Posts Tagged ‘Allana Guidry’
Biblical Perseverance: Yes FM Morning Munch 2-13
Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged Allana Guidry, Bible, blessing, Christian Ethic, faith, God, guidry, Lewis House, Ministry, perseverance, Sam, transformation on February 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Biblical Perseverance: Yes FM Morning Munch 2-14
Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged Allana Guidry, Christian Ethic, faith, guidry, Lewis House, love, perseverance, Sam, transformation on February 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »
They only have the final day of my week long series posted. Here it is. I will be posting the notes for the full study soon.
Cleveland Clinic Video
Posted in Leukemia, Life and Ministry, tagged Allana Guidry, blessing, Cleveland Clinic, leukemia, Nisa Guidry, recovery, Sam Guidry on January 14, 2014| Leave a Comment »
This is a video made by The Cleveland Clinic about our experience there. We are so thankful that God led us to be treated here and for the many opportunities that we have had to share our story.
Detour Ahead!
Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged Allana Guidry, Bible, blessing, calling, children, Christian Ethic, course, detour, faith, family, God, guidry, jeremiah, Jesus, kingdom, leukemia, Lewis House, love, Ministry, protection, route, salvation, Sam, service, surrender, The Lewis House, transformation, trust on October 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Detour Ahead! How I have dreaded that sign. Fortunately with today’s smartphone and GPS technology it does not carry the same fear factor that it did when I was younger. In fact today with a little bit of effort we are able to avoid detours altogether and if we do get stuck in one with a few simple screen touches we no longer have to rely on the often sparsely placed detour signs and can map out our new path to our destination. However we have not managed a technology that will predict and map out alternative routes to our goals when we hit those life detours that take us away from path of life that we have planned.
1de·tour
noun \ˈdē-ˌtu̇r also di-ˈtu̇r\
: the act of going or traveling to a place along a way that is different from the usual or planned way
: a road, highway, etc., that you travel on when the usual way of traveling cannot be used
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/detour
I have been struggling with this topic for some time now. I originally thought I would be talk about heavenly detours. How God diverts our path for his purpose and we just have to kind of ride along. That is certainly how I felt about this latest chapter in my life. As I looked at the scene pictured about today (Wednesday October 2, 2013), I realized how different my life was just 9 months ago. January 2nd Nisa Faith had just joined our family after a 10 year Odyssey of losses, tears and suffering. Allana was feeling a little ill but we were certain a quick trip to the OB, some antibiotics and we would be good to go. Ready to run that path that seemed to be so obviously stretched out ahead of us, a Spring and Summer of ministry at The Lewis House, working with Compelled, CityLight and our other partners to spread the Love of God. What a difference 3 days can make. 3 short days and I would be on perhaps the greatest detour of my life, or would I. God has been really battering me on this subject, because I truly have felt like this was exactly that, a detour. When in reality it is right on course but instead of my course, or Allana’s course or TLH’s course, it IS GOD’s course. When we view these events in our lives as detours, we detract from God’s omniscient role as master planner of everything. I want to step lightly here because I am not writing doctrine on God’s sovereignty nor am I suggesting that God gave this horrible disorder to Allana, or anyone else. I think that perhaps my concept of our situation whether thought out or not was of God looking down and saying, ” Oh shoot! Allana has Leukemia, well I guess I can use that for My Glory ’til we can get things back on course.” There we go, just a heavenly detour and I am so tempted to detour here into writing the very doctrinal statement that I said was not my intent. Thank God for the delete button. However what I have found is that God does not take detours. Allana and I are not on some end around that will eventually get us back on the path that God has for us. We are on the path that he has carefully laid out for us.
Jeremiah 1:4-5
4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
No detours for God’s consecrated, God’s appointed, God’s anointed. There is a point in every Born Again Believer’s life that he or she makes a choice to change direction. However this is not a detour because not only the route changes, the destination changes. The Believer is no longer on a pathway to eternal separation from God, to hell, but has turned to a path leading to the mind of Christ. There is an intentional, continual seeking of God’s presence. It harks more the etymological root of the word than our current usage.
