message from God

God is truly moving among His people…

My last post was about our first breakthrough for this year, about the miracle we received regarding Joann’s diagnosis. Much has happened after that, which seems to overturn the previous turn of events…

After we received the good news 2 weeks ago about the disease being IN SITU, we decided to offer up a praise and thanksgiving offering to God. I asked our pastor if i could go back to the worship team and lead the worship as thanksgiving to God. He graciously agreed and i was scheduled the coming sunday.

The day after our pastor and i talked, the 1st pathologist (who read the diagnosis as invasive) called me up. He said he learned i sought 2nd and 3rd opinions who both diagnosed IN SITU. He took the remaining tissue samples, mounted them in slides and he wanted to show me what he saw.

He showed me that there is really invasion, much clearer seen in this new set of slides, and that there is even invasion seen into a blood vessel. Long story short, Joann and I were once again stunned at this development. I took the new set of slides and the old set of slides and sent them to UP-PGH for further analysis and testing. We’re expecting results this week, which would very well determine the need for chemotherapy.

I can’t describe how dissappointed we were. It’s like going through the process all over again. In my minute limited mind, i can’t understand what was happening. We already graciously accepted the diagnosis before, even prepared for chemo already. Then the diagnosis was turned and chemo was no longer needed. We already sent testimony to God’s goodness and power. And then this…is God taking back the miracle? Is He taking back our breakthrough?

In all things we ought to give thanks. Lowly hearted as we were, we decided that i continue to offer a sacrifice of praise and lead worship the coming sunday. A great struggle indeed, but God’s grace is sufficient.

After much prayer, and asking God for anointing, strength, faith, peace and grace…i submitted my line-up of songs, practiced last saturday, and praised and worshipped yesterday, sunday. Truly in God’s presence darkness flees, for in the time we praise and worship God, there is no fear, there is no worry, there is no darkness.

After the 3 services, i prepared to go home. A caucasian man i don’t know and never seen before walked up to me at the lobby and told me that he received a message from God to tell me. He wrote it down as it was not really a “short message.” As he began to read, my knees shook. He read as follows:

“You are a man of God and My delight is in you. As you have studied and examined my word you have discovered a treasure that has become a way of life for you. The persecution that has happened to you has been allowed for My purpose – just as iron sharpens iron, so am I sharpening you.

Be lead by My Spirit and develop the spiritual relationship I desire for your ways and your life are in Spirit and truth. Don’t judge and you won’t be judged.

There is another dimension of worship I will lead you into as you seek Me and especially the empowering and enabling that My Spirit brings.

Be not concerned about family members who are not walking with Me, surrender and give them to Me and I will open their hearts to respond and receive My engrafted word.”

After he read this to me, he introduced himself as John Cochrane, a national of New Zealand and his filipina wife. They have a ministry in sorsogon, a christian run orphanage.

I thank God for His message, which really encouraged me, my wife, my whole family. I wanted to ask John “so did God tell you up to when this persecution will last??” but i guess that’s up to God alone. It is enough for me that “it has been ALLOWED for HIS PURPOSE!” and that His delight is in me.

As we wait for the results, it could be that it is invasive and that chemo treatment would be needed. Or God can make it purely In Situ and that no more chemo is required. Although we continue to pray our heart’s desire that it is In Situ, we just trust God now. He alone knows what is best. May His will be done.

God be praised! We still face mountains. Sometimes, God removes the mountains in front of us. But more often, God simply gives us the strength to climb and overcome!

Our First 2010 Miracle! First Breakthrough!

“He moves in ways we cannot see, He will make a way for me…”

There is truly sunshine after the rain. If you’ve read my previous posts, you’d know what my wife and our entire family went through this November-December of 2009. The biggest blow was the diagnosis of my wife with breast cancer.

