From Puritan Prayers & Devotions …. The Valley of Vision

Christ-Alone

Thy main plan and the end of thy will
Is to make Christ glorious and beloved on heaven
Where he is now ascended,
Where one day all the elect will behold his glory
And love and glorify him forever.

Though here I love him but little,
May this be my portion at last.
In this world thou has given me a beginning,
One day it will be perfected in the realm above.
Thou has helped me to see and know Christ,
Though obscurely,
To take him, receive him,
To possess him, love him,
To bless him in my heart, mouth, life.

Let me study and stand for discipline,
And all the ways of worship,
Out of love for Christ;
And to show my thankfulness;
To seek and know this will from love,
To hold it in love,
And daily to care for and keep this state of heart.

Thou has led me to place all my nature and happiness
In oneness with Christ,
In having heart and mind centered only on him,
In being like him in communicating good to others;
This is my heaven on earth,
But I need the force, energy, impulses of thy Spirit
To carry me on the way to Jerusalem.

Here, it is my duty
To be as Christ in this world,
To do what he would do,
To live as he would live,
To walk in love and meekness;
Then would he be known,
Then would I have peace in death.

We received GOOD NEWS from UCSF today!  This afternoon they informed us that Irene’s amyloid blood test results are in ….

• In June the value was 652, thus the stem cell transplant
• In October, the value was 33, heading toward the remission target of zero (0)
• On December 3rd, the value increased to 63
• On December 17th, the value was 42

This is obviously very encouraging news!!!  No chemotherapy protocol; simply, answered prayer!!!  However, Irene did physically struggle today, with the nausea “manifesting” itself late this afternoon.

…. it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.
Philippians 1:20b-22

…. and our humble and desperate prayer is that we live or die for Christ alone.

Caminando con Fé

Dave