I need your help. About 6 years ago, my dear friend and sister in Christ, Laurie (we've been friends for 20 years) was diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma Stage III. She's needing a bone marrow transplant to save her life. Originally, they thought they could use her own stem cell since she was not a match with any family members and seems with no one else so far who are already registered with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).

She got some really bad news today. Her cancer is not only growing, but she also has another disease called Poluycythemia Rubra Vera (also known as PV. PV compromises her bone marrow and now she can not go through with the stem cell transplant. She is the only known case with both Follicular Lymphoma Stage III and PV so her oncologist is trying to figure out what to do. If PV is not taken care of quickly, she will die and leave behind a husband and three young boys.

She will go in next week to find out if her Follicular Lymphoma Stage III has turned into another cancer like Leukemia.

I have two very important requests for you, the first one is easy, the second will take much prayer and sacrifice:

Go to the link above and you can either sign up online, or go to a local registry. I went to Carter Blood Care in my town. The initial testing is only a mouth swab. If you're a match the NMDP will call you and tell you you're a possible match and you'll need to go into your local registry for further testing. This test is just blood work, like when you go to the doctor and get blood drawn. If you are a match, I won't lie to you, it is a painful process to donate your marrow. But your temporary pain could save someone's life. And isn't that the least we can do for one another after what Christ has done for us?

"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ...And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."
~ Galatians 6:2, 9-10

The love of God, perfectly demonstrated in Christ Jesus is beyond our complete comprehension. We neither make God greater, nor do we benefit Heaven in any way. But simply because it pleases God (because God is love [1 John 4:8]) He provided a way for us to have peace with Him through the suffering, death and resurrection of His Son. Through this great Gift, God gave us the freedom to love, to offer “true love” to Him, to other Christians, and to the lost world – and in that order.

Will you choose to exercise your freedom to love from this day forward? Will you choose to love God, to love other Christians and those who are lost, not because they can do anything for you, make you feel good, or for any self-gain or benefit? But love God, other Christians and those who are lost, simply because you seek to bring the greatest benefit to those you love? Even if it will cause you to personally suffer a loss, will you do it? Will you do it with joy, while still feeling the pain?

Will you choose this day, to begin practicing your freedom to love, because Jesus the Christ, willingly bore your shame, your guilt, your nakedness, your condemnation, and your position of enmity with God the Father so that you would have this freedom made available to you?

What will you choose to continue in today? The world’s love that even it rejects: love that always considers itself first before acting, or God’s love?


God has given you the freedom to choose. So choose wisely and consider this: The true character of a person is revealed by how he/she treats someone who is utterly of no use to them.

How often I feel as if I will simply burst! This flesh is too weak to contain the joy, the immense pleasure and elation bubbling inside of me due to the incredible honor to live in the presence of my Creator! I am certain that’s why He will give us new bodies in Heaven, for now we only see in part, but then we will see Him as He Is, in His full glory; and I am confident, this frail physical form, will not be able to survive in the fullness of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

It is up to my darling husband and two teenage boys to care for me and the household, as I recover from my surgery. I have been home for less than a week, and have already witnessed the miracle of God’s handiwork in the hearts of my family I’ve never had the privilege of knowing before now. And I am so grateful to God for choosing to reveal to me the secret things He has been doing in the hearts of my husband and boys.

With joy, my husband helps me with everything from giving me my pain meds before I can get out of bed in the morning, to helping me get up, sit down, serve me every drink, food, book or any little thing I need. I very rarely move out of this seat I am presently sitting in and think it has taken the shape of my body by now. Without any hesitation, my darling husband gets up instantly with great delight at my every call and need. The laundry has been done; the house is clean and in order. If I get up, I am instantly sat back down. I am only allowed my necessary walks around the house or out to the mailbox to aid in my healing. I breathe into my little lung machine to keep my respiratory strength, and that’s about it for the day. And, oh how I am gaining more strength daily! But of course – it’s due to the fact that my joy in the Lord is increasing daily! And that which is physical always follows after that which is spiritual.

And what has the LORD done in the hearts of my children as they witness Christ’s love so perfectly demonstrated through my husband? Both my boys have taught themselves how to cook! They clean everything, and cook for me during the day.

I am served ham and cheese toaster sandwiches, breaded cheese balls, spaghetti, and have even been offered to have chicken parmigiana made for me. The boys have determined to go to bed early, so they may rise early to have their praise and quiet time with the LORD before they serve me in the morning. They said they’re doing this because whether I am awake yet or not, they want to be ready to serve me, first thing.