After my wife’s surgery, histopath biopsy results was read as Invasive Ductal Cancer, associated with extensive Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. In fact,the pathologist commented that 80-90% of the 5x5cm mass was Carcinoma In Situ, and that only a small portion was invasive. As such, the stage was stage IIa. If it was purely In Situ, it would be stage 0.

Now, for non-medical peeps, when we say “IN SITU” it means the cancer is CONTAINED and carries a better prognosis than INVASIVE cancer. After surgery, invasive cancer needs chemotherapy, In Situ does not.

So after a lot of tears shed, Joann and I have submitted to the will of God and had peace and joy in our hearts. We prepared for her chemotherapy, which was supposed to be started today, January 8. Part of the preparation entailed sending out the histopath slides for receptor testing (estrogen ER, progesterone PR and HER2) receptors that would influence what type of chemo drugs would be used. We consulted with an oncologist already and prepared ourselves for the possible side effects, such as hair loss, etc.

What would be better was to have ER positive PR positive and HER2 negative results, which is relatively easier and cheaper to treat.
As such, as I called up the lab for results, it came out exactly the opposite/ ER and PR negative, and HER2 positive. This would require a more toxic chemotherapy regimen, and an extra drug, Herceptin, which would cost around Php 90,000.00 per vial. It would have to be given every week for 1 year.

Still, in all things we praised God, and gave thanks to Him, and committed to Him our future.

I went to the lab to get the official result, As I read the result, it stated ER negative, PR negative and HER2 positive. But after HER2 positive, this was written…(IN SITU). I was a little baffled. What we needed was the HER2 status of the invasive part, not the In Situ part.

So I called up the pathologist, who, i didn’t know at the time, was a previous president of the society of pathologists. I asked him what was the HER2 status of the invasive cancer was. He told me “I didn’t see any invasive portion. It was all In Situ.”

My ears popped up. Long story short, I sent him additional slides for review, and still he gave an official report )just this wednesday) DUCTAL CARCINOMA IN SITU.

Joann and I were stirred up. Could this be true? If this was true, she WOULDN’T NEED CHEMO TX at all.

To settle our anxiety, we sent the slides to a 3rd pathologist, also a senior and respected doctor in the medical community. As I drove to the pathologist today, I prayed to God “Lord, let it be that whatever reading this 3rd pathologist says, be the true reading. Whether it be invasive or In Situ. But our hearts desire o Father, let it be In SItu!”

Long story short, I gave the slides (all 25 of them) to the pathologist this morning. I saw him browse through the slides. One by one he looked at them. He looked at me. He told me, “all I see is In Situ. I’ll give you an official result tomorrow but to me it’s In Situ.”

Hallelujah! Praise God! Praise Him! Praise His most holy Name!

I’ll be talking to the oncologist later, but all medical guideline show there is no need for chemotherapy for Carcinoma In Situ. The surgery done was enough management. All we need to do is close monitoring.

God STILL answers prayers. He STILL moves mountains. He STILL parts the waters of the seas. He STILL does the impossible.

This is our first miracle for the year. This is our first breakthrough. And we are expecting more from our Great and Almighty God!

Accident!!!

Hey, as if last week wasn’t tough enough…

I was on my way to school for my last class for the year, driving our toyota vios. Was passing thru the quezon ave cor edsa underpass manila bound lane. I wasn’t driving too fast because the traffic was just moderately moving. I was playing (and singing) Don Moen’s “I need You Jesus, to come to my rescue…” and then WHAM!!! Something hit me from behind. I wasn’ too rattled though but after only 3-5 seconds another WHAMMMM!!! Bigger and stronger and louder.

As I got out of the car (amazingly i was able to), and from the narrative of the other drivers, this is what seemed to have happened.

The bus (owned by Everlasting) lost its brakes and hit the lancer behind me. The lancer hit me (giving me the first WHAM!) and made me hit the BRAND NEW STAREX in front of me. As the bus was about to hit the lancer a second time, the lancer swerved to the left and was pushed aside by the bus. But the rampaging bus hit me this time (giving me my second WHAAMM!!! bigger and stronger) totally wrecking the car from behind and pushing me full force towards the Starex in front of me and wrecking the front portion of the vios.

