Pray for Hope

I've been hearing the word 'hope' a little more often lately. I question some of the ways it's been tossed around. But then, what really is hope? The dictionary explains it as a feeling, a wish or desire. But how does one hope when those feelings cannot be mustered up? How does God grant hope? That, I believe, is a journey unique to each person and circumstance. I also believe that those answers can only be found in God's Word. Not by doing certain things, or trying to feel a certain way, or even some cute little story about it. I am thinking of three women right now that must find God's Hope in new or ongoing difficult journeys. I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to pray for them.

The first is my Mom. As you know her husband recently died. This is the second time for her, and I can't imagine what she's going through.  

The second is my sister's best friend, Shawna. I also babysat her many years ago. She is blogging an incredibly difficult journey. Her most recent blog on hope has been on my mind a lot. Click here: the road less travelled

The third one is my friend Kristy in Alabama. I have introduced you to her son, little Jon Andrew in Alabama. He has the same condition as Mason does. Here is a recent email from her: 

Hey All,

Wanted to ask that if you have a chance, pray that the Lord would protect Jon Andrew the week of Aug 3rd-7th.  We will be at Children's hospital in Birmingham doing a desensitization procedure with a medicine he has been allergic to in the past.  He will be in the ICU for about 2 days while beginning the process and then will move to a regular room.  We are praying that his body will be able to adapt to this medicine that has helped him in the past with seizures and behaviors.  Pray that he will not have any severe responses to trying the med again ie) shock, cardiac arrest, steven-johnson syndrome.  This is one of our last options before moving towards a brain surgery in the next year (we will only do this if absolutely necessary because my neuro isn't a big fan of the surgery, but we are running out of options).  

Another important part of this puzzle is that my doctors cannot find any allergy studies done in the world (literally) that have ever been done with this medicine (Banzel).  Lots of times they have done the desensitization process with penicilin, aspirin, a few other seizure meds, but not this particular med.  In other words, this is experimental with JA next week and very risky. Please pray for us.