Rough Night- Please Pray

Be prepared. This is a novel. God told me to put a lot of things on here this morning.

Phil is very sick. Around 11PM last night, Phil's blood pressure dropped significantly to where they had to start two blood pressure medications in order to raise it and keep it up. Also, his heart was beating very fast and doing these funky premature beats. He had a temperature of 99.7, and his urine output decreased to almost nothing. This is considered a fever in a transplant patient on antirejection medications. The funny thing was that the oxygenation of his lungs was stable and in the 90's. The doctors couldn't figure out what was going on- they tried to give him some albumin to pull some fluid into his blood vessels, and then they gave him a small amount of fluids. This didn't work. His white blood cell count increased significantly. All of this points to an infection, and Phil is what they call septic. This means that the infection most likely has spread to his blood. They repeated blood cultures to see if anything grows. Right now they are treating him for all of the organisms they already know about. They haven't added any new antibiotics. They are waiting to identify the source of infection. Mike, his nurse, said it was good that he is on dialysis because it filters out some of the toxins from the bacteria as well. In this moment, we stopped and prayed and God told us that we were to call people and join together in prayer. Several people came to the hospital and many prayed at home once again praising God for who He is and thanking him for all He is doing that is much greater than we can see, also pleading on behalf of Phil. I wanted to share with you some songs that God has laid on me and we sang last night.

You Are God Alone (Not a god)by Billy Foote
http://www.myspace.com/billyfooteband- click on Featured playlist and then scroll down to artist mix and select You Are God Alone

You are not a god created by human hands.
You are not a god dependent on any mortal man.
You are not a god in need of anything we can give.
By Your plan, that’s just the way it is.

You are God alone, from before time began,
You are on Your throne, You are God alone.

And right now, in the good times and bad,
You are on Your throne, You are God alone.

Unshakeable, unchangeable, unstoppable,That’s what You are.
Unshakeable, unchangeable, unstoppable,That’s what You are.

You’re the only God whose power none can contend.
You’re the only God whose name and praise will never end.
You’re the only God who’s worthy of everything we can give.
You are God, that’s just the way it is.
This song has always meant so much to me. It was sung at our wedding, and it became real to me that God was on His throne at our wedding and is on the throne now through all of this. He does not change. I also love the part that God is not dependent on any mortal man- nurses or doctors. He doesn't need any of us. None can contend with his power.

Hallelujah God is Here by Michael Bleecker
http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/resource_files/audio/200811231700HWC01AWABA_MichaelBleecker_HallelujahGodIsHere.mp3

He has shown His mercy
Pouring out His fury
Laid on Christ our victory Lord God Almighty
He has shown His grace to me
Dying on that wretched tree,
Bore for me my penalty
You get the glory, We sing

Hallelujah, God is here! Hallelujah, God is here!
Open up your eyes and see the splendor of His majesty
Open up your eyes and see the beauty of The Mighty King


Covered in Your blood , we sing
All for You, our God and King
Humbled at Your feet we sing….we sing

Hallelujah, God is here! Hallelujah, God is here!
Open up your eyes and see the splendor of His majesty
Open up your eyes and see the beauty of The Mighty King

Let this place, echo Your worth
Let this place, echo Your worth

Isaiah 53:8-10- He was oppressed, and He was afflicted…like a lamb that is led to the
slaughter…By oppression and judgment He was taken away…stricken for the transgression of
my people. It was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief.


2 Cor. 5:21- For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might
become the righteousness of God.

Galatians 3:13- Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…

1 Peter 2:24- He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and
live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.

Romans 5:9- …we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by
him from the wrath of God.

The last part of this song was our prayer tonight- that this hospital would echo His worth. We also praise Him that He is here! We prayed that the halls, rooms, and waiting rooms of the ICU would echo His worth.

Here I Am by Michael Bleecker
http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/resource_files/audio/20051112AB01M_MichaelBleecker_HereIAm.mp3
Take me far away from here
Save me from this world of fear
Break me from the things I hold so near
they’re so far from You

Reveal to me what You want me to do
Place me where Your will draws me to
Lord be pleased with the worship I bring to You
I sing to You, I shout to You!

Here I am, send me out let me shine for Your glory
I will read, I’ll live out and proclaim Your Word
Take me now show me how I need to live not for me
But for You and Your glory.

Isaiah 6:8- I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will
go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Philippians 2:14-16- Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you
may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and
depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold
out the word of life.

God has reminded Justin of this song lately. Last night, we prayed and asked God about what He is wanting to show us during this time. We encourage everyone to ask God what He wants to show each of you through this, as He has told us multiple times that He is up to something much greater than just healing Phil's liver.

Some scripture a friend shared with us. Zecahriah 13:6-9 "And one will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will say, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.' "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My associate," Declares the LORD of hosts "Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; And I will turn My hand against the little ones. "It will come about in all the land," Declares the LORD, "That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it. "And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' And they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"

Our prayer is to be the third part of the tribe.

Another scripture that came to mind last night as we prayed and sang was Acts 16:25-34 when Paul and Silas were in prison

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family."

This is our prayer that whatever chains bind Phil's body or us or anyone reading this would be loosened and that people will come to know Jesus and be saved through this.

I have some new families to ask you to pray for:

Last night as we were in the room with Phil, a man named Jim, died. Please pray for God to draw this family near to him during this time. They had to code him in front of his family.


Yesterday afternoon we met Tony. His wife is Marilyn and she has had a rough life. She has lower bowel cancer and developed blood clots. Then while on the blood thinners developed a bleed. Most recently she has liver failure secondary to tylenol form her cancer pain. It is so sad as they have 8 kids. Some of the kids were up here yesterday afternoon. They all just moved here from out of state for better health care. The kids had to leave their friends. Please pray for God to comfort these children and her husband. Pray that God would continue to provide opportunities for us to love on them.


If you are still reading, congrats. When we went in and saw Phil when we left at 4:30AM he was still hanging in there with his blood pressure supported by medications currently. His respirations and oxygen is stable. His heart was having less funky beats. We came to the motorhome to catch a couple hours of sleep before we head back at 9AM. I wanted to update everyone so you can know how to be praying. Pray that God's name, first and foremost, would be made great through this. Please pray that God would touch Phil and heal him. Pray that he would heal this infection and sustain Phil's body as he endures it. Pray that the doctors can localize where the infection is and can treat it. Pray that his blood pressure would increase and he wouldn't have to be on medication. Ask and pray what God wants to show you during this time.


The liver is being healed!!! Mike tonight said that his liver was 25-40% dead where we originally only thought 15%, but that it was incredible how it is doing and regenerating. God intervened and answered our prayers and is healing Phil's liver. Please continue to pray against rejection and for the remainder of the liver function to be restored. Pray for the kidneys as well as I don't even know what to think of them right now. He is still on dialysis. Praise God for shocking the doctors and answering our prayers about this liver.