The sad thing is, the bus owner doesn’t want to own up to the damages and they just want to go to court. So off to court we’ll go.

God be praised for shielding me from impact. Thank God i had my seatbelt on, which is a real life saver.

I got my trusty Nokia N97 to document the whole thing.

In all things, in all ways, God is still God, and Jesus is still Lord!

The Hope and Cost of Healing

As we continue to believe, affirm by faith, claim and declare that God’s healing has indeed come upon us, and healed every bit of trace of disease in Joann’s body, the devil keeps on taunting us “is it really that simple?” Just pray for healing and healing will come? Is there no price? Is there no cost?

As we ponder about this, there are times seeds of doubt arise. Sometimes, faith falters. As doctors we have seen how this disease courses through. We have seen the agony of patients. There is even more suffering seen in the treatment modalities… surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy…is this the cost of healing?

I continued to pray today…that God will continue to increase our faith. “Lord, help my unbelief!” is my prayer…God give me the strength and faith to hold on to YOUR PROMISES!!! Strengthen our hearts O God! We still continue to pray that God will crush and dissolve the tumor, and that surgery is no longer needed. God increases our faith and strengthens our hearts.

My brother told me about another doctor he worked with in one medical mission. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer, with lung and liver metastases. She was ready to die, and was even trying on cotton balls on her nostrils to see what she’d look like. But God had plans for her. She didn’t undergo surgery, and was seemingly resistant to chemotherapy. But God’s awesome hand healed her. GOD HEALED HER STAGE 4 CERVICAL CANCER WITH LUNG AND LIVER METS COMPLETELY!!!. She is disease free up to this day…and her healing came almost 8 years ago.

As if THAT testimony wasn’t enough assurance from God. Awhile ago, my classmate, Monica, from way back highschool asked me how i was doing via facebook chat. She and her family are bible-believing christians. She’s now based in Singapore. I have asked her to pray for Joann. As we were chatting, I told her that we believe God’s healing has already come upon us. Then she began to share.

She told me her dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. He didn’t undergo surgery or chemotherapy. HE IS COMPLETELY HEALED! He was healed more than 25 years ago, and is now still strong enough to regularly go to the gym.

Her younger brother, at the age of 2 1/2 yrs old, was diagnosed with Leukemia. He underwent chemotherapy but never lost a strand of hair. He is now 24 years old, a young professional, DISEASE FREE and COMPLETELY HEALED!!!

Her aunt was diagnosed with colon cancer. She didn’t undergo chemotx. She is now ok and living in the U.S. SHE IS HEALED!!!

Her mother is now with a ministry called MORE THAN “C”; more than conquerors, more than cancer. They are ministering to those afflicted with cancer. I was able to talk to her on the phone and she left me with this message;

Believe in the power of God! Try to have communion daily at your home, break bread with the family. And everytime you break bread, remember that this, the body of Jesus Christ, was broken and bruised…that WE MAY BE MADE WHOLE!!!

God told me that “Yes, I have the power to heal you. Yes, pray with faith and you shall be healed. Yes, I am the God that healeth thee.” But God reminded me that it didn’t come at no cost.

The cost is this; Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, left the heavenly realms, was born in a lowly, dirty manger, was raised up by a carpenter, lived the life of a carpenter. At the opportune age, He preached, He HEALED, He cast out demons, He forgave sins, He changed the lives of fishermen, tax collectors, a prostitute, a pharisee. He fed 3000 people, and again 5000 people. He raised up the dead. And then, after all this…

He was shackled in chains, pulled on a leash like a dog. He was beaten up, bruised, spitted on, whipped and lashed at, shouted and cursed at. He was stripped down, and a crown of sharp, long, penetrating thorns was forced down unto His head. He was made to carry a large plank of wood, which would require multiple med to carry. He was made to walk around the city bearing this cross, stumbling at times, and receiving whips at every stumble. He climbed up a hill, and there He was nailed to the cross. The cross was raised up, and He was given a sponge of vinegar for His thirst. Still, it wasn’t the nails but His love for us that kept Him hanging up on the cross. He died. And then, after all this…

JESUS CHRIST ROSE FROM THE DEAD! AND IS NOW SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER! And HE SHALL RETURN SOON!

