News & Events
July 12
Dear Praying friends,
Thank you for praying for Cathy. I would have written before but the weekend and today have been busy. The catheter insertion procedure went well on Thursday. However, communication failed to happen from TGH to the nursing service and the next 24 hours were stressful. In the end Cathy was drained at home, the catheter worked well and again today. Cathy is in significant pain as a result of the procedure but that pain should fade over the next week. God willing, the catheter will continue to be effective and will not become blocked. When the ascites (fluid) builds up it impedes Cathy's breathing and affects her digestive system and thus Cathy's quality of life.
Thank you for your emails and cards. Recently, one or two cards have expressed appreciation for something that Cathy has done or been for that person, something to thank God for. That has been wonderful now and will be wonderful for me to read to Cathy later. I have sometimes listened to eulogies and wondered if the deceased person had ever been told those things. Let us say them to each other before it is too late.
This comes to you with my best wishes and prayer,
Chris
P.S. Please feel free to ask me to take you off my lists or the church's if you wish. Not everyone will be comfortable reading all this and I don't mind at all.
Also, please try to remember to not include my original email in your replies
- this saves paper when I print them up for Cathy.
July 7
Dear praying friends,
On Thursday Cathy will be fitted with a permanent Tenckoff catheter and a collection bag to continuously drain the fluid produced by the cancer. The fluid has been building up quite quickly in the past weeks, requiring weekly paracentesis, the insertion of a fairly large bore needle into Cathy’s peritoneum and withdrawal of about 1.5 litres of fluid. The permanent catheter involves Cathy wearing a collection bag that is drained once or twice a day but should prevent fluid bloating that affects her breathing by pushing up her diaphragm. Specific things to pray for include:
- that the procedure will go smoothly and painlessly
- that the catheter will be placed in the best position for maximum drainage
- that the fluid be in one large pool and not ‘loculated’, divided into a number of pockets
- that no infection occurs
- that Cathy becomes comfortable with the catheter and collection bag.
Cathy is taking acetaminophen and ibuprofen on a regular schedule now to relieve pain. We are thankful that the pain is not worse and rarely disturbs her sleep, although she gets breakthrough spasms several times a day. She is noticeably weaker, no longer walking much and getting up from a chair requires considerable effort. Cathy gets up and dressed every day, sleeps in the afternoon and would be going to her programme at the Aphasia Institute if not for hospital appointments. Cathy is working on a project to label all our packets of old photos – I really need her to do that because Cathy’s memory is so much better than mine!
I have learned a lot in the process of pre-arranging funeral and burial plot. I have not given up hope that God will heal Cathy but I do not know what God will do. In my last email I wrote: ‘Some might also feel called to pray for us on the path it appears we are walking for now, and pray for God’s help in preparing for Cathy’s death and all that follows in the short term and beyond’. Someone responded by quoting James 1: 6 But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; 7 for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
Is that bible text about praying for healing? The preceding verse 5 tells us that the prayer James is advocating is specifically for wisdom. If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. When we look a little closer we see that the whole section is preceded by 1:2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. James is not writing about prayers for healing here. James is actually encouraging us to accept, even welcome, trials because they help us become more complete human beings, more like Christ whose trials we all know. Later he will encourage us to pray with faith for healing.
I have taken the trouble to write about this because I have observed how people who are realistically looking at their sickness and prognosis are judged as doubters by fellow believers. Realism is not the antithesis to faith or belief. God’s ability to heal is as real as the cancer that is growing inside Cathy. I believe in both. I also believe that, while the cancer is stupidly trying to kill its host and thus itself, Cathy will live eternally in the resurrection body Christ has won for her. The cancer will be dead forever.
Thank you for praying that God will heal Cathy and thank you for praying that God will ease her dying, whenever that happens. Thank you for praying for Thursday’s procedure and for your prayers for Clare, David and me. Clare is at home with us, still looking for work this summer. David visits whenever he can while he looks for work in Kitchener-Waterloo and hopes for further sales of his CD, Listening Through the Night, and iTunes downloads. Pray that we are empowered to be all that we can be for each other, able to tap into the inexhaustible supply of God’s grace.
This comes to you with my best wishes and prayer for you,
Chris
Do you sometimes wonder about the health of your marriage? Perhaps you are in a transitional phase, or a difficult phase. Maybe things are 'ok' but you feel it could use a 'shot in the arm'? Maybe you're just starting out in marriage and need some helpful direction. Wherever you are in your marriage, the Alpha Marriage course is for you, because it is for married couples who want to build a strong or stronger relationship and to grow in their marriages to the Glory of God.
The course is being hosted by Little Trinity and St. Paul's Bloor St. It begins October 13th and meets every Wednesday for eight weeks at St. Paul's. It costs $195 per couple, which includes candlelight suppers each week and course material. Contact Christine Watt for registration and more information.
Please help! We need old (and new!) photographs of parish weekends, missions and missionaries, LT members at work and at play. Do you have programmes, brochures, magazine or newspaper articles on Little Trinity? Share them with Vivienne James.
A new worship CD has just been released! Mike Janzen, our evening worship music director, has released an album featuring 12 songs of praise. This album was recorded live at Little Trinity last June and features several of our musicians. The CDs are $15 or 2 for $25 and can be ordered through the office.
Many home groups are up and growing and looking forward to welcoming new members. If you are interested in joining a home group at Little Trinity, please contact Rob Schellnenberg and Michelle Michalak via the church office.
Manthano (Greek = 'to learn'), is a small group bible study that meets weekly on Wednesdays nights from 7-9 p.m. at Little Trinity House. This group is open to all who are interested in getting together with others to study and discuss the Word of God. This might mean you! You might be a youth, or a senior, or anywhere in between - do you want to discuss the big questions of life and where God is in them? Then this is for you.
The Interim Report of the Property Team is available here for your information. As we continue to discern God's will for our property development, we are relying on parish members to pray and discuss the matter.
- Property Team Report (PDF, 108 KB)