Tiffany's Rough Year

Part 7

This is a true, semi-realtime, very scary, heart-rending tale of an 8 year old's battle with cancer, and God's miraculous response. The story is told primarily through a series of email updates to friends and others who are praying.

Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 17:07:51 -0500 (CDT)

The doctors say there is nothing they
can do for Tiffany.  She allegedly has
at most one month to live.  Her parents
are at the end of their faith rope.  We
are all fighting some hairy spiritual
battles, not all related directly, but
somehow tied together (except for those
who refuse to battle at all, or just want
to editorialize!)

Bizarre as it may sound, God has made it
clear that this is all tied in to revival,
first in our church along the lines of
what He did for the youth last week, but
beyond as well.

We're having a service tonight about all
this, and probably every night this week,
maybe every night until things are settled.

God spoke to me last week that we needed
faith to raise the dead.  Well, I/we sure
see the need.

We had a service that night, indeed (and every day or night since, there has been a service, prayer meeting or something!) Kurt (our new elder) pointed out out that we had two issues to deal with: a fact and an opinion.

The fact was that Tiffany had a couple of tumors. The opinion was what the doctor said the outcome would be. God isn't bound by a doctor's opinion; just ask Lazarus! (He's dead, Jim! Oops, no he's not!)

Two crucial things occured almost at once.

Some of us felt led to ask that the board pray about giving Dennis 6-8 weeks leave of absence, despite the fact that he wouldn't ask for it, because we felt that the Halls needed time to themselves, as a family. I did speak with one of our elders and one of the staff about this, and they agreed. I don't know if they told Dennis, or the Lord told him, or he just finally realized it was OK, but the next day he asked for a few weeks leave of absence. There is an evil, unfounded rumor going around that dennis has abandoned the ministry, or been kicked out. No, this is a simple case of a family that gets very few vacations, even, being given the time they need together during a crisis, as a love gift by the body they have faithfully loved and served.
We began to finally pull together as a church. The people who aren't seeking God are leaving of their own volition, and the rest are either seeking, or feeling the pressure (from God, not us!) It's hard, it's scary, it's completely out of our control, and it's perfect. (For the record, I am not saying that anyone who might leave now now is not seeking God!)

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Last updated: 23 July 1996

Miles O'Neal <roadkills.r.us@XYZZY.gmail.com> [remove the "XYZZY." to make things work!] c/o RNN / 1705 Oak Forest Dr / Round Rock, TX / 78681-1514