This is the cost of God’s healing, the victory of Jesus in His life, death and ressurection. God’s healing comes at the most expensive, most unaffordable price; His only Son. But God doesn’t require us to PAY. He only requires us to BELIEVE and have FAITH!

Lord, Thank you for the healing that we now have! You are the God of wonders, and wonderful are Your ways O God!!!

Healing Has Come

I can’t explain it.

Last friday, i cried in anguish, despair, desolation. It’s like heaven and earth came tumbling down on me and my family. It’s like the world stopped moving. Like the sun stopped shining. Like all the colors in the things i see have faded away. As I was driving home, i had to pull over 2 times at the side of the road because i was crying and shouting out to God…”AMA, AMA, AMA KO!!!…..AMA KO, AMA KO, …..MAHABAG KA!!! MAHABAG KA!!!” I didn’t have any more words to say. It’s all i could say really…

Thank God for the internet, cellfones, facebook. We were able to ask for prayer support from a lot of friends, family, even those far away. And some committed not only to pray, but to ask their prayer groups, their family, their church to pray too. I have asked christian friends coming from no less than 7 different churches, and I know there are more, to join us in prayer. I believe that there is tremendous power in prayer. And even more, awesome power in the corporate prayer of many believers. “A thousand men praying at the same time is equivalent to a man praying a thousand times.” This is the way to move the hand that moves the world.

As we continued to ask for prayer support, the word of God came pouring in…
Exodus 15:26 – ” And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I AM the LORD that healeth thee.”

Hebrews 4:14-16 – ” We have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens – Jesus Christ – so let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. We don’t have a high priest that is unable to sympathize with our weakness, Approach then His throne of grace so we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Romans 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

John 14:1 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me.”

1 Peter 5:7 – “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

1 Peter 5:10 – “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

That same friday  night, as I was continually praying while holding our 8 month old baby daryl, a rush of peace filled my heart. I don’t know how, why, what, when… but somehow i was assured GOD HAS HEALED JOANN! I began to thank God! I don’t know how  He did it, and how He’ll intend to manifest it, but I know he touched Joann and healed her completely.

The next day, saturday, one of our friends whom I asked for prayer support confirmed that this is God’s promise. She said “Joann is healed, she is whole and her breast is in normal condition. She will continually see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

Messages from friends continued pouring in…in texts, in facebook messages, in posts…ever since I posted “please pray for Joann”, the message has been the same. CLAIM GOD’S HEALING. HEALING HAS COME NOW. THANK GOD AND CELEBRATE GOD’S HEALING!!!” At this point, i stopped being pre-occupied about Joann’s condition, and started thanking God for His healing!

Jesus said, “if you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, you can move this mountain.” God has built up our faith through this. We asked God to increase our faith by His mercy and grace to overcome this disease. I know our faith still needs building up, but we believe it certainly is bigger now than a mustard seed. And to Jesus, a PUNY 2.5 x 2 x 1.5 cm breast mass is certainly NO MOUNTAIN!

As Joann and I were talking about the promises of God, she told me that earlier that day, as she was praying and crying out to God, she felt SOMETHING was being poured upon her…that God’s healing was penetrating every inch of her body.  We were amazed at the goodness of God.

