General Update

 Cycle 2 (Continued)

 

Medical treatments require patience. That must be why those who are being treated are called “patients”. Things take time, and with the treatment protocols that have been prescribed for Doris, we are learning patience. After the fast-paced experience of Cycle 1, we are learning that there is a way that we can live our lives, find a balance, and enjoy time together in the process.

 

Doris continues to feel fatigue and some weakness, whether from the effects of the treatment, or from the disease itself (MCL), or both. That is the ambiguity of treatment from which we are learning patience. 

 

We are still learning to wait on the Lord, for His hand to be manifest in our behalf. The means by which His hand is being manifest seems to include the medical treatments. With only one infusion during Cycle 2 and the continued oral chemo pills, we carry on. 

 

In the meanwhile, we continue our re-assimilation of our stored items. Most of them are stored in boxes in our basement, while some are in the garage. Yesterday we passed a milestone. All of the sewing room items have been moved to the sewing room upstairs. What remains is bringing up the furniture in which those items will be stored and organized. If our plans come to fruition, we will complete this process by the end of this week.

 

We continue our study of the atonement, searching for understanding of the surrounding references we find in the Topical Guide under the topic of “Jesus Christ, Atonement through”. We are reading in the epistles of Paul at the moment. I confess to finding comfort in the words of Peter, who wrote, of Paul’s epistles,

16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood…”. (2 Peter 3:16)

 

Nevertheless, we continue on, knowing that a sense of understanding is seeping in little by little.

 

We are comforted by the understanding of the atonement which we have acquired, that Jesus, our Savior suffered not only for our sins, but also for our infirmities and sicknesses. As Alma explained in speaking of our Savior:

 

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.(Alma 7:11-12)

 

We are grateful for this period of treatment, during which Doris is mostly comfortable and is interested in and able to enjoy some diversions.

 

Speaking of diversions, we took the opportunity to lay things aside for a bit of an outing on Wednesday. We drove the loop through Emmett on SH-16, thence to Sweet, further to Ola, and back to Sweet where we enjoyed a very nice meal at Anderson Reserve. We continued our drive through Horseshoe Bend, picking up some corn-on-the-cob at the Volcanic Farms, and then back home to Eagle on Highway 55. It felt good to have that diversion, see some parts of Idaho we had not seen before, and to enjoy the time together.

 

We try to get out of our home every day for at least an hour. We enjoy our comfortable home, the enhanced patio with more shade, and Doris has multiple rooms, and now a patio, where she can find a place of healing, of perhaps a slightly different position, and where she can comfortably continue this journey of treatment, healing, and comfort. 

 

We reflect from time to time on what is now water under the bridge that we were not able to cross - our mission to the England Bristol Mission. We hope that our current mission of healing and focus on The Source of all blessings, and the “Healer of our Souls” will be a blessing in your lives as it has been in ours. 

This Is the Christ This Is the Christ | The Tabernacle Choir

1. They heard a voice, a voice so mild. 

It pierced them through and made their souls to quake. 

They saw Him come, a man in white, 

The Savior, who had suffered for their sake. 

They felt the wounds in hands and side, 

And each could testify: This is the Christ.

This is the Christ, the holy Son of God— 

Our Savior, Lord, Redeemer of mankind. 

This is the Christ, the Healer of our souls, 

Who ransomed us with love divine.

2. I read His words, the words He prayed 

While bearing sorrow in Gethsemane. 

I feel His love, the price He paid. 

How many drops of blood were spilled for me? 

With Saints of old in joyful cry 

I too can testify: This is the Christ.

This is the Christ, the holy Son of God— 

Our Savior, Lord, Redeemer of mankind. 

This is the Christ, the Healer of our souls, 

Who ransomed us with love divine.

 

Another song that touched me was one we heard the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square sing today during the 5000th broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word is “Consider the Lilies of the Field”. Consider the Lilies of the Field | The Tabernacle Choir

 

“And He will heal those that trust Him

And make their hearts as gold.”