Last night, one of our oldest son’s friends dropped off some food his mom had made for our family. He then invited our oldest son to play basketball with him and another friend. Our son returned about an hour and a half before his curfew stating, “It was fun, but I don’t think I’ll be doing that again.” I asked why and he answered, “Well, Mama, I like hanging out with my friends, and maybe it would’ve been fine if we hung out during the day. But at night, I’d really rather be home with my family. I like being here better and really missed everyone. I need to be here at night. Being with friends is okay, but I just like being here with my family better. And that’s how I like to end my day.”

A teenage son doesn’t say that, nor do two teenagers behave this way because they have great parents. No this is a miracle and can only be accomplished by children who know the Lord and have tasted and seen that He is good. Compared to the Lord, the world and all it has to offer is, well…as our oldest son put it – just, okay.

To have a husband who loves me like Christ loves the Church, two teenage boys who sacrifice with joy and great pleasure to serve me….this is not from man, no this is a miracle and only God works miracles. And I get to be the humbled and honored recipient of such a great work of God!

Is there any greater joy than knowing the LORD? No, there is most certainly not! The more I know about my awesome God, the greater my joy increases! For although one of the greatest joys is to know that our children are walking in truth, there is no joy that surpasses knowing Christ Jesus, my Savior who is my Life!

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”
~ Philippians 3:8
(emphasis added)

The battle against mediocrity is constant indeed! We all struggle with the temptation to “just get by”. I know I sure do! Maybe it’s not throughout my entire life, but it creeps in here and there with what I might consider to be the “little” things. But as I tell my boys, “the little things will eventually add up, then will be too big to handle, so handle it now, while it’s still ‘little’ ”.

For example, during the summer between my Freshman and Sophomore year, I’d wake up 3 days a week at 5:30 a.m. to row, so I could improve my stroke, get stronger and learn to row both port and starboard. I didn’t want to stay in the Novice Boat forever and wanted to have a chance to row in the elite Lightweight Girls boat the upcoming school year. The Lightweight Girls boat was normally filled with seasoned Junior and Senior girls, not a second year Sophomore. I hated being Bow (which was my seat position in one of the novice boats during my Freshman year). Bow meant you were the person that basically did nothing else, but helped keep the boat on even keel. The entire crew is dependent on every rower to help keep the boat on keel. If one person’s oar is raised lower or higher, then it drastically affects the momentum of the boat as it causes the boat to rock which inhibits it from smoothly propelling through the water. But I wanted to do more than the very least that was expected  of every crew member. I trained Monday through Friday, two hours per day to row a 1500 meter race in 6 minutes or less. That’s a lot of prep work for a little “show” time.

Well, my hard work during the summer paid off, and Coach Steven Weir, after trying me at every seat from Bow 1 all the way up to Stroke (the lead seat), assigned me as the Stroke for the T.C. Williams Girls’ Lightweight 8! Not only did I make it to the boat I wanted to row in, but I was Stroke! Unfortunately, this got to my head and Coach Weir had to teach me a lesson. One day, I skipped practice. No reason, really. I was just tired and after all, I was Stoke, so I wasn’t the one who needed the most work, it was everyone else. I didn’t tell Coach why I skipped, but he knew and said that I could not row Stroke for the Regatta that weekend. I would have to take the seat behind me, the 7 seat. That was the first race we lost and boy did I hear it from all the girls! They badgered me with how I let the team down, and how lame my excuse was. Of course, I attempted to blame it on Coach because he’s the one who took me out of the Stroke seat. But no one bought my reasoning and just said, “Yeah, but if you hadn’t skipped practice, he wouldn’t have taken you out of the Stroke seat!” The person I really felt bad for was the lonely Freshman who also made it to the Girls’ Lightweight 8 and was the one who took my seat for that race.

I learned that day that, ironically, the word mediocrity starts with me - in more ways than one. I can decide to either live fully for Christ, with excellence in all that I do and leave the result to Him, or I can make excuses and convince myself that I could indulge myself in my laziness, just this once. But it never stays at just once does it? That’s the pitfall of mediocrity. After the first step into it, the other steps don’t seem so hard. Unfortunately, because we’re too busy indulging ourselves in our laziness, we don’t even realize the slow roast of mediocrity as it worms it’s way into every aspect of our lives. Before we know it, we’ve become someone we never meant to be and look back only to witness the wake of careless work, weak relationships, and constant chaotic situations, all casualties of me-diocrity.

Therefore, I have a choice to make daily. Will I settle for mediocrity or will I resolve to live as if everything I do and think is for my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 6:5-7). If I do the latter, I know I will do all things in the most excellent way (1 Corinthians 12:31 – 13) with love, God’s faithful, steadfast, self-sacrificing love. Not self-indulging, self-centered mediocre love. And the wake I leave behind will not be one of fumbled mishaps, but one with little regrets, and the greatest joy…making my Savior smile!