As the summer of 2019 gets underway, I pray that your work in the Lord is prospering with His blessings.
To update you on my health situation, since my last report to you my radiation treatments have been completed. The early lab results have been promising, but it will be 6-12 months before anything very helpful can be known. I was talking to my radiation oncologist yesterday, and he said that my PSA numbers right now look “hopeful,” but what we want is for it to go down over the next year or so, and eventually reach near zero. He was pleased with the extent to which the side effects of the radiation have begun to go away.
However, I still continue to struggle with some other issues that are (apparently) unrelated to the cancer situation. These are issues that have plagued me for a number of years in the past but have gotten much worse over the last year. Several of these involve pain, but others simply impair my ability to concentrate. The devil fights against us with a war of attrition, so the struggle, for me at least, is to not get worn down by the daily struggle to the extent that the cumulative effect of the weariness begins to take a toll. I hope you’ll pray with me that I will have enough strength, day by day, to keep up the battle.
The three worst of these difficulties are what my pain management doctor jokingly calls my “trifecta,” and they are all worse late in the day and in the evenings. So each day, I get up as early as I can and get to work, hoping to “make hay while the sun shines,” as the farmers say. Most days, I can get a good bit done before mid-afternoon when the agony starts cranking up. This has been a hard transition for me to make, since I have always worked better late at night. But for the time being at least, my evenings are lost, so I will adjust and work whenever there is opportunity.
As I announced on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, I am not going to be able to move to Meridian, Mississippi and help the brethren there. It breaks my heart (I don’t think I’ve ever tried to let go of something that would have made me happier), but moving there is just not possible at this point, for multiple reasons. I will drive down as often as I can and be whatever encouragement I can be with temporary visits, but I just cannot move there and live on a permanent basis right now. This was a big decision for me, and I appreciate those of you who prayed about it with me.
I am slowly getting back into the writing groove now that the radiation treatments are over. I just recently passed the halfway point in writing Obeying the Gospel. Even with the loss of the last four months, I still hope to get this book in print late next year. In addition to the book, there will be a website called AreYouaChristian.com that will be exclusively devoted to evangelistic content. Between the book, the website, and other related materials, there is a huge amount of writing to be done between now and the end of next year. I solicit your prayers that I may be able to complete this work. These evangelistic tools have been in the works for many years, and I am eager to get them finished so I can start using them in my daily work.
Thank you so much for your support. You have been patient beyond what anyone could expect, and I am grateful to you for your steadfastness. I pray the work being done with your help redounds to the Lord’s glory. One of these days, He is going to come back. As the old song put it, “We’ll work till Jesus comes, and we’ll be gathered home.”
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
