From Reva

Dear Lord,

The grieving process has begun as You are making Your will clear to us, even though we don't want to believe it (is this really Your last word on this matter?) and would greatly prefer Your making another decision, full healing, instead. This is our hope still, and we know we must set this hope aside (aside Lord, but never put away), and work through what You have placed before us.

Rachel's Departure is close at hand. Only You know the exact date and time, as You know for all of us, but it seems a good bet that Rachel will depart for Your Home before the rest of us. So how do we handle this Lord?

We take our lead once again, from Warrior Princess Rachel, who is using her RTOE (remaining time on earth) to pray for salvation for those who do not know You, that her life and example will touch someone who doesn't know You, who thinks all of this is crazy.

How can she know, really know where she is going?

How can her family be so sure, really, really sure they will see her again?

"I told you and you believeth not: the works that I do in my Father's Name, they bear witness of me." John 10:25

The works Rachel and the Arnold Family have done bear witness that Jesus is real. The words they speak, the desires of the their heart, the actions they do, everything aimed at attracting, convincing, cajoling the unsaved to come forth for salvation, for hell to decrease and heaven to increase, they do in Your Name.

And You are pleased. Rachel's reward is prepared and her Mansion is waiting.

So now that we know that Rachel's Departure is imminent, we are in awe that Your family chose this time, even in their deep grief, to extend the call of salvation. Warrior Princess Rachel is using her last moments to lead the rest of us in the call for souls. What a leader! Rachel is rallying us not to give up, that this journey has been a Soul Call all along, and it's time to get busy in bringing in the harvest.

We can't help but think of Paul at this time and now we know what Rachel is looking forward to.

"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

2 Tim 4:6-8.

And so Lord, with grieving hearts, but strengthened by Rachel's leadership and the example bravely set forth by the entire Arnold family, we know what we must do.

1. We will pray for lost souls, that those who have witnessed The-Story-of-Rachel from a distance these past two years may be brought to You through her courage and bravery in the Fight. We pray that those online, who read the blogs, will come to salvation. We pray that those nearby, who kept an emotional distance from all of this, will drop their defenses, and cry out, "What must I do to be saved?" And we will be ready to lead them to You.

2. We pray for Husband-of-Rachel and Sons-of-Rachel, that You will embrace them, hold them tenderly, and let them know that You will tend to the hurt they feel from giving up their beloved Wife and Mom. We pray You will guide them day by day, minute by minute, second by second, until they see Wife and Mom again. As Mom Barbara has stated, Rachel is going on ahead on a long vacation. She will be waiting for their arrival.

3. We pray for Rachel's Family, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, neices and nephews, grandparents, and dear friends, that You strengthen and comfort them as Rachel prepares for her departure. We thank You again for Betty Ann's honesty and transparency in keeping the window shade up on the family's struggle for Rachel, and in doing so, kept the prayer wheels turning.

4. We pray for Mom Barbara and Dad Ed, who have wept, struggled, and grieved over the affliction You chose to bring to their precious one Rachel. We pray their comfort and safekeeping in the days ahead.

5. We will pray on, rowing, soldiering, and watching through this journey and after Rachel's departure, for Your family,Your beloved Arnold family, and for the souls to come to You as a result of their mighty witness.

It is our privilege to be a part of this journey You called us to and we continue in prayer to You, our Ancient of Days, Captain of the Host, God-Hero, Prince of Peace, Mighty Counselor, Everlasting Father, the Big Breasted One, Chief Shepherd, Lifter of Heads, Grief Allayer, Strong Tower, Mighty Fortress, Shelter In the Time of Storm, Deliverer.

Amen

From Julie

I wrote down my thoughts about last night and wanted to share them with you. Betty might be posting it on the blog later.

Weeping Endures for a Night, But Joy Comes in the Morning (Psalm 30:5)


Yesterday I was so excited when I got that phone call from Rachel and she told me the good news that she would be going home that day! I started rejoicing for her and then she hit me with the news, “but in my scan they found another very large tumor in my abdomen and stomach areas”. Whoosh and all the air left me – I couldn’t breath, I had no idea what to say. This was not the news I was expecting to hear. “The doctors don’t think it will be much longer” she told me. “Are you afraid?” I asked her. “I am not afraid of dying, because I know I will be with the Lord, I am afraid of being in pain”.  This was hard to hear, see Rachel and I have had many conversations, even before she was sick, about how excited we were to spend eternity with the Lord and finally be in our glorious state with no more selfishness, sickness, or pain. However, I DO NOT want to see my cousin suffer.

