Pray

With Jon’s hand wrapped around mine, we prayed for healing and peace as we waited for the doctor to enter the room. 

I couldn’t help but see what has been at the center—prayer and faith—of that moment and our entire journey these last two years, maybe our entire life together.

Whatever God Wants, One Day at a Time, We Trust in Him.

We have surrendered. We have prayed.

We have been trusting God’s Will in all of this. We proclaimed His mighty hand will lead us through this storm. 

Without a doubt, it has. He has given us supernatural peace, answered prayers, filled the lack, and healed bodily things and some of the deepest, most broken places. 

We have gotten through this entire journey because of our faith and the massive choir of voices lifting Jon and our family in prayer. 

Last week we sat across from our doctor, hearing the dreaded words, “the MRI shows more progression.” We are still processing all of it.

They are not the words we want to hear. 

Not after how far we have come or how hard Jon has worked, 

Not after so many positive steps and recovery from the stroke,  

Not after hoping yet another treatment could/would do the job to at least keep things stable,

Not after another MRI—the third in a row since July—shows the “I am sorry, there is more progression.”

This is definitely not the news we want to hear.

But…

We believe in the power of prayer and miracles.

There is no doubt we have seen miracles along this path; the mere fact that we are here IS A MIRACLE in itself.

We are at a point where decisions must be made for our next best step.

So we pray for wisdom, knowledge, understanding, peace, hope, love, and healing.

We need your bold prayers. 

We know what a gift it has been to be lifted by the prayers of so many prayer warriors near and far since Jon was given the aggressive brain cancer diagnosis. 

“Jesus said: ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”—Matthew 18:15-20

We feel/know so many near and far—literally around the world— are lifting Jon (and our family) in prayer. Jon and I often weep (today included) at the magnitude of it all. It is a miracle how far reaching his story has encouraged and touched the lives of so many prayer warriors. We are so grateful for those prayers.

Jon feels your prayers. I feel them, too.

Jon is lifted by them and finds peace in them. They have brought peace beyond human understanding. 

Jon knows the power of prayer and recognizes the gifts and healing we have received because of these prayers.  

We have been sustained by them when things gotten hard.

Last week, Jon shared with a visiting priest that he felt in his heart there was a specific purpose at this very moment—”I think I am meant to bring others to prayer,” he declared with humility and confidence. 

This is that moment. The Spirit is leading us to invite you to join our family to offer BOLD prayers for Jon.

I recently read Nouwen’s words: “the truth is a prayer prayed from the heart heals.” He is right.

Prayers heal in ways often beyond our understanding and ability to see and know.

God knows. We just need to invite Him in. 

“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

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I come to you today to humbly ask you to join us in this Rally Call to invite God in and PRAY for Jon’s complete and total healing of brain cancer and to give us wisdom, understanding, and peace as we make decisions in the coming days. 

Please pray without ceasing.

Maybe start with a rosary. Stay tuned—an invitation to join us for a specific community prayer time/rosary event will be coming soon. 

Blessed be God Forever. 

“Thanks again for the prayers, which truly are the best proof of friendship, because it is exquisite Christian charity to pray for those in need. There’s nothing more beautiful than charity, for as Saint Paul says in the First Epistle to the Corinthians: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a tinkling cymbal, and further on, Now there are only these three things that endure, faith, hope, and love but the greatest of all is love.”—Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati’s letter from the Magnificat 10/12/22