French détour, from Old French destor, from destorner to divert, from des- de- + torner to turn —
8 months
Posted in Bible Study, tagged Allana Guidry, Bible, blessing, Christian Ethic, extraordinary, Ezekiel, God, Ministry, missions, Old Testament on August 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I just went back and read my Christmas Eve post on Nisa. This is a quote from that post:
We have a mighty heavenly Father who cares for us in ways that I cannot begin to fathom. He loves us in a way that is so far beyond my understanding that I only touch the edges of what AGAPE really means!
Several weeks ago while in prayer God gave me the name Nisa Faith. Indeed she is a miracle of faith, not the simple faith of a single prayer or even the cry for healing but the faith of a 9 year journey. She represents to us the faith of Abraham as he led his entire family to Canaan. She represents the faith of Joseph as he waited in slavery, in prison for God to act. She is even now, yet in the womb that miracle, an incredible act of God.
I did not know how real it was going to have to become in just a few short day. I did not know that the flu symptoms that my beautiful wife was having were not the flu at all. 10 days later Allana was in the hospital in a battle for her life with a deadly disease known by its acronym ALL chromosome positive; Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Philadelphia Chromosome positive. Allana’s CaringBridge site follows the details of our experience. Throughout this time we have had ups and downs. I have faced the prospect of losing her and I have faced the deep pain of watching her suffer in ways that I could not even have imagined. Yet the statement that I made 8 days after Nisa’s birth remains the truest thing in my life:
We have a mighty heavenly Father who cares for us in ways that I cannot begin to fathom. He loves us in a way that is so far beyond my understanding that I only touch the edges of what AGAPE really means!
I truly believe that it is this core belief that has opened up our lives for the miraculous interventions that have followed us throughout this experience. It is when we tie our relationship with God to our circumstances that trouble occurs. If we accept that when bad things happen God somehow has diminished his love for us then our spiritual life will be a roller coaster of highs and lows, undermining our ability to grow spiritually. The core statement then becomes:
We have a mighty heavenly Father who cares for us when life is good. He loves us when I understand and can grasp the good things that he gives us.
I have recently been reading Ezekiel. My heart broke for him as I read the simple verse in the middle of chapter 24.
“Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears.”
It is with that statement that God informs Ezekiel that his wife is going to die. We are not given any of the back story or the circumstances, just that as a part of his office as prophet of God, as a part of his calling to serve the almighty, as a part of her calling to serve Him, his beloved wife was going to die. Two things we need to understand here.
1. Ezekiel was not told by God to just ignore the death of his wife and not to mourn for her. The culture of the day and even through to today in many cultures in the region, called for very loud and public mourning. We know that in Jesus day wealthy families would hire professional mourners to make the process as loud and public as possible. It was this public and plastic mourning that God called Ezekiel to ignore. “17 Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover the lower part of your face or eat the customary food [of mourners].” This was extraordinary behavior for a recognized public figure. God calls us as His elect to extraordinary behavior but he does not expect us to be wooden soldiers. This mourning would be between God and Ezekiel. And while the text does not explicitly say so, I believe that the phrase, The Word of the Lord came to me… is an indication of the miraculous intervention of the Holy Spirit. Dabar is the Hebrew equivalent of Logos. I am not going to jump into a word or phrase study here but I want to make the point that God did not leave Ezekiel hanging. Ezekiel did not have the benefit of the indwelling Holy Spirit that we as New Testament believers enjoyed (He does note that the Holy Spirit entered him at one point and helped him to stand (Ezekiel 2:2). Still “The Word of the Lord” was with him. Ezekiel’s continued obedience and interactions with God’s people are a testament to his continued faith in God’s love for him.
2. Ezekiel’s experience was not in vain. When the Spirit of God moves things happen! We may not understand or see the full scope of what God is doing but he calls His people to extraordinary behavior in extraordinary circumstances for His glory and to extend the purposes of His love for all mankind.
