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By admin,

My dad always looked forward to heaven. I’m happy to know that he is there. Now he is experiencing God every single minute of every day. My dad is experiencing health that he never saw here on earth. I miss him but I know he’s happy. It makes me want to try my best with endurance for heaven. I know I’m going to heaven because Christ died. I’m excited for heaven because I’ll see God every day, I love the idea of talking to God…

-Ian

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Ian, on what heaven is like

By admin,

I don’t know – its not for us to know. It’s better than this place. And that’s enough for us to be excited. And that’s all we need to know.

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Race for Hope

By admin,

Thank you to everyone who supported us in the Race for Hope DC, which raised more than $2 million for brain cancer awareness and brain tumor research. We ran and walked with more than 11,000 people. It was quite an experience. Hopefully Team 828 will make more appearances around the area:)

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another prayer request

By admin,

late last week we learned that ian has pre-osteoporisis in his lumbar spine and left femur. please pray that we’re able to do enough exercise for him that it doesn’t progress quickly.

thank you, always.

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Why Did We Anoint My Husband (Again?)

By admin,

This week in church, we were reminded of our need to pray expectantly, not because of the power of the person praying, but because we are asking things of a great God. At the end of the message, Ian received prayer and was anointed by our pastor.

And this is all an appropriate response to sickness, according to the Bible, particularly James 5. It’s just that we’ve done it so many times. And Ian is still severely disabled. He has been anointed by various pastors within our family of churches but he still has not been healed as we have asked. Steve was anointed, and prayed over, and he still died. Our good friend Beth has been anointed multiple times and has still suffered migraines for ten years.
So why do we keep anointing Ian and praying for healing? Why, even when I feel completely deflated, tired of asking the same thing, sick of standing at the front of the church for prayer and all too aware that Steve is gone which means it didn’t “work,” do we keep going forward?
I don’t know. My flesh doesn’t want to. My sinful nature doesn’t believe that God can do it. Because it hasn’t happened yet. And because my flesh is not long suffering.
But if I let go entirely of even the tiny grasp that I have on the truth that God can heal Ian, then I am disregarding who God is. God is able, but not required, to heal Ian. And it scares me to think that he won’t, because I don’t know what that means. I can’t figure out a God who doesn’t heal.
But as Steve often told me, even if God doesn’t heal Ian, He is still good. He will always be good. Even if my flesh can’t understand continued disability and sickness. And we can’t let ourselves forget that He is good and He is merciful. And that is why we still pray. And anoint. Because regardless of how I feel, the Bible tells me that God is able. So when I drag my feet toward expectant prayer and wrestle to believe in its effect, I am still praying to a good God. When my faith feels like a tiny thread, God has a stronghold on my life. When I offer up the weakest prayers, because of Jesus they are still beautiful and acceptable to God.
Thank you for your expectant prayers for four years.
Larissa

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A Breath of Fresh Air

By admin,

More and more Ian is using his voice. Mostly, he complains with it. When he’s moved around, when they’re getting him dressed, when he’s uncomfortable…he groans. The speech therapist heard him make a different kind of noise when she was with him. She said it was as if he was talking to her, but there were no words. Others have heard him do that, too. Josh Brown even thought he was laughing. “I still think about my friend in the hospital everyday,” he said, “and continue to pray for him. With every visit, though, I can see Ian’s steady progress and the true evidence that God is continually with Ian.”

He also had the opportunity to go outside a couple times in the last couple days. The breath of fresh air, I’m sure, is good for him.

Please pray…thanks.

– Steve

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Pray that he would stay

By admin,

Ian is moving whenever he’s “awake.” It seems every time I see him he’s moving more and more. The stimulation that he would get in a nursing would not ultimately help him to wake up, though. I’m convinced more and more that Ian is “in there,” but he needs the help of others. He needs the help of a facility like LifeCare. He would have to leave on Friday with only a three day stay (see Ben’s post below). Please pray that the insurance company would approve a longer stay.

Thank you…

Steve Murphy

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Ian breathing easier

By admin,

Ian is breathing a bit easier according to his respiratory therapist. They’re in the process of weaning him off of the ventilator, and he’s taking it well. They currently have him on the minimum level of treatment the ventilator can provide him. They expect him to be off of it completely by tomorrow. That would be great if he could get off of it completely. It would be great for us, too, if he could get completely off the ventilator, since we could put him into a nursing home in Indiana. There are no nursing homes near us who will take patients like Ian on a ventilator.

Please pray that he would get off the ventilator completely. Please continue to pray, most of all, that he would wake up. Remember to talk to him or read to him if you go to visit him. He needs the constant stimulation. Thank you for your kindness to us….

Steve Murphy

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