God made his promise to me, I found out through one of my routine cancer check ups that I was pregnant.

Now that we are living in the midst of the fulfillment of this promise, I love to see the creativity of God in His timing. And as we await this child’s birth while we celebrate the coming of Jesus, I can relate to what the Israelites went through as they waited for the Messiah to come.

He had been promised. But waiting was painful. Where would he come from? How would they know when they had found Him?

And I can relate to Simeon and Anna, who were given the honor of seeing the promise of Messiah fulfilled as Jesus was dedicated in the temple. Simeon said in Luke 2:29-32:

29 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,
According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 A LIGHT [l]OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”

Jesus is God’s ultimate fulfillment of His greatest promise to us: that of salvation. God keeps his promises. He is faithful. Trust in him. Wait on Him. Fervently look for His promises to be fulfilled in your life.

Five years ago, as I sat listening to the Holy Spirit speak through those ministering on stage about Hope, God restored my hope. Today, as we are reminded of the fulfillment of God’s promises of salvation through Christ, I pray, in whatever way you need it in this moment, He will give you His peace.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

We call him "Jojo"

Say hello to our precious baby:


The ultrasound tech says he is "absolutely perfect"!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The Big Reveal


We kept the baby a secret for 15 weeks until we had confirmation in the form of multiple blood tests and ultrasounds that everything looked good.

We shouldn't have been surprised... This was God's promise, right?

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Whom Shall I Fear

To say I am not afraid would be a lie. I don't know the implications of having a PET scan in early pregnancy. Of all the times...

Fear wells up in me frequently each day as I allow myself to think about all the what ifs that have not yet come to be.

It is as if God stands over me with a "fear extinguisher". Sort of like a fire extinguisher, but whenever fear starts to well up in me, He sprays me with it, and, truly, my fear disappears.

He has given me "Whom Shall I Fear", by Chris Tomlin, as a song and I am worshipping Him with all my heart as I sit here at Marshall's first of three baseball games today:

You hear me when I call
You are my morning song
Though darkness fills the night
It cannot hide the light

Whom shall I fear

You crush the enemy
Underneath my feet
You are my sword and shield
Though troubles linger still

Whom shall I fear

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

My strength is in Your name
For You alone can save
You will deliver me
Yours is the victory

Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the whole world in Your hands
I'm holding on to Your promises

You are faithful
You are faithful

And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the hold world in your hands
I'm hold on to your promises

You are faithful
You are faithful
You are faithful

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The God of angel armies
Is always by my side