As much as I want to selfishly keep her here longer, I pray that the Lord does not allow her to suffer. When I got home last night, my family was all sitting down with Rachel talking about fears, heaven, and love. I immediately started crying as I listened to Rachel talk about her boys and our family and the things she wanted to stay around for, like seeing her boys get their first girlfriends, seeing her niece Izzy become a teenager, and seeing me get married some day. Last night was a time for our family to gather around Rachel and grieve together and bond together. The best part for me was that her boys, Dane (11) and Ethan (9) got to be in on the conversation and hear things their Mother wanted to share with them and we wanted to share with them about their Mom. I told Dane, “I hope you realize how blessed you are to have a Mom like you do – not many people get to have this kind of amazing Mom”.  And he gave Rachel a huge hug at that point, because he knows! Rachel will have a lasting legacy in our family. And if the Lord does tarry to come again (which I hope and pray He does not and instead comes soon!), this legacy will be shared down through many generations. When I think about the kind of Mother I want to be, I think about Rachel – first and foremost striving to please the Lord and further His Kingdom, always caring for her family and showing love to others, even when she is sick with a terminal illness. Now THAT is a lasting legacy – time to add Rachel to the Hebrews Faith Hall of Fame. I do believe Rachel will be a very popular name in our family for generations to come =).

Last night Rachel was asking everyone what they thought Heaven was going to be like. “Think of the best day of your life”, my Aunt Betty said, “then multiply times a million, and that is what Heaven is going to be like”.  I said that I think Heaven is going to be amazing because finally all of our selfishness will be left behind and we will be like God created us to be worshiping Him and loving with a perfect love. My favorite though, was Rachel’s imagery, much like the Elfin Kingdom in Lord of the Rings. And she wants to have the ears like the Elf Queen! I like that. If you read Revelation, there is much imagery about what Heaven will be like, and while we won’t know exactly what it will look like, I believe it will be the most beautiful, amazing place we could ever imagine – better than any fantasy or science fiction book you could ever read.  We talked about if we think we will still have relationships with our friends and families that we have here on earth, and we all agreed that God created us as relational people, and we have such deep love and emotion for the people He has put in our lives here on earth, that we will definitely still have those relationships in Heaven. The only difference? It will be a perfect love, no more hurting and abuse, no more broken families, no more divorce. All of that selfishness will go away.

Last night held a lot of crying for our family, but I will NEVER give up hope that God will heal my Rachel. Our God is a God of miracles and I continually come before Him boldly requesting that He heals Rachel’s body completely. There is so much I selfishly want her to be around for, to memorize scripture with, to ride to Bible Study with, to give me advice about guys and tell me to never give up hope because God has the most amazing Christian man in store for me, and (if the Lord ever blesses me with a husband and children), to stand next to me and rejoice with me on my wedding day and to be in the delivery room (even though I know she would hate it haha) as we celebrate the most amazing and precious little gift from God. But above all of this, I know His plan is perfect and whatever He has for Rachel is exactly where she is supposed to be! 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”. Isaiah 55:8-9

From mom

I wish you all could have been in Rachel's living room today to overhear our conversation about heaven.  We were discussing with Dane what it will be like when mommy goes there soon.  Rachel is looking forward to seeing Jesus face to face.  She is also grieving about leaving her husband and two boys.  For a little while we talked of the pleasures of heaven: no more pain, no more tears, no more death... 
Ra was told today that the cancer has spread throughout her abdominal area.  She has very little time to say good-bye to us.  Perhaps two or more months.  We have a great physician.  And we have faith, hope and love.  Barbara

Grieving

Today we were delivered some seriously bad news. Rachel's cancer is now a large mass in her abdomen. We are all grieving over this news and spent a lot of time with Rachel this afternoon. There was a lot of crying, screaming and pleading with God for healing!! There was a lot of talk about what we all thought Heaven would be like.

One thing that did stick out to all of us is that even though we are grieving over the news and the thoughts of not having Rachel around, we could not get past how someone who did not know the Lord would handle this type of news. I know for sure that if Rachel were to die anytime soon I would see her again in Heaven. Rachel and I are both Christians.

