A Psalm for my Sister

Today is the four year anniversary of the day my nephew Luke Hentzell was diagnosed with Leukemia, and on Tuesday, he goes to the hospital for a spinal tap to ensure the headaches he has been suffering from lately are not a result of a relapse of the Leukemia. As you can imagine my sister (actually our whole family), is clinging desperately to Jesus and trying hard not to walk down the road of what ifs.

I wrote the following in a blog about a year and a half ago for my sister Jodi. I actually hardly remember the specifics of what Luke was struggling through at that time. I just thought now might be an appropriate time to regurgitate this Psalm.

Psalm 77 for Jodi Hentzell

I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.
When I was in distress, when my baby was weak, I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands to wipe his sweaty brow,
to hold his aching body,
to force medicine down his throat to stop the headaches
and my soul refused to be comforted.
I remembered you, O God, and I groaned;
I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah.
You kept my eyes from closing; you kept my knees from giving out;
I was too troubled to speak.
I thought about former days, the years of long ago;
I remembered his soft baby face at my breast....cancer a faint paranoia
I really never entertained.
My heart mused and my spirit inquired:
Will the Lord reject Luke forever?
Will He never show His favor to Luke again?
Has His unfailing love vanished forever?
Has His promise failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful to this tiny little boy?
Has He withheld His compassion? Selah.
Then I thought, "To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High."
I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago;
I will meditate on all Your works and consider all Your mighty deeds.
Your ways, O God, are holy.
What god is so great as our God?
You are the God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the people.
You removed his cancer;
You gave wisdom to create chemotherapy;
You heal the sick!
With Your mighty arm You have brought this boy, this family
through 2 ½ long years of chemotherapy.
The cancer saw You, O God,
the cancer saw You and fled, every last cell fled!
Your people poured down kindness,
our lives resounded with their helpfulness,
their prayers flashed back and forth.
Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
Your voice came through the hospital stays;
Your lightning lit up the world; that child's smile still lights up this pain;
my heart trembled and quaked.
Your path led through the chemo,
Your way through many spinal taps...
You've led this family like a flock by the hand of your grace and mercy.

After you read this, please take a second to pray for Luke. Please pray that NO signs of Leukemia will be found in his spinal fluid on Tuesday. Please pray for my sister Jodi and her husband Shawn. Please pray that our God will hold them FIRMLY in his grasp. Pray that next Tuesday we will mark a brand-new anniversary, April 21, 2009, the date that Luke defeated that nasty word: relapse.