Mile 19: Celebrating Lana Beth Fisher!

Welcome to Mile19!

While hesitant for some time, I am so grateful that we did go ahead and set up this blog several years ago. Our original purpose was to glorify the Lord through our trials with infertility, encourage others in their faith and suffering (specifically with infertility), and update our faithful prayer warriors so they could keep lifting us up along with praising the Lord for His goodness, mercy and grace. Our hearts are still so committed to encouraging others in their journey with Christ, through trials and suffering... This blog has become an Ebenezer stone if you will, a stone of rememberance, a declaration to God's faithfulness and the miracle we have experienced. It is with great joy and privelege that we now get to update our friends, family and prayer warriors on how our precious Laney is doing! But don't think for a second that this washes away all the pain of infertility. Our scars are real and deep, and constant reminders of just how difficult this particular journey can be. We have been so incredibly blessed to be able to come alongside and encourage and pray for many couples whose hearts ache desperately for a child. If you are reading this and are going through infertility, we would LOVE to encourage, pray and help in any way possible. Please do not hesitate to contact us (lewood34@verizon.net)- we're an open book - and it blesses US to pour into you in hope that you too will be blessed and strengthened. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Lana Beth Fisher ... she truly did 'fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith' (2 Tim 4:7). You just would not believe the Celebration that took place September 8, 2009... better yet the Celebration that took place September 3rd, 2009! This 'funeral' that we all appropriately are calling a 'Celebration' was just that! Celebrating the incredible life, faith and testimony of Lana ... celebrating what she was truly living for ('for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain' Phil 1:21), the faith she had in a Living Loving Relational Jesus, and the testimony of how she stood firm in His Word, unwavering in hope of Eternity with the One she so loved. Of the many Scriptures referenced, one that so reflected her story and this day was Revelation 12:11, "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death".
Testimony after testimony was shared that echoed this Truth... by the blood of the Lamb! Lana did not shrink from death! Satan was overcome! "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor 15:55-56
We, there, had the privelege to stand and worship together, tears streaming down faces, beholding the Glory of God. It was an experience that Brad and I will never forget, for it had an eternal impact on us... and Lana's testimony will be remembered, retold, and reflected on until God calls us Home as well! Oh if we could all take this Message that she was proclaiming so courageously to heart, and really live it out!
"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor 12:9-10
We saw a beautiful picture in how to grieve with hope... How to trust God through the deepest of the darkest valleys ... and were reminded of what Eternal Perspective is really all about.

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His godly ones." Psalm 116:15

Marathon Race

"Veteran missionaries were honored for nearly a half-century of selfless service on behalf of crosscultural evangelism. As part of the ceremony of celebration, they were presented with a plaque that likened the call of God to a marathon race that requires a lifetime to run. The inscription read:'When God calls, a gun sounds, and a marathon begins. A life of service. A lifetime of measured steps which (because of the distance to be covered) take in stride the potholes along the way. Disappointment. Tears. Rejection. Exhaustion. Failure. Loss. A cross I think he called it. The One who finished first, who near the end of his own long-distance race (though winded) sighed "I thirst!" It was what he saw beyond the finish line that ade him stay his course. A faithful finish. And his Father's proud "well done!" It's true. Persistence has its price tags. But also its rewards! Like the rush that comes when you run through the pain and find a second wind (when you want to cash in). but don't forget the hush. That's another joy in the marathon quest. That quiet contentment that steadies your steps on "a long obedience in the same direction." the knowledge that you're being true to what God called you to do and to that which you promised you would. Along the way, you've had opportunities to learn endurance and in the process make a difference for Christ and his Kingdom. Because of your determination to not give up or give in, there are those throughout this nation (and beyond) who have heard the call of God and joined the race. You've paced yourself well, and now as you find your full stride, would you allow us to run at your side? After all, what you've attained is the goal that we seek. Strong, not weak. Strong, not wilting. Not bailing out, but holding out to the end. Perseverance. Persistence. Going the distance. Finishing well.""Endurance is not glamorous; it does not offer high praise or huge rewards. The Olympic 100-meter dash champion is far better known than the marathon winner. One is called the "world's fastest" while the other is barely mentioned in the sports pages." (Heroic Faith - VOM)How true it is. Anyone reading this probably would recognize the name 'Usain Bolt' that blew everyone away in the 100-meters this Olympics 2008, but I have no clue who won anything long distance. "Endurance is not a gift that a person can develop in a one day or even in one season. You can't wake up one morning and decide to hang in there." So here we are, running, walking, jogging, and crawling up the treacherous 19th mile, hand in hand, looking to the finish line. For the past three years, we have been struggling with infertility - The Journey - we've called it, really the Journey of Mile 19. It has been much steeper than we thought possible, but the Lord has taken us much deeper in the process. I really resisted forming some type of a blog - 'I didn't want to make it seem, by doing this, that we thought our trial was tougher than others going through family losses, cancer, etc.'; but God humbled me and has shown us that He comforts us not to make us comforatable, but to make us comforters, and that we are not to compare sufferings. If there can be any glory gained for Christ by creating this blog, anyone enduring suffering that could be encouraged, if anyone specifically facing that arduous road of infertility be comforted... then that's what it's about - and I'm sure that's why the Lord impressed upon me to create this, a window into my heart, in hopes that others will be encouraged in their faith. It would take me forever to catch everyone up through journal entries, e-mails, etc from the past 3 years... so hopefully I'll get this blog thing figured out and be able to post some, and go from here.

Mile 19

Soli Deo Gloria

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Celebrating Lana Beth Fisher!

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Marathon Race