Trey Tuesday - June 28, 2011

"Looking unto Jesus..."
Hebrews 12:2

"Just look at this mess!"
"Take a look at the world around us!"
"Look here, young lady!"
"Let's look into this."
"Look it up in a dictionary..." (I guess that was before the days of spell check!)

Our eyes and our minds are busy places these days.  We spend a lot of time "looking" around us.
Sometimes our vision gets a little distorted, and a trip to the optometrist can't fix it.
Our circumstances, our feelings, the "cards we've been dealt," you name it...
focusing on them results in nothing good.

So, what shall we do?
"Looking unto Jesus..."
Hebrews 12:2

Jay and Rachel posted some obscure news this week.
Trey's prescribed course of treatment is taking a turn.
Someone on Facebook sums up well how things look:
A change in direction, but the course remains the same...we pray, we believe, we have faith, we thank, and we love.
(Thank you, Lyn Kane Hellwig!)

As we gather for Pray for Trey Tuesday, please hold Trey and his family close in prayer.
Yes, we pray for miraculous healing!
Yes, we pray for comfort and hope!
Yes, we pray for wisdom!

But let's also take some time to be still,
"Looking unto Jesus."

From Charles Spurgeon:
Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee--it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee--it is Christ;
it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument--it is Christ's blood and merits;
therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ;
look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope;
look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith.


Keep thine eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to Him; when thou liest down at night look to Him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never fail thee.
"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name."

Trey Tuesday - June 21, 2011

Rest for the weary

Who doesn't fall into that category?
Physically weary?
Emotionally weary?
Spiritually weary?

Listen to Jesus' remedy:
"Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth"
PRAISE!?!?!?
When you are weary (like Jay and Rachel must be by this point...) is your first instinct praise?
Bad health, bad money situations, bad job future, bad relationships - go ahead - PRAISE GOD!!!!

Why praise?
Thanks for asking!  Keep reading:
"Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children."
God chooses to reveal some things to little children.
Trusting, loving, believing children.  Like Trey.
God bless that sweet boy.  He even ASKS to go BACK to the "hop-it-all!"
Trey trusts his parents.
Trey believes they will provide for him.
God is waiting to do the same for you and for me.
Allow God to uncover His truths in your life.
Grasp that child-like faith and trust Him!
"Yes, Father, for this was Your good pleasure."

And so on Trey Tuesday we seek God's good pleasure in regards to Trey's life.
Please keep praying for Trey's cancer to respond completely to his treatment plan.  For it to be GONE from his scans and his body!
Please also pray for his blood levels and numbers and scans and tests to be healthy and strong!
And please offer a prayer of thanks for Trey having "normal" days at home....especially before he faces 4 weeks in the hospital for his round of "super" chemo.

And we offer a prayer of thanks for all of you:  Team Mitlo One!  Thank you for your prayers, your meals, your gifts, your time, your favors, your messages, your encouraging words, your shoulder to lean on for Jay and Rachel and Joe and Bella and Trey!  Thank God we can all depend on Him to carry us through!  There is ALWAYS room on God's team!  :)

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11:25-30

Trey Tuesday - June 14, 2011

A Little Boy...

We gather again in the name of the Lord on behalf of Trey, our Young Warrior, our Little Boy...
Of course we pray for his complete healing from cancer and for God's peace in these frightening
days.  We also ask for prayer for God's provision of wise and skilled doctors and nurses.
We pray Trey continues to be the shining light and sign of Life wherever he goes!
We ask for prayer for Jay and Rachel to continue (!) to be filled with the Supernatural
Strength and Courage that God alone provides!  And we pray for Joe and Bella - for them to
feel loved and secure and safe throughout these ever-changing times.

But I'd like you to consider another Little Boy today - the boy and his lunch from John 6:5-13:
"When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do.
Philip answered Him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Another of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
When they had all had enough to eat, He said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten"

We all have heard this story many times.  But have you ever thought about that little boy?

What do you think "Mrs. Little Boy" imagined as she packed her son his lunch that day?
Could she EVER have predicted that Jesus would have used HER food and her son's generosity to perform a miracle?
Did she imagine that her meager offering would have fed over 5,000 people - with leftovers?
What does this story lead you to believe about that little boy's upbringing?
He had to be trained to recognize Jesus and His disciples, don't you think?
And he did what he could.

Jay and Rachel are doing the same thing, day in and day out.
They are doing what God has called them to do:
Bringing their family up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), living a life worthy of the calling they have received (Ephesians 4:1).

Think of Trey and his journey as you re-read what Jesus does with what we offer Him:
"Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and shared it...
Let nothing be wasted."
Team Mitlo One then took Trey's cancer, gave thanks, and shared the journey...Let nothing be wasted.

Trey Tuesday - June 7, 2011

YET.

"A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. 
 LORD, I have heard of Your fame;
   I stand in awe of Your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
   in our time make them known"
Habakkuk 3:1-2


As we gather this Trey Tuesday, think back...
When did you first hear of the fame of the Lord?
When was the last time you spoke of the fame of the Lord?


Have you stood in awe of the deeds of the Lord lately?
Today?  Really?
If you have read the updates from Jay and Rachel today concerning Trey's blood counts
and fever and mouth sores, you might not feel that very many awe-some things are going on....


And so we ask God to renew us, renew His awesome deeds in our day/Trey's day.
In our time, make His awesome deeds known through Trey's little body.


Habakkuk goes on to recount the miraculous power of God in nature in Israel's history.

"His glory covered the heavens
   and his praise filled the earth.
His splendor was like the sunrise;
   rays flashed from His hand,
   where His power was hidden.
Plague went before Him;
   pestilence followed His steps.
He stood, and shook the earth;
   He looked, and made the nations tremble.
The ancient mountains crumbled
   and the age-old hills collapsed.
   His ways are eternal.

You split the earth with rivers;
the mountains saw You and writhed.
Torrents of water swept by;
   the deep roared
   and lifted its waves on high. Sun and moon stood still in the heavens
   at the glint of Your flying arrows,
   at the lightning of Your flashing spear.
In wrath You strode through the earth
   and in anger You threshed the nations.
You came out to deliver Your people,
   to save Your Anointed One.
You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness,
   you stripped him from head to foot.
With his own spear You pierced his head
   when his warriors stormed out to scatter us,
gloating as though about to devour
   the wretched who were in hiding.
You trampled the sea with Your horses,
   churning the great waters."

verses 3-15
Do you think God would allow us to add ANC counts and kind nurses and wise doctors
and powerful medicine and open Broviac lines and abolished fever and cancer to God's list of

power over nature?  ABSOLUTELY!  Let's do it!  :)


"I heard and my heart pounded,
   my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
   and my legs trembled.
The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
   he enables me to go on the heights."
verses 16,19
Let's pray with such fervency and trust that our physical bodies cannot help but
quiver at the sound!
Let's beseech our God of all creation to hear our pounding heart and head of behalf of Trey
for Trey's comfort and rest and healing!
Let's stay on our knees until our legs tremble!




And as we pray for Trey, let's remember to pray for Jay and Rachel and Joe and Bella!
They never could have imagined their little boy having cancer.
They never could have imagined all that 2011 could hold for them.
They never could have imagined the sights and sounds and feelings and events that encompass their lives.




God asks us to insert one little word here that makes all the difference!
And that little word is our prayer for the Mitlos this day and for the many days to come.
Yet.



"Though the fig tree does not bud
   and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
   and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
   and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
   I will be joyful in God my Savior."
Habakkuk 3:17,18