Monday, May 10, 2010

Updates, Thoughts, Reflections and Urgent Prayer Requests for Amanda McDaniel and Her Family














~ Since February or March Amanda has stopped all chemo treatment because none of it was very effective in stopping the cancer. The cancer would continue to push through the chemo effects and grow.

These past few months have been hard for the family and friends, but Amanda continues to pull through each day! However, from word of Mrs. McDaniel, her life on earth might be coming to a close. She has been growing weaker daily, yet is always trusting in God no matter the pain or discomfort she feels!

As this week starts it might be her last, yet the doctors have yet to confirm because she could live up into early June.

Please continue to keep Amanda and her family and friends in prayer as this is getting harder for us all.

I would like to end with a quote from the families blogspot by Mrs. McDaniel.

"I want to end with one other decision that Caleb and Amanda had to make. Each senior is asked to choose a verse to be printed by their senior picture in the yearbook. I thought I would share with you Amanda's choice.

Psalms 16:8 - I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Amanda said this about her choice....

Through the challenges that I have faced over the past few years, the words of this verse have been a constant reassurance to me. To know that God has already gone before me...preparing my way and yet He stays close enough beside me to hold my hand; continually I am reminded - what do I have to fear?

And so, even with the changes we continue to face, there is one other thing we continue to do...to follow Amanda's lead and learn from her.

What a teacher, what a lesson."

~ Madi ~ (An Update, via Facebook's "Friends of Amanda" by Madi Maddawg Goodman)
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Personally, Amanda has been an inspiration to me. I've witnessed her strength and enthusiasm for life. I've witnessed her faith. Words can't express what went through my mind and heart the day I first saw her stand on her one remaining leg, worship our Lord and even dance.

In the two of us (Amanda and I), you have two who have been through more than anyone would consider reasonable. The wonder of it is that, reasonable or not, we've both been shown the love of God and the power of the resurrected Christ in undeniable ways. Speechless. I'm often left speechless when I think about the way He's loved us.

Humbled. It humbles me that others have found strength to press on through my experiences. I'm sure Amanda has felt the same and that her family has felt that as well. In the end, it's not me at all. It's not me others are inspired by. It's God. And I think they know that to.

Her family is the epitome of perseverance. The lessons they've managed to teach an entire church and community in Columbia Missouri is astounding.

They deserve our prayers. Pray for healing. Pray for restoration. But, above all, pray for God's glory. What that comes to look like may be hard to accept and confuse us. It may appear through what we've traditionally attributed to miracles. Amanda may get healed throughout her body. She may not. Amanda's parents are ware of this. They're also aware that God's glory has been on display in their daughter's life since her first breathe. They'll not lay down that belief, whether she draws her last in the coming days or not.

So...pray. Pray with the knowledge that Amanda is saved and in the arms of her loving God, regardless. Pray with the knowledge that her family's faith is unshakable. Pray and know that regardless of how the healing is given, Amanda is acutely aware of her Heavenly Father's love.

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