“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.”
(I Thessalonians 1:2)
Thank God for His goodness! This has been an eventful two months. A blessing from the cancer is that because the cancer hospital is only 45 minutes from my dad’s house, we were staying with him while my wife Denise had treatments. Little did we know that God would call him home before the year was out. God was so gracious to allow us to spend the last few months of my dad’s life with him. He went Home to be with Jesus on December 11 after battling pneumonia for a couple of weeks. He rejoiced down here when people were saved, and now he is just rejoicing on the other side. There is an emptiness now, as my dad and I were very close, but as we all know; this separation is just for a little while. Soon we will all be there.
Denise started the immunotherapy during these two months. The first time she received immunotherapy, she had a reaction to it, and the hospital had to give her medication to counterbalance it. The second time the doctor gave it to her, he only gave her a half-dose over an extended period of time, along with several pre-meds, to prevent another reaction. However, her reaction was worse and almost took her life. Thank God for His compassion, in that He let me keep my wife. So as a result, immunotherapy has been canceled for her. On the rejoicing side, after receiving her last scan, they said there is no evidence of any cancer. Praise the Lord!!!!!!! There is still a little more that needs to be done concerning her treatments. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.
Thailand said “No” to me coming in January, so all the plans concerning that had to be canceled. Pray that the Lord would make a way for us. As we are nearing the end of my wife’s treatments here in the U.S., we are longing to get back to what He has called us to do.
I love divine appointments. We had to travel from Georgia to Tennessee for Dad’s funeral. On the way there, we needed to stop for some fuel and planned to stop at the next exit, but as we were busy talking, we passed it. The same thing actually happened two more times. Finally, we took the fourth exit. As we exited, I was looking to choose the station that looked most likely to have a restroom, and my sister was looking for the one that had the cheapest gas—we chose the same one at the same time. On my way back out of the store, Cody, the teller, was standing outside catching a break. I had pulled out a tract and was holding it in my hand as we were chitchatting a little. As I was waiting for the right moment to hand it to him, he noticed it in my hand and asked what it was. I said, “Oh, you can have it; it tells you how you can go to Heaven.” Cody immediately burst into tears. He said “Mister, I need that! You don’t know how much I need that!” He was a veteran who had just returned home. In the last couple of months, he had buried his mother, he had been shot, and a few other things in his life had not seemingly gone his way. He said, “Mister, I was beginning to think God didn’t care for me anymore, and then he sends you.” I asked if he would like me to show him what God says about going to Heaven. He replied, “Please do.” I began sharing the precious Word of God with him, and in just a little while, Cody was putting his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He then gave me the biggest hug. “Jesus saved me! Thank you, Mister; thank you for telling me!”
Thank you for all your faithful prayers and support!
Yours for His harvest,
Andrew Long
Romans 10:14
