Come Boldly Before His Throne With Us

 (Our Journey and Search for Joni's Healing)

Joni, Kristalyn and I left Floresville last Saturday Mar 30 to travel to the Shea Medical Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ. Shea is a satellite clinic to the more popular Envita Medical Clinic also in Scottsdale. Most of you know that Joni has struggled with her health throughout most of her adult life. Visits to various doctors have always ended in dead ends so she began to search for a diagnosis herself. Her quest for answers has been remarkable. She has become an expert on health and nutrition. I'm sure her knowledge has saved our family a large amount of money and time keeping all of us out of doctor offices and hospitals. Though we as her family have benefited the most others have been greatly helped by her expertise and passion to return to God's design for eating and healing. I could not understand why Joni did not seem to enjoy the benefits of good health with all the effort she was putting in to this vital area of life. One professional summed it up last year when he told us that all her efforts were not in vain because she probably would have been bed-ridden a long time ago. I must add that nothing is in vain when you are surrendering every area of your life to God including perhaps the toughest (FOOD).

In the past year or two we have seen Joni's health take a big slide downward. She has had some ok days but they are generally difficult and never great. We suspect she has Lyme Disease as well as other bacterias and viruses. She has been diagnosed by others but not by a medical doctor. Through much prayer and counsel we decided to make our way to Shea Medical Clinic.http://www.sheamedical.com/

You can look at the website if you are interested in their medical philosophy.  Please pray for healing and provision for Joni and our stay here in Scottsdale. If God provides she will be here for 8 weeks receiving treatments to rid of the viruses and bacterias that are troubling her from head to toe. We are very concerned about the effect they are having on her brain. Though we have tried our hardest to fight this battle ourselves, it is very apparent to us that God wants other people involved in our future course of action. We pray that the Lord will use us in every life we meet  to bring glory and honor to Himself. It sure would be great for Joni to have her health restored but it will be even greater when we reach the point in this life where He alone is our only true satisfaction. Just like Much-Afraid in the Valley of Loss (Hinds Feet in High Places) we want to be in such a state that more than anything else we just want to be faithful to our Shepherd and not to do anything that hinders our relationship with Him. 

My deepest thanks are to those who are prayerfully and financially supporting us. We are members of Samaritan Ministries, a great organization for medical needs, but all bills have to be payed up front. Joni will stay as long as she can. Kristalyn and Katherine will probably switch off staying with her while I return home to work. My plan is to be here through a week or two of her treatments. They can be very tough so we covet your prayers. I leave you with a verse that God allowed me to put to song one morning this week. I guess you are all fortunate not to be here because I would sing it to you: Psalm 69:30 "I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving."