Mama Bear | Update 11

"The Lord grant that you may find rest."

Ruth 1:9

Update

- Mama had her fourth round of chemotherapy.  Two more to go! (And she is still dazzling!)

- Her incredible friend, Tracy Branchaw, came to spend a few days with her.  Tracy brought gifts and notes from many of you: THANK YOU!  Mama loved every single thing.  And she also loved eating and talking and enjoying the company of her friend.

- The whole Snyder clan is moving back to Maryland on July 1!  Just six weeks away.  My heart is glad.  So so glad. I haven't been to Florida in over two weeks.  And I miss mama and the crew so badly.

Prayer Requests

- Continue to pray that the treatment is working.  It might seem like a "no-duh" thing to pray.  But from the little we know, it truly seems like God is using this to heal her.  We've had nothing but positive reports so far.  We believe God mysteriously works through prayer, and we KNOW you've been praying.  Please keep praying.  

- Pray for their hearts of the people in our family: Alan, Sue, Kristen, Caleb (almost!), Tim, Katie, Kevin, Dude, Shannon and Lauren.  There has been some neat things God is doing in drawing us closer and knitting us together.  Pray for that to continue! Even "little" but extremely meaningful things like sweet Katie shaving all the boys heads' for mom has become treasure to us.

- Mama has had low blood counts since the beginning of this ordeal, but they continue to drop.  She will begin taking a medicine for anemia.  Pray that it works and boosts her counts!  Low counts mean low energy.

- Pray for her energy!  She has so much coming up in the next weeks.  Two more chemo treatments, a big move, and a wedding.  She's a fighter, but she will need some extra doses of might to make it through all this!

"Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind." "Return, O my soul, to your rest." "For the righteous man enters into peace; they rest on their beds." ""Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving."

 “In...rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

I've recently been learning so much.  God has brought me a people and times, and He is teaching me.  I'm praying daily for my mother's health and strength.  For energy.  For rest.  She's teaching me about resting in God.  

While we were in the hospital together in February, I read to her this blog post. It encouraged our hearts and began to change me forever.  

"Rest at essence is God-entranced, God-magnifying, and God-satisfied.  Rest is a bold declaration of the over-sufficiency of the goodness and grace of God.  It is treating God's promises as rock-solid and unquestionable.  Rest is a conscious relishing of God's gushing generosity and a relinquishment of our own self-sufficiency.  

In short, rest is the only human response to God's engagement that honors and satisfies Him.  All else is both deplorable and unacceptable.

Rest is the garden, the Sabbath, the feasts, the land, the worship of God's people in the Old Testament.  Rest is the promise of the Gospel and the only path to life.  'Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy-laden,' says the Savior, 'And I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Paul in the apostle sums up the Gospel simply, 'Rest your hope fully upon the grace that is brought to you in revelation of Jesus Christ.' 

There were two lost sons in the story of the Prodigals, one who offered to work his way back into his Father's favor, and one who reminded the Father of the favor he deserved for the work he had already done.  Both offered work as a payment for the gift of the Father's fellowship, forgiveness and feast.  And to both He said, 'No.'

'Come in!' was the only offer of the Father. 'Cease from your work and celebrate my lavish extravagance and prodigal generosity and you will have Me and everything that is mine.'

Everything good starts with rest, grows through rest, and is sweetly tasted in the feast of rest.  And then comes Heaven." Don Shorey

During busy, physically weary, emotionally heavy days may we find our hands full of quietness.  May we sit, and not be distracted by things like serving - which hardly makes sense.  May we celebrate and feast and receive God.  May God continue to use Mama's trust and therefore Mama's strength to do mighty things.  May we treat God's promises as rock-solid.  May we (especially Mama) actually rest when she lays down in bed - may her sleep be sweet and refreshing, may her mind be calmed and still.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being people who rally around ones you love.  You are making our burden so light.