What a kind and attentive God we serve! Janni and I talked together on the phone sister to sister and sister-in-Christ to sister-in-Christ! The Lord loves the Kellers more than any of us can imagine and He is so tender to soothe their fears and "pump them up" with His Word, especially the promises that it contains. When the going gets tough, the wise keep persistent in prayer and belief. There has been several times when God has planted a verse on my heart only to have a believer repeat that same verse to me in various ways! It was difficult to pray on Saturday and so that day I just asked the Holy Spirit to pray for Janni and Steve with "groans that words cannot express"! I received an e-mail from a dear sister-in-Christ from our church who is maintaining our prayer chain and keeps people posted on Kole and others. In that e-mail she puts Romans 8:26 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express". It was like the Holy Spirit said, to me, that he was attentive to that little crying out I did on Saturday. He heard and He interceded for my sister and her family! God is so in the business of bringing a constant flow of encouragement! He keeps tapping us on our shoulder and saying "I am more than here for you"! We as humans need constant reminders from Him and He is so willing to oblige! What He does not want is for us to wallow in the pit ignoring His outstretched hand to pull us out! We can be like swine and enjoy wallowing in the mud way too much! Another verse I believe God put on my heart was talking about whether Christ would find faith when he returns! I desire that answer to be yes, yes, yes and yes! Janni says the same and so do my parents and many others! We will not let bad news "blow out our flame of faith" but we want it to "fan our flame of faith"! In Luke chapter 18:1-8 it talks about about the persistent widow coming to a judge over and over again wanting a just ruling in her case! The judge was getting tired of turning her away only to have her return, and so decided that he would give her case a just hearing. Jesus than says "....And will not God (who cares and loves us) bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?". Janni and I both believe faith is being persistent in prayer! God looks for us to be tenacious, not giving up on Him even when we feel like throwing in the towel! We are holding on for dear life to our faith! It is easy to believe when things go our way, right away. But when it gets worse before it gets better---it is too easy to get bitter! Janni, instead wants to be a faithful mom and servant and be dedicated to keep going to our King over and over again. We will not give up on our Lord, for He does not give up on us! Anyway, Luke 18:8 came to me as my parents were sharing the news of Kole's MRI report. Several days later, I happen to go to the Brooklyn Tabernacle website to put another prayer request in for Kole. They have that verse posted as their inspiration for praying twenty four hours a day, seven days a week! I think of their labor of love, praying for people they do not even know, and am in awe! That is Christ's body! That is a reflection on the kind of sacrificial love Jesus has for us! To belong to the church family is the biggest blessing of my life! We can be so critical of the church's weaknesses and throw out the beauty that is found there! Never would we be able to handle this heart ache without Christ, and as a bonus "the Body of Christ" (The Church)!

Janni and I were talking together about how much we are learning from God, himself, our teacher. He is teaching us to surrender! I figure it is kind of like this---we have a house full of furniture and trinkets and the like. Surrender would be laying down on the floor and watching someone come into your house and rearrange everything under your nose! Your responsibility is to lay still and quiet and allow it to happen and be willing for it to happen! When we invite Christ into our lives we get the companionship of the Holy Spirit! When Jesus left his beloved disciples, his heart ached for them. So, He promised not to leave them all alone. In His great mercy, he provided himself through the Holy Spirit! We allow the Holy Spirit in the houses of our bodies, but we do not allow Him to touch anything. The Holy Spirit wants to take residence and make room to work in us. He needs to be free to do some rearranging in our hearts and minds. Janni and the rest of our family has been rearranged! Though, we have fought it at times, we would never want to go back! God has good taste and does a better job at getting rid of our hang-ups than we ever could! It is freedom! Second Corinthians 3:17 says "Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom". Criminals who surrender to the law are put in prison. Christians who surrender to the Holy Spirit, are set free! Amazing isn't it, how we have to rearrange our thinking!

When Kole got off the plane from Memphis, Janni and Steve decided he could choose a restaurant to go eat at! Kole chose Taco Bell. Janni said that it was so cute, because Kole ran to Taco Bell as if he were set free! When deprived of the freedom the Holy Spirit offers, we should run to him with the same enthusiasm! Don't feel too sorry for Kole, he has gotten to eat prime quality food for four months. He truly ate like a King! Why we have such taste for "junk food", is beyond me! I myself, am guilty! God loves each and every one of you, out there! It has been such a great blessing for me to be a part of this! You have shown us great love! Your prayers have been hounding the "Throne Room". God loves all of the attention and takes great delight in every petition, from the very young to the very "wise"! Kole is not lacking, in what is most important----LOVE!!

Jodi