Lifited Up

We’ve all said it, “I’m lifting you up in prayer”, or “I’m praying for you”, or “I’m lifting you up.”  Maybe even just, “I’m thinking of you.”  Have you ever thought about what it means?  Not what does it mean to you, but what does it mean to the one you said it?

Those who have never found themselves walking in a dark valley may think such statements are just platitudes. They are not.  When spoken sincerely to one in need they truly do lift up.  They lift on a spiritual plane; also, on an emotional and sometimes even a physical level.  Faith remains strong when one is surrounded by friends lifting.  I truly do not know how a person endures dark tribulations without faith in God and the prayers of good friends.

There is one praise to report: I received the pathology report from the spot removed from the back of my hand.  In hind sight it is almost funny.  It was a cyst which had grown around a splinter.  That’s life on the farm; maybe I should wear gloves when I’m putting up hay.

Tomorrow is the CT scan.  My prayer is that it will be as clean as the dermatology report.

We’ve been counting the days and it is now less than a week till surgery.  Treatment for melanoma on the retina is radiation.  The process is a small patch, about the size of a nickel, loaded with radiation pellets.  This patch will be sewn to my eyeball.  I’ll wear the patch for a week after which time it will be removed.  The only part of the process that sounded any good at all is where they say, “under general anesthesia.”

One of the side effects of the process is double vision.  This is due to the muscles of the eye being disturbed during the surgery.  I have been told that usually the double vision is temporary but in some cases can be permanent.   The one sure effect of the treatment is the loss of most of the sight in the eye.  This loss of sight will be over time, 3 to 5 years.

Habakkuk 3: 17-19

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom

And there be no fruit on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive should fail

And the fields produce no food,

Though the flock should be cut off from the fold

And there be no cattle in the stalls,

18 Yet I will exult in the Lord,

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

19 The Lord God is my strength,

And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,

And makes me walk in my high places.