News to Pray About

Friends and Family ~

I got some news on Friday. But before I tell you about that, let me say just a little something about… “news” in general.

I turned on the news last night; don’t know if it was Fox News or NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News or ABC World News Tonight… but it was news. I think it’s interesting that none of the networks refer to themselves as “The Bad News” or “The Good News” – and they never announce it as such. It’s just news. News that makes you mad, news that makes you sad (don’t worry, this will not turn out to be a dumb rhyme), there’s old news and yesterday’s news, news that makes you smile; some news that makes you think hard, and lately some news that makes you sometimes wish you lived in a different country or grateful for the one in which you do. It’s all news just the same, but what you make of it probably depends on where you are in life and who or what you filter it through. At least that’s what I’m thinking. So, back to my news.

It wasn’t the TGIF Friday one normally looks forward to at the end of a long week, and the news was… a life-changer in many ways (already). Nobody wants to get the call that says, “OK, you’ve tested positive for BC (breast cancer)”. But that was the news… my news, and I wanted to share with you that it’s been filtered through THE Good News of Jesus Christ – and that makes a huge difference. You see, I believe that in spite of what my reality and your reality is, God’s Truth overrides all of it… all the time. And since He is the Only One who can do anything about everything that concerns us, that makes a clear choice of Who and What to focus on. Puts things in the proper perspective; His perspective, and that is also huge.

Don’t worry; this is not going to be the Punky’s daily BC report. But, I would like to ask for your prayers as John and I head into this new adventure. The positive side to this is that “it”: appears small, is common, treatable…and God’s got a purpose in it! We praise Him for all of that. Today we met with the surgeon to look at options; next step is further tests/scans and proceed from there.

By the way, following Jesus IS the Great Adventure and this is all part of it because, as we know, He goes BEFORE us in all things. Whew! He knew this was coming centuries before He told me to do that self-examination a few weeks ago (TMI…). That’s… amazing and comforting. Paul wrote to the Philippian church, and to us, “…in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God…” (Phil. 4:6). We pray about everything because prayer affects everything. So… we pray to The Only One who can do anything about everything that concerns us. You could pray that this is localized; that no lymph nodes have been affected… and that God gets all the glory He so rightly due to Him through this.

Thank you for praying for us, and for loving us, caring for us and just being there for us. We love you and are praying for each of you, too. You are the best friends and family ever… anywhere!

Punky and John

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

II Corinthians 4:18