Tuesday June 12, 2007
Kelly is still in the hospital. There had been a hope that he would be able to come home today (Tuesday), but he has needed numerous blood transfusions and the doctor’s are uncertain as to why. They have been doing testing to try to figure the cause of his need for blood—he has had a total of six transfusions in three days. Please continue to pray.
The good news is that up to date, aside of the diabetes and inability to maintain the normal “counts” in his white and red blood cells, Kelly feels well. Kelly & Gabriela have an amazing support group of friends who are rising up like pillars around them and are blessing them through their prayers and love. On Sunday afternoon, their church elders came to the hospital and anointed Kelly and Gabriela with oil and prayed over them and their family and for total healing. James 5: 14b “…Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer offered in faith will make the sick well.”
Our hope is that there would be continued prayer for total healing for Kelly; prayer for Gabriela, courage and strength; prayer for their children—that they would be ministered to through the heavenly servants of God. The kids have been away from both parents quite a bit and are internalizing and processing. Please hold the four of them up (ages 1 ½ years, 4yrs, 6 yrs, 8 yrs.).
Over the last five years God has been weaving the following verses into Kelly’s life’s passion: The book of John chapter 17 of the bible, verse 20:
Jesus is praying, “I pray for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world will believe that you have sent me… may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”?
9 comments:
Kelly,
You look good and strong and your faith shines through!! I wanted you to know that not a minute goes by that I am not thinking and praying for you and Gabriella. Love you and hope to see you at home soon.
Love, Paige
Kelly, I just got the news. I am very sorry to hear about the cancer. Know that I will pray often for your faith, His healing, and your family. Chico.
Hey Kelly,
What a way to get extra attention! Look at you just relaxing in bed. You actually look pretty good. Seriously, we are praying for a complete recovery. Also praying for Gabriella and the children for strength. Not sure if this blog goes through. If it does will write more later.
Bill & Heidi
You are both in my prayers...it is difficult to know exactly what to say during times like these, but yesterday I received this email that says a lot so I will share it with you.
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's ki nd of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,"which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.
It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor , care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
Hi Kellyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy,
After reviewing your photos I have concluded that this is a sure way for you to get some R & R. The give-a-away was your baseball cap hanging in the background.Sure looks suspicious!
Seriously, you look the same and what's with wearing jeans in hosptial beds?...what happen to the traditional hospital gowns that we all dread wearing? I'm telling you,everything looks suspicious.
Seriously, keeping you all in prayer. Dios les Bendiga.
In Him,
your favorite admin.assistant ever...Rosita
Dear Rosenthal family,
The Ross family (from Trinity Church)continues to daily lift you up in prayer...and our Dalton is a real prayer warrior!
Please know that you are in the hearts and prayers of so many of us here at Trinity.
God Bless you!
Chuck, Julie, Dalton and Emmeline
Kelly and Gabriela:
Your family in Mexico are praying for Kelly´s well being.
We are with you in our hearts.
We love you very much.
Ma Luisa and Dominique
We are praying for you Kelly and you too Gabriela and the kids too. May the Lord be your strength and portion. ~ The Low family
We´ll pray and be with you all as long as it takes until Kelly is well and even after. God is with us all.
Love and kisses
Maite, Pablo, Maitita
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