so, yesterday, we got an update on our friend pavel (i think jeff mitchell had more accurate information about which leg was afflicted and such). since my last blog about him, he’s consulted twice with doctors (two different hospitals).
the first visit, the weekend we first met him, brought not-so-good news. doctors said he’d need to undergo more chemotherapy and that the cancer’s progressed through mid-thigh, which made their argument for amputation more compelling. huh.
so, we prayed with faith, which seemed a pittance – even collectively – to pavel’s own. we get this piece of news. he was pretty adamant about not getting the chemotherapy, much less the amputation. we wonder if what looked like faith was more like stubbornness; what if this was one of those times we needed to exercise some wisdom and discernment, what if this time, medicine was the answer?
pavel gets a second opinion at the cancer institute here in bucharest, to find out if he’ll really need to amputate and chemo and blah blah. he stayed here at casa shalom again while awaiting results and such. meanwhile, we continue praying as if we’re in a holding pattern, and keep his spirits up.
so the update we got on pavel was that [drumroll] there is no cancer. huh?
i’m sure that confuses the doctors quite a bit. there’s an infection where his hip bone was grafted near his knee, but the tests show no signs of cancer.
there’s the possibility that the first set of doctors, who were at a hospital that was not well recommended, were wrong. i mean, we’re human, and humans err, and even advanced medical technology falls short (or on the bright side, the lack thereof isn’t so detrimental).
but (and this is a huge but) i believe that it’s probable that God has been at work, even if it surfaced past due the “third day” deadline. i recall sharing this scripture when we first started praying for healing with pavel, from luke 18:1-8, about the persistent widow (i already blogged about this passage here and here):
Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”– Luke 18:6-8 (The Message)
so, it would seem that God found a lot more of that kind of faith in pavel than in us, i think. i hope our faith was enough to help him keep his.
photo taken by the brenda “i own a dodge stratus” wilchowy.
here’s to keepin’ on.
