Archive for the ‘Prayer Request’ Category

A Word of Praise to Our Great God

Posted by Brad and Shilo Cain on Monday, December 7th, 2009

Dear Loving and Concerned Friends,

Finally!  I am so blessed to be sitting here in my own home, thinking about you, having the chance to write to you myself.  How can I even begin to thank you for accompanying me through these past two weeks?  For walking through them together with me, holding my hand, leading the way when I myself had fallen blind?  Your unceasing prayers and expressions of love bolstered my faith in our Great God and His mighty power to turn all my darkness to light.

Though I found myself blind in one eye, I was not overcome by fear, nor did I fall captive to the darkness of discouragement.  Indeed, I was surrounded by great peace and true rest the majority of the time.   Only let me be very clear that it was His light, His peace, and His rest.

And now the blessed light is returning to my left eye as well, rather much more quickly than we had even hoped.  Each day, I see more and feel less disorientation with the disparity in my vision.  Yesterday I was able to see color for the first time and read large letters without great strain.  The distances are still a blur, but I can identify large objects such as cars and trees easily enough.  God has been so gracious to me.

I want you to know that I am absolutely CONVINCED that this experience has come to pass so that God will be praised, so that together our hearts could exalt His name together.  “My life is an example to many, because you have been my strength and protection.  That is why I can never stop praising You; I declare Your glory all day long.  I will tell everyone about Your righteousness.  All day long I will proclaim your saving power, for I am overwhelmed by how much you have done for me.”  Psalm 71:8, 15

As you praise God with me, please also remember to pray for:

  1. Good rest.  I have not been sleeping well for the past week.  Mercifully, friends have been helping with the kids and meals!  After today, Brad will be on school break as well so he will be available to help with our two sweet, redheaded boys.
  2. My continued healing and the ability to know my limits (not a great strength of mine! :-)
  3. My acceptance of each day, with the vision I have, as a gift from His hand.

Thankful for your part in this miracle,

Shilo

P.S. If you would like a peek into what was going on in my heart through this time, please feel free to visit my personal blog at myplaceofpeace.blogspot.com.

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Encouraging Doctor’s Visit

Posted by Brad and Shilo Cain on Friday, November 27th, 2009
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We appreciate you.

Thanks again for your prayers for Shilo over this last week.  Seems hard to believe this whole ordeal started only one week ago.  We had an encouraging visit with the eye doctor today.  He was impressed with the quick recovery of her left eye after just 3 days of IV treatments.  She went from being totally blind on Tuesday to being able to see the outlines of people and shapes today.  This is an unusually fast rate of recovery, and we attribute it to God, of course, answering all of your prayers for healing. So the doctor was much more optimistic about her chances of full recovery of her vision than he was when we saw him 3 days ago.  He is hesitant to say how much vision she will recover, because in actuality it is impossible to predict as it all depends on how much damage was done to the nerve.  But based on conversations with several doctors, and some reading we have done on optic neuritis, it appears that the majority of people who have had it recover most of their vision to the point where they can function quite normally.  Ultimately, we know this rests in the hands of God, and we are trusting Him for a positive outcome, if it is His will.  It can take several months, however, for full sight to be restored.  So these next weeks and months will be a waiting game for healing to take place.  We appreciate your continued prayers for healing, but we are thankful to God for the quality of medical care we have received, for the quick recovery so far, and for friends like you who have rallied behind us in prayer in this time of need.

Shilo will continue her IV treatments until this coming Sunday.  After that, she will take a much reduced dose of the medicine via pills for three more weeks, which she can do from home.  So we will probably head back home early next week.  Thanks again for your prayers.  We have felt God’s peace in our hearts this week, even amidst fearful circumstances.  And we have seen God go before us, preparing the way through the body of Christ for quick access to quality medical care, and in other tangible ways like people caring for our boys while we visited so many doctors, and loaning us their vehicle when ours broke down.

We will try to update you periodically over the next several months as to Shilo’s progress.  We are encouraged by her progress, but know she is far from being completely healed.  Your ongoing prayers are needed and appreciated.

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A Glimmer of Hope

Posted by Brad and Shilo Cain on Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Thank you for your continued prayers for Shilo.  Last Thursday she started to feel pain and have loss of vision in her left eye.  The problem worsened even after seeing an eye doctor in our little town several times.  By Tuesday, she was totally blind in her left eye.  We came down to the capital city on Monday and God worked it out for us to see a top notch eye doctor at one of the premier eye clinics in the country.  He diagnosed her with optic neuritis, or inflammation of the optic nerve.  Today, after two IV treatments she was able to see shadows pass in front of a light.  This is just a small sign of progress, but at least is an indication that the medicine is starting to bring the swelling down in her optic nerve.  We still don’t have any guarantee that her eyesight will return, but it is the first time we have seen her symptoms get better instead of worse since this whole ordeal started just last Thursday.  So we are encouraged by that, as well as by all of you praying.  Please continue to pray that God will bring complete healing.  Our first course of action is to bring the swelling down, which will hopefully bring the eyesight back.  Shilo’s eye will be re-evaluated by the retina specialist and our general doctor on Friday afternoon, and then we will make a decision about what to do from there.  We are praying for a miracle, if it be God’s will, that by Friday her eyesight will show significant improvement.  If things have not improved significantly by then, then we are praying about the option of possibly returning to the USA for continued treatment from an eye clinic there.  But for now we are confident in the medical care and course of treatment we are receiving, knowing that it is the standard course of treatment for swelling of the optic nerve, regardless of location.

Shilo was released from the hospital today, and will be allowed to return twice a day for continued IV treatments.  But at least in the meantime we can be together as a family at the mission guest home, which is a nicer environment than being cooped up in a hospital room.  She will continue the treatments until Friday, at which point she will be re-evaluated.  Ultimately we know this is all in the hands of God, and so we rest in His will for our lives.  We appreciate your continued prayers.

If you’d like to read Shilo’s personal reflections on this ordeal, click here.

Love,

Brad for Shilo and the boys

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From Philly to Fili

Posted by Brad and Shilo Cain on Friday, August 21st, 2009
Our new home in the Chaco.

Our new home in the Chaco.

 It seems hard to believe that it has been 2 months since we left Pennsylvania to come to our new home in Paraguay.  We have been enjoying our first weeks in the country. Find out more below.

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