Persistence and Good News!

The results of the spinal tap are what we had hoped-- clean!

We are SO grateful Talitha's spinal fluid is cancer-free. The ventricles in Tali's brain are still enlarged but her head has adjusted to this and continues to process spinal fluid without assistance from a shunt.

She keeps us laughing now even when we don't necessarily want to be laughing. The other day there was a "warm dispute" happening in another room between two of Tali's siblings. Talitha--with her awkward walking--made her way into that other room and then in a serious voice asked "what is going on here?!"

How she has picked up so much, so fast and knows how to use it all in context is shocking at times. Not exactly what I was expecting especially after brain surgery and the mute-ism that came with it during those first scary days nearly a year ago.

I heard Audrey say in Church today that because of what she has experienced, she knows now that regardless of how bad or hard things get, Christ has the power to get you through it. That's why you can trust Him....completely. (She said it so much more eloquently it just brought tears to my eyes.)

I've been thinking lately about the many lessons that have come through the blessing of trials. I came across a quote from Napolean Hill that I'd read before but didn't appreciate as much as I do now. It shed new light for me on the scriptures that talk about the need for "opposition in all things" and the necessity to "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ" and to "endure to the end":

"There is no substitute for persistence! It cannot be supplanted by any other quality! Remember this, and it will hearten you, in the beginning, when the going may seem difficult and slow.

"Those who have cultivated the habit of persistence seem to enjoy insurance against failure. No matter how many times they are defeated, they finally arrive up toward the top of the ladder. Sometimes it appears that there is a hidden Guide whose duty is to test men through all sorts of discouraging experiences. Those who pick themselves up after defeat and keep on trying, arrive; and the world cries, "Bravo! I knew you could do it!" The hidden Guide lets no one enjoy great achievement without passing the persistence test. Those who can't take it, simply do not make the grade.

"Those who can "take it" are bountifully rewarded for their persistence. They receive, as their compensation, whatever goal they are pursuing. That is not all! They receive something infinitely more important than material compensation--the knowledge that "every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent advantage!"

No matter what the trial is, no matter how difficult the road, none of us are alone. God will help us. God wants to help us. There is no end to His power and ability to lift us, heal us, supply us, comfort us, rescue us, and save us.

Now that's Good News!