19 The people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things that you are doing mean for us?”
When God’s people do the extraordinary within the context of the extraordinary people notice. And honestly what we do within the context of the ordinary often appears extraordinary to those who do not have a relationship with God. We are not often told the impact of the words spoken by the Old Testament prophets. I have to believe that while the national fate was sealed by the word of God individuals were impacted by the message and turned their faith to Him even as everything around them fell apart.
3. It is in our relationship with God that the extraordinary occurs not out of ourselves. It was the Holy Spirit through Ezekiel who defied the cultural norms to bring God’s message to the people of Israel. ” …for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” 2 Peter 1:21 Ezekiel’s response to this catastrophic even in his life is a direct response to the Holy Spirit. I can assure you that his heart was breaking even as he rejoiced at the work of God being done in and through his life. Some day I believe we will be able to talk to the individuals impacted by the ministry of Ezekiel even as the nation fell apart and fell into exile.
Whatever circumstances one faces the opportunity for the extraordinary exists for all of the followers of Jesus who have the Holy Spirit as an integral part of their lives. It is interesting that the less that we attempt to be extraordinary and only seek to be obedient, the more extraordinary things God accomplishes through us.
Comfort in the Storm
Posted in Leukemia, Life and Ministry, tagged Allana Guidry, blessing, comfort, faith, focus, guidry, Jesus, leukemia, Ministry, miracles, missions on June 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Wow I have not been here in too long. As you can imagine other things have been keeping me busy. This will be redundant for many of you but I wanted to add this wonderful Guestbook post from our CaringBridge site. It is a great reminder that we have a Living God who walks on water in the worst of storms! Our Spirits rejoice even as our flesh weeps. God is moving and we are excited to see the results when the storm is stilled.
A big thank you to Karen for allowing me to share this in a more public way.
June 27, 2013 6:50pm
Karen Bobalik
Here is the link to our CaringBridge site for any who may not have it.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/allanaguidry/journal
Allana’s Vision
Posted in Leukemia, Life and Ministry, tagged Allana Guidry, blessing, children, leukemia, Lewis House, love, miracles, missions, plans, protection, support, surrender, vision on May 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Reposted from Facebook
One thing I said when I was pregnant with Nisa was that i was going to be transparent… the good the bad the ugly…. I have continued in that… it hasn’t been easy – I always got the label “tough cookie” since I was a kid… I have lots and lots of emotions, I am a very passionate person, but I hate failing, I have feeling weak…. today I had to reach out – and my friends uplifted me greatly! One thing is for sure people, when you allow yourself to be real that is when God truly shows up…. it reminds me often when God asked Adam and Eve where they were – do you think it was because God didn’t know? I don’t believe that – I think God asked them where they were for them… today God asked me where I was, and I was anxious! And be met me right where I was at… He stilled my heart for the moment – there will be more days coming up when I will be anxious and worried, but I know without a doubt, when I am weak HE is strong. When I am real, HE shows I AM! What an amazing God I serve! I Love You Lord!
Dear Lord, thank you for your ever present grace. Thank you for always holding my every moment. I know my world is in your hands. This is way worse than the first day of school which always made me nervous. The pathway looks so dark and unsure. But this is what I do know. You are here with me. So Daddy I see darkness all around but I am clinging to You. Thank You Lord for the picture I just had – walking on a dark scary path. Lots of scary jungle noises. Holding onto My Heavenly Fathers hand with both of mine as hard as I can. I am crouched as close as I possibly can – just barely able to see around Him because I am trying to hide. But my Daddy – he is upright. He is walking slowly but still He is assured of the path. He knows the way. The holds the lamp out in front of us and though it doesn’t light up enough so that I can see, I know even if that light were to go dim, He is not afraid. He has walked this path many times. He pulls me close to Him, puts His arm around me. I look up at Him and He smiles and says “it’s going to be okay my daughter, I know what comes next and I am with You”. My heart still pounds. I still squint my eyes trying to see better. I still jump at every noise. But I will walk with Him. I won’t let go. And I know if anything jumps out at us He will protect me with all He’s got. Lead on. I’m not letting go.
