Who Feels Like Prayin'?

So, tomorrow and Saturday I'll be here. I am praying that there will be a lot of mamas from all over our state that come to listen, learn, and be blessed. And I'm also praying that they will have the collective need to visit the Necessary Room between 1:15 and 1:45 and again from 3ish to 4ish on Saturday, because that's when I'm scheduled to speak. Here's how I'm feelin' about that:

If you think of it, would you mind to ask the Lord to keep sweat from running down the backs of my legs and pooling in my shoes? Also, it would be a grace gift if I could keep the 'ah's and 'uhm's to a number somewhat below the amount of my current library fine.

Insert clever segue here...we've got a meeting tonight in Tulsa about the homeschool convention our state homeschool organization is hosting there. Time's growin' short, and it's starting to get really exciting. If you live in/near Tulsa, we'd love to have you drop in April 27-28. The Oklahoma City convention is the following Friday and Saturday, April 30 and May 1. It'll be a busy week, but it will be fun. It's like a family reunion minus the weird cousins and warm macaroni salad.

And there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just put it out there. My precious mother and dearest friend has been diagnosed with lung cancer. As you all know, I have extensive medical knowledge and hold an MD from Google University. Sometimes the Google, it is not our friend. Mom is blessed to have a doctor that she likes and trusts, and we're still in the information gathering stage, but it's hard. There was a biopsy this morning and she'll have a PET scan soon, so we're hoping to have a plan as soon as all the test results are in. There is a lot that we don't know, but it seems to me that the most important things are already known:

God is sovereign and in complete control. As Corrie Ten Boom would say, "There is no panic in heaven. God has no problems, only plans."

He has promised never to leave or forsake us.

There is not a disease so awful that it can take Mom's life one second before God has ordained for it to end. There is not a doctor or a treatment powerful enough to keep her here one second beyond when God has ordained for her to go. This article by John Piper has been an inspiration. It's worth the read if you have a minute, and, let's face it: if you weren't beside yourself with boredom, would you be here? That's what I thought.

Pray with me, won't you, for the comfort and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the grace to endure whatever is ahead with gratitude.