Posts Tagged ‘Allana Guidry’

Redefined by Christ

Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged Allana Guidry, blessing, calling, Christian Ethic, faith, family, God, guidry, Jesus, kingdom, leukemia, Ministry, miracles, Old Testament, Paul, prayer, salvation, Sam, service, surrender, transformation, trust on January 19, 2013| 1 Comment »

Since Allana was diagnosed with Leukemia this place has been a mad house. People ask the question and I find myself saying over and over, I have had to redefine what is a good day and what is a bad day. The new normal for Allana, myself and our family is a bad day by the old standards, every day. As I sit here thinking about this redefining process and my relationship to God it became clear to me that my relationship with God is the catalyst and the key to it. This is what God does for us. This is how he grows and draws us close. A burning bush redefined life for Moses. Suddenly a good day was risking his life standing before Pharaoh, or before his very own irate people. I cannot help but wonder if Moses did not wish for the good old days of tending sheep in the hills of Midian. Joseph had his days redefined in Egypt several times. An angel by a wine press redefined a good day for Gideon. Job, well Job is Job and he is perhaps the poster child for the redefining process. Jesus redefined a good day for the disciples, over and over and over. Then He redefined it for the universe by dying on Calvary. I can almost hear God in his best Jerry Maguire impression on that day speaking to His People: You know our little venture, well it had a big day, a really big day. Now I complete you!. Each of these has a real element of BAD to them. It is important to realize that God does not want us to suffer, but He USES it and yes ALLOWS it because it serves His purposes in achieving Romans 8:28 which outlines the end result of the redefining process. The good thing about this process is that it has a core. It is a core that is made of rock hard incorruptible absolute truth. It is a core that is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and immutable. What happens is that in all this redefinition we actually come to a single truth.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

Circumstances change but a good day is when we do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God. I cannot say that today was a good day, but We believe and we are learning God give us grace and power to make tomorrow a good day, no matter what the circumstances are.

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Leukemia

Posted in Leukemia, Life and Ministry, tagged Allana Guidry, blessing, children, family, God, kingdom, leukemia, Lewis House, love, Ministry, miracles, The Lewis House, Toledo, transformation on January 9, 2013| 12 Comments »

Allana’s Caringbridge Journal

What do you do when the academic suddenly becomes life, when things that you have read about, heard about or even seen become experience?

I sincerely expected my first post after the birth of our daughter Nisa Faith to be one of the joys and trials of new parenthood. She is definitely much more joy than trial. She is beautiful, sweet, cute and everything that I prayed for in our new addition. I cannot let this new storm in our lives detract in any way from the miracle that she is.

Please forgive my rambling, there has been precious little sleep in the last few days. Actually it has only been five days, five days in which one word, spoken by one doctor has changed everything, “Leukemia”. I had heard that after a doctor speaks words like cancer or leukemia that everything else becomes a haze. Now I know that it is true. My wonderful wife of 11 years has leukemia at 34 years of age and with a 3 week old baby this ugly disease has raised its head and threatened not only the life of my beloved but our family, our ministry and our very way of life. Well Leukemia we refuse to be threatened. Allana has declared that we are not to speak that she “has” Leukemia, Allana is “fighting” Leukemia. We are all fighting leukemia.

The outpouring of concern and support from God’s people, friends, family and even people who have just heard our story is amazing. We are overwhelmed by the response and so thankful for those who have taken on the job of coordinating it. I find myself over and over thinking how blessed we are, certainly not in having to deal with this horrible disease but in the fact that God has our back through it.

“…because of the tender mercy of our God,

whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:78

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Nisa Faith 12-16-2012

Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged Allana Guidry, birth, blessing, children, faith, family, guidry, Lewis House, miracles, missions, Nisa Faith, prayer, reflecting, salvation, Sam, surrender, The Lewis House, trust on December 24, 2012| 2 Comments »

Nisa Faith was born on 12-16-2012 at 9:40 pm. She was 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 20.5 in. long. Yet those simple statistics do not in any way define the miracle of faith that she is to this family. A physical living expression of the journey that God has taken this family on over the past decade. I have been literally overwhelmed by her presence in our lives and not just by the usual intensity of life with a new baby. I am going to re-post my blog from July 31st because today I stand with the realization of that post in my arms:

(Nisa- Miracle)

Faith

Guidry

We have prayed for this day for 9 years. We have ached for the losses and doubted our faith. We refused to give up even when we were labeled as a “Chronic Miscarriage” case. When the entire world (and even God himself from a purely worldly standpoint) seemed to be saying emphatically NO, the Holy Spirit whispered in our ears to leave it in the Father’s hands. So we did. Don’t get me wrong we cried, we wailed, we begged over and over again. We wanted at times to throw in the towel and act out of our own understanding. We still do not completely understand, but understand this: 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.

The difficult part to grasp is that my statement about our Father’s love for us is not just true because Nisa is healthy and strong. It is an eternal truth that is expressed in both the tragic and the joyful. He does not love us more now than he did on the very days that we miscarried our other seven precious babies. The reality is that our journey to the fulfillment of the call that He had placed on our lives led us directly through David’s “Valley of the Shadow of Death”. While we might prefer a detour around the Valley, God does not promise that. He does promise that he will be with us, standing by us with His rod and staff and even more importantly for New Testament believers dwelling in us. Many times it is not until after we are through the Valley that we are able to look back and see that God wielded His rod and staff on our behalf as we walked that difficult road.

Even more than she represents the miracle of life to us, she is the miracle of faith itself. Perhaps a better way to say it is that she is an expression of miraculous faith. Faith inspired by the ongoing presence of God in our lives. It is the faith that kept Abraham going on his 400 mile journey. It is the faith that kept him in relationship with God even when he arrived only to face famine. It is the faith that saw the birth of Isaac and the substitution of a ram for his only child on the mountain before God. It is not a faith of the perfect life or of perfect people. It is a faith that traverses pitfalls and carries us through our own mistakes; faith that originates not with us but in the very heart of God and comes to us as a gift from the hands of our heavenly Father. It is Nisa Faith.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lied down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

PSALM 23

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