What a glorious God!
Caringbridge
Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged ALL, Allana Guidry, blessing, Caringbridge, Cleveland Clinic, leukemia, Ministry, Philadelphia Chromosome, The Lewis House, Toledo on April 22, 2013| 1 Comment »
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/allanaguidry/journal
Here is the link to my wife’s CaringBridge journal. It gives the most complete and up to date information on where we are at in our treatments.
Encouragements Jan. 11th-12th
Posted in Leukemia, tagged Allana Guidry, Compelled Church, faith, family, Flower Memorial, healing, hospital, leukemia, love, Ministry, miracles, missions, prayer, protection, Sam, The Lewis House on February 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Continued record of selected entries from Allana’s CaringBridge Guestbook. I have redacted most names though you can go to CaringBridge and see them. I have started to add a few notes to some. If you want to see the GuestBook entries in their entirety go to Allana’s Page
Dear Allena .I have been reading about you in Believers.I have been praying for you and your family and will continue to do so .
Jesus is the same today as He was when He walked the earth in the flesh ,and He still perfoms miracles .I pray Jesus will give you and your family ,courage and strenght as you go through this ordeal .May He comfort you ,as He puts His arms around you .He loves you dearly ,you are His child .He will never leave you nor forsake you .
Much love to you and your family .
Entries like these are especially precious. Believers is a FB group based in Massachusetts. Brothers and Sisters all over who have never met us but learned about Allana through FB groups, churches, friends or who knows where have been praying!
Good morning. It is a wet raining one here today. I will take it and enjoy as I do every day.
I hope you feel my love for you in your presence. Please, keep fighting like a girl and kick that illness out the door. I am proud of you and your strength and determination.
Love you cuz. xoxo
Was thinking of all these prayers going up to the Throne on your family’s behalf…and then got stopped thinking about our amazing Lord, who is the Great High Priest, constantly interceding on our behalf. Peace and grace. Thank you for always keeping it real and letting us walk along side you in this fight.
Greta F
Sam and Allana,
I am choosing life for Allana as I know you are also. I am praying for complete healing and a good report from the drs. I am praying for strength for each moment, God, our Father does know what He is doing, even when it seems so heart wrenching to us. I love you all. Allana and Sam, choose joy, choose life. I love Allana’s beautiful smile.
My husband, Darren and I, went to Houghton with Sam’s sister, Lisa and I just wanted to write a quick note to let you know that we are praying for you here in Landenberg, PA. You must feel like you are getting a crash course in something you never wanted to know about and we are praying for God’s grace,mercy and healing for all of your family!
Love you my friend, you are very important to me. Your fight is Gods fight keep strong and remember > Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” -Matthew 19:26
Lord, please give Allana your grace, strength and mercy to be able to endure this pain. I pray that these procedures will go smoothly. Most of all I ask for your complete healing. In Jesus name. Amen.
This wonderful lady has an amazing story of her own and has just adopted our family in prayer!
Hi, we are missionaries in Africa, we pray for you.
For all the ills that technology seems to bring it also has united the people of God in ways never before imagined.
Our family of 7 is praying for your family of 7. When you don’t have the strength for one more minute, we will pray that God continues to supply it, one minute at a time.
Families praying for families! Amen
Allana I read your post on Laura’s FB page. I’m a friend of hers from Childhood at Bethesda Church. I was diagnoised with AML Aug 18 2009. I was told I had TEN days to live.. I flew from our home in Hawaii to Seattle to Fred Hutchinson. They pioneered the Stem cell Transplant over 30 yrs ago. I went thru treatment and received a Stem Cell transplant Dec 21,2009. I blogged daily on carepages. Go to carepages.com
Search
Like you I have a 18,15,9 yrs old children
Married 23 yrs
Was fine then bam out if the blue!!
Here’s the deal
“GOD WANTS YOU WELL”
700 club aired my miraculous healing look it up on YouTube just type in my name
This is I’m not gonna lie not easy but its doable. You got lots of reasons to live.