As of last night, we were still able to feel the “lump”. But we are walking BY FAITH now. We continue to THANK GOD AND PRAISE GOD because we know and we declare, GOD HAS HEALED HER ALREADY. We are now praying that GOD WILL DISSOLVE THIS MASS so that her surgery, scheduled on friday, will no longer be needed. And we believe, by faith, God is crushing this mass in His divine hands as of this writing.

Above and beyond us, we know that God’s healing has come that His glory may be revealed. We are excited to see how God will use us to testify to His love, power, grace, mercy, goodness, kindness, tenderness and justice! We are humbled at how the God of the universe loves us and chose us to be His servants! We pray that lives will be turned to God and committed to Christ through our testimony.

So please, continue to pray for Joann and me and our entire family; that God’s healing would be made manifest by the dissolution of the mass and that surgery will no longer be needed. But i also ask you to pray with thanksgiving in your heart for GOD HAS ANSWERED OUR PRAYERS!

Today, as I drove to work, i was in tears again. But these are not tears of sorrow anymore. These are tears of AMAZEMENT AND THANKFULLNESS FOR GOD’S OVERWHELMING LOVE AND POWER!!! So please join us in praising God and in giving Him glory, FOR WE BELIEVE, CLAIM AND DECLARE GOD’S HEALING HAS ALREADY COME!
P.S. Please join us, wherever you are, for a time of prayer and thanksgiving and worship this wednesday night, December 9, 2009, begining at around 7:30pm. For those of you who can come, we’ll have this night of prayer and worship at our house in Marikina.

please pray for joann

a thousand men praying at the same time is equivalent to a man praying one thousand times!

please pray for joann, my beloved wife. she is 36 years old, loving wife to me and dutiful mother to our 3 wonderful sons. she’ll undergo breast surgery on dec. 11, 2009, friday, 7:00am. we are praying for a safe and no-complication ridden surgery, and we are praying and firmly believing that the frozen section and final biopsy will yield benign results.

Our God is good and God is able! Nothing is impossible with God! He laid the foundations of the earth and created all things. He put the stars, the planets, the sun and moon in place. He carved the mountains and the seas, and blows the winds through all the earth. He formed all nations, and formed the complex human body. And God can certainly heal a mere 2.5 x 2 x 1.5 cms mass.

Please be one with us in prayer to move the hand that moves the world. God bless us all!

breast cancer

If you are a young lady, in the prime of your career, a mother to very young children, living clean, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink alcohol, with no previous medical problems, no family history of medical problems, you really won’t think it could hit you.

But breast cancer can hit anyone, and you don’t need to have the risk profile to get it.

Patients usually first notice a palpable breast nodule or mass. Although most breast nodules are benign (>80%), it is still best to have yourself checked by a medical specialist.
There’s a spectrum of breast diseases ranging from benign, to pre-maligant, to frank malignancy. There are a lot of diagnostic modalities available to aid in diagnosis. There’s breast ultrasound, mammography, scintimammography, fine-needle aspiration biopsy and excision biopsy, with the latter most as the most accurate.

Benign and pre-malignant lesions are readily treatable, usually with excision of the mass alone and with close follow up monitoring. However, pre-maligant lesions are a bit more difficult to diagnose, as imaging and biopsy results may yield inconclusive or even conflicting results.

Frank malignant breast mass have to be treated more aggressively. Clues for the patient if the mass is high risk for malignancy are a hard (stony hard), fixed (non-movable) mass, presence of nipple retraction or skin dimpling, presence of nipple discharge which is sometimes bloody. Then again, excision biopsy is still needed to confirm.

With the advent of modern diagnostic machines, it is easier to catch the disease early on, and to apply corresponding management. Early diagnosis, early treatment leads to better prognosis.

So please, if you feel a lump in your breast, don’t delay in having it examined. God moves in mysterious ways, and for those who have breast cancer, nothing is impossible with God. God can move mountains, can raise up the dead, and He is Almighty to heal even the deadliest of diseases.

live like we’re dying

” We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to… Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say…
Gotta live like we’re dying”

Here is a question you can ponder on. If you knew, for some reason, that the Lord will demand your life tonight, will you live and do things differently in the next 24 hours?

