Encouragement

I woke up tired again this morning.  Thankfully I have no overwhelming demands on my time but it is disappointing and discouraging to look forward to the day with exhaustion rather than anticipation.
As I opened my Streams in the Desert, a gift from my thoughtful friend, Geri, I came across one of the many personal notes she penned throughout the book.  Geri wrote, "Encouragement:  To bring courage to one another."  With these few words Geri brought encouragement to me.
The grounding verse of today's message is, "Fear not, thou worm of Jacob...I will make thee a threshing instrument with teeth."-Isaiah 41:15,16 (KJV).  The updated language edition says, "Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob....I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth."  From a worm to a powerful, useful tool.  Now that's encouraging!
"Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things.  Men want only to be strong and successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms; but God is the God of the unsuccessful, the ones who have failed.  Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot restore to glorious blessedness and beauty."-J.R. Miller (Streams in the Desert).
Beautiful, encouraging words.

On the health front:
We met with Dr. Polowy yesterday and he laid out the plan for the next, and hopefully the last, phase of my treatment.
We will start infusion chemotherapy again in a few weeks and it will continue for three cycles, each cycle being one month.  That should put me at mid-summer for the completion of treatment.  At that point I will have a PET scan to determine where to go from there.
I am so grateful to my medical team.  They are knowledgeable, personable and, above all, encouraging.