Keep that attitude. Keep declaring Gods healing promises over your body.
If you private message me I want to mail you a booklet of Every healing promise in the Bible. I declared that daily thru all 22 blood transfusion
All 9 bone marrow biopsies
All the chemo
I’m healed Whole living and well.
God bless you.
I’ll send you my cell if you like with questions you may have just message me. You have my email on your guest book I also gave it to .
Be In Health
In Christ Name
As I do every morning. . . woke up praying for you all. . . actually woke up through the night praying for you. As this chemo flows we are praying that the presence and power of the Holy Spirit flows in continuous and increasing measure. Praying that you will find a safe and peaceful refuge in His arms. I ran across this old Scott Wesley Brown song yesterday. . .
Allana and Sam,
Allana you don’t know me. I heard about you through a friend, Rae, on FB. What an amazing story you have and you are reaching out to so many people. I pray for you every day, and love the way you let The Lord lead and guide you. I love your testimony and I know God is going to bless you……..He already has. Be brave and lean on His everlasting arms!
Coppell, Texas
A Christian friend
Thank you Jesus for providing Your nurse to pray over that first bag, so overwhelmed by Your goodness in all of this.
Hey Little Girl, your babies at home have worked like champs at cleaning this morning and I got the floors cleaned – thank you mr hoover. We love you but of course you know that. Fight the good fight! Your kids and I and your brother are all cheering you on. YOU CAN DO IT! With God’s strength and love – of course.
Love you bunches,
Mom
Susan B
Allana and Sam,
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings. Selah
May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
We will shout for joy when you are victorious
and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the Lord grant all your requests.
Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he answers him from his holy heaven
with the saving power of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.
Encouragements Jan. 9th and 10th
Posted in Leukemia, tagged Allana Guidry, blessing, Caringbridge, children, faith, family, God, guestbook, leukemia, love, prayer, protection, reflecting, support on February 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I thought that I would post some of the encouraging comments from Allana’s Caringbridge site. I obviously could not post them all (the web page has had almost 13,000 hits!). We are thankful to every person who has expressed support in so many different ways!
The Beginning
Allana, I believe God has something very, very special planned for you, he must have because look at all the tests he has and continues to place in your path and the path of your family.You are an inspiration to all of us, your strength and faith are amazing. I can only hope that one day I will have half the strength and faith you have.Since you have came into my life and I have watched and read your posts, notes etc. I can honestly say I have more faith in God than ever before.
Your sweet Nisa Faith is such a beautiful little girl, what a joy she must bring into you and Sam’s life. If God can make such a precious gift possible, surely he can help you beat this fight against leukemia.Keep up the fight girl, you can do anything with His help.
You and your family are in my prayers daily and in my thoughts often. Love to you and yours.
God’s love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks. Psalm 36:5-6
You know, I said stumbled upon this verse and yet I know with God, there is no such thing as stumbling. What an amazing God that in all that he is, nothing slips through the cracks. Today his love for you lights up the sky like the brightest meteor and he holds you tenderly in the palm of his hand.
We love you and are praying for you!
You all are in my prayers as you walk through trying to wrap your heads around the reality of this.
I am praying for wisdom for your treatment team, and supernatural strength for the fight.
I have a friend that has survived AML; she is now going on 11-12 years ago this year that she received her life-saving bone marrow transplant. She, too had a young baby at the time of her diagnosis. It was touch and go for her for many months.
Keep immersing yourselves in Scripture, and allow your brother and ssisters in the Lord to hold up your weary hands in the battle.
To actually see the word, “dying” makes this so startlingly clear of the harsh reality of the situation for Allana and her family. It makes my heart physically ache. I am praying so hard! Stay as strong as God will help you to be. Stay positive….and I can see you guys are so strong in your faith and I can tell you guys are seeing the silver lining, even in this. Love you, Allana. I want so badly to be there to hold your hand, to hug your family…but I’m going to continue to pray with all my might, because where I.cannot do, I’ll always pray.