Would you be a little more giving, a little more forgiving? A little more understanding, a little more patient? A little more nice, a little more prayerful?

Would you go places you’ve never been to? Would you say things you’ve never said? Would you do things you’ve only imagined for the longest time?

Would you spend a little more time with your kids? Would you talk a little more with your parents? Would you hug your spouse a little more tighter?

Would you live differently if you knew you were dying?

The next big question is: why? Why do you need to know you’re dying before you do all these things?

Just an announcement, for all of those who have forgotten or probably still are unaware; ALL OF US ARE DYING. It may come sooner, or it may come later. It may be in 30 years, it may be in 30 minutes. That’s just it. We don’t know when. So why do we live differently now? Why not make each second count NOW.

Life here on earth is too short compared to what is in store for us in eternity. Gotta live the life God called us to NOW. We don’t have a second chance. Make it count TODAY!

my son’s engaged???!!!

This is our eldest son, David. He’s now 7 yrs old and a grade 2 student. And he just told me and my wife that he’s “engaged” to one of his classmates.

When David was born, he truly brought immense joy to me and my wife. As 1st time parents then, we really enjoyed every bit of his cuteness. But time goes by so fast. After a couple of years, David was a “kuya”. And then, he began to go to school. And now he’s in the 2nd grade, he looks so big already.

As you can see, there’s no dispute he’s really good looking, just like his siblings…good trees produce good fruit…hehehe. So it’s no wonder that he gets a lot of “fans” from his girl classmates. When he was in grade 1, he had a classmates that called him up on the phone every afternoon. This year, he got elected class president by majority of his girl classmates, hehehe.

The other night, my wife and I were teasing our 2nd son, Daniel, with one of his girl classmates. David interrupted us by saying “mama, papa, ako talaga meron nang crush at meron din sya crush sa akin. Feeling nga namin mag-boyfriend-girlfriend na kami. Feeling talaga namin engaged na kami at magpapakasal…”

I looked at my wife, she looked back, our jaws dropped and eyes wide at amazement. WHERE IN THE WORLD DID DAVID EVER GET THESE THINGS!!!

Haaaaayayayay! The power of television. The effect of watching stairway to heaven. It was kind of amusing to hear David say these, much so that we know it wasn’t something serious. We wanted David to feel that we were open enough that he can tell us these things, so we couldn’t totally shut the topic down. Still we had to remind him to study well and that he was still too young to be thinking about this.

David is now young. But there will be a day, as time flies by too fast,  that he will be old enough to truly bring before us his wife-to-be. It may be 15, 20, 25 years from now, but that day will come.

We pray now that we cherish every single moment of childhood we have with our kids. It shall only pass us once. They can never be kids again. Once they hit adolescence, there’s no turning back, they are adults for the rest of their lives.

That’s why sometimes, we just allow them to roam around, jump around, scream, play and do what kids do, even though it tears the house down. And as much as we can, my wife and I engage them in pillow fights, wrestling, etc. etc. So to David’s “fiancee”, we have to call off the engagement. It’s not yet time for this. Now is the time to play, to enjoy, to study, to build up the love and security we have for our kids. Now is the time for them to be kids and to be treated as such. Now is the time to create the memories we’ll have in the future.

AVANAR’S VISION IS BORN!

i just dove into the world of blogging…i don’t know why but i guess i want to send my thoughts out into the world…

first off,  my blog’s name, AVANAR’S VISION is taken from the first syllable of my three (3) sons names minus the first letter…dAVid, dANiel, dARyl, hence AVANAR. This blog is supposed to be how i, my wife, and my children see the world through our eyes… how we would like it to be…and how God is moving in our lives!

“Where there is no vision, the people perish…” – Proverbs 29:18