We have admitted that we are sinful and that we have a sin nature. We have asked for forgiveness of our sin ( "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:13 )

we Believe that He is our Savior and only way to stand Holy before God in heaven ("To all who receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." John 1:12)

and We have confessed our sins to Jesus. ("If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9)

 We have an assurance of salvation and an eternal place in heaven. I know that I will spend eternity with Rachel in Heaven. She might be gone for a little time like a vacation of sorts but we will spend eternity together in Heaven...AWESOME!!!

Rachel cried over the people who do not have assurance of salvation and who have to live this life without Jesus. I pray that Rachel's life will touch lives in every way and that how she lives the rest of her life will make us all stop to think about our relationship with the Lord.

Please pray for our family because we are going through the grieving process and need to now refocus and plan for the future.

Please pray for anyone reading this blog that does not know the Lord...pray that something about Rachel will touch their life and they will seek after the Lord.

Pray for the boys!! and Rob! 

My prayer for you... that you will see how fragile life is and that you will share more fervently with other about the Lord or that if you don't have a personal relationship with Him, you will start seeking Him.

A prayer from Reva for Rachel

Dear Lord,

We know the prayers of the righteous availeth much, and You hear us when we pray. With heavy hearts, we pray this morning that Rachel's pain be eased. Rachel is in this fight to the end. Now the end can be a Miraculous Healing, which is not above Your Power to do (this is what we absolutely prefer and pray earnestly for), or the end can be that Rachel sees You Face to Face sooner than the rest of us in this prayer circle. We do not guess at this, but pray for Your Care, Strength, Encouragement, Mercy and Grace overflow on Your Family and our Princess Warrior Rachel as You guide this journey.

One thing we do know, that we do not want to see Dearly Beloved Rachel in so much, unrelenting pain. So, Lord intervene quickly and take her pain away. Help her to breathe easier and receive physical peace in You. Speak to unsettled, heavy hearts and give Mom Barbara a fresh anointing in You. Fortify Husband-of-Rachel, Children-of-Rachel, Father-of-Rachel, Siblings-of-Rachel, Friends-and-Family-of-Rachel, as we struggle to be on one accord in You. This is very, very, very, very, very, very hard. When we are at a loss of what to say in our prayers, we take comfort in Your Word.

"Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusteth in him , and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him." Ps 28:6-7.

This is what we will do, even with downcast hearts, even in such-a-time-as-this. We will lift our eyes and hearts up to the only place they are safe- in You.

1.We will trust in You for care and protection of Warrior Princess Rachel, who even now, is fighting so hard. "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." Ps 56:3

2. By Rachel's side we remain, in focused prayer, for her and the entire Arnold Family. "For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and believed that I came out from God." John 16:27

3. We pray for those whose faith will be quickened and turn into a zeal for You through Rachel's courage in her journey. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me thrugh their words. That they all may be one, as thou, Father, are in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." John 17:20-22.

We pray and await Your Will in hope that comes from lifting our eyes and hearts to You. You do all things well, and we will say this, even now. You do all things well. Deliverance is right around the corner, on the other side of the vale, and will come soon. Amen

From Rachel

This is from Rachel

They found that I have a bad UTI Wednesday and that they put me in the one antibiotic that DID (NOT) work, Sipro. They (have) taken exrays and ekgs (and) more scans (to be taken) later. I'll be here a few more days and I think that now we know the problem I should be feeling better. My ribs ARE NOT broken praise. God. Feeling better today, hope the rest of the scans (come back normal) (they did find a)  small amount of fluid in the lungs. But everywhere else it GAS:)


The stuff in () was me correcting what Rachel wrote...she is on a lot of drugs right now.

God is good!!

So this morning I could not imagine any good coming out of Rachel's trip to the ER but it actually has turned out to be a blessing:

1. Rachel's ribs are not broken and she is not retaining water. Rachel is retaining a lot of gas though...not really sure why but it does not seem to be a concern for the Dr.'s.
2. Rachel has been on Morphine and that has been affecting very badly lately with the side affects so the Dr.'s are now going to try a different type of pain medication which is awesome!!
3. The Antibiotics that Rachel was on to fight the UTI was not working so they are able to give her a stronger antibiotic to help fight the infection.

This visit so far has been a good thing. I am just praying that it continues to stay this way.

Please pray for Rachel, Robin, Mom and Dad as they take turns staying with Rachel. We are hoping that Rachel will come home sometime tomorrow.