Prayer Update – Neil Picillo

Dear friends and prayer warriors, it is with both sadness and joy that I write to say the Neil has gone to be with His Lord and Savior.  He left this earth in peace, no pain, knew his loved ones who were with him, and was ready to leave his earthly body.

I thank each and everyone of you that prayed for him and his family and for the loving and kind prayers left on my blog.  His family is deeply grateful for the outpouring of love and prayer for him.  May God richly bless each of you for your faithfulness.  

A spiritual desert

I cannot say how long I have been in the desert (spiritually speaking) but it’s been a very long time – of that I am quite sure. There are those who are in a valley (as referred to in Psalm 23) but I wandered past the valley, past the shadow of death and somehow ended up in a barren dry land.

I believe in God. His Son. The Comfortor. I have faith the He is in control. I believe He speaks and works through others when we don’t hear or won’t hear Him speaking to us. But something has just dried up inside of me. I didn’t fully realize this, or allow myself to admit to it until tonight.

My husband has been in ICU since Thursday. He was sick for a week before that. I have been running on auto pilot and while I remember to pray for others, take care of the house, the family, the job, I forgot to pray for my husband. Can you believe that? The one thing that should be a knee jerk response – to go to the Lord in prayer and ask for healing for my husband – to post a prayer request for him – to call on friends and ask for prayer – the thought NEVER entered my mind.

It was not until I was driving to the hospital tonight and speaking to a friend (on my bluetooth) did I ask for prayer for my husband. I humbled myself before God and asked for forgiveness for only coming to Him asking for His favor and healing and forsaking Him in all other areas of my life.

I know the power of prayer – I know the healing power of prayer, so why did I wait so long? I will never know the answer to that question while still on this earth, but I do know that God works all things for good and His timing is perfect. He turns things meant for evil and wrong to things for good when you let Him. I know this because He has always been there.

While at the hospital this evening I noticed that he developed a bad sore and was so upset that I gave the nurse an earful along with her supervisor and they called the ICU doctor on staff. I had to wait for a few hours for the doctor to come in as she was busy with several very ill patients in the ER, and I like to believe that God had a hand in the delay because it allowed time for emotions to be under control.

Would it surprise you to find out that the doctor is a Christian? Would it surprise you to find out that she believes in spiritual healing, leadings of the Spirit, loves praise and worship music, prayer, believes in annointing with oil and laying on of hands and is not afraid to share her faith? Well don’t be surprised – it’s all true. She even gave us the name of a church to visit and after looking it up, it sounds like just what we’ve been looking for. So God used this doctor to help lift my husband up spiritually. She even told me about an awesome app for my IPhone – K Love. If you don’t have it – get it! It’s free and it’s awesome. Praise and worship music 24/7.

I know it’s late and need to be sleeping, but I had to post this. I haven’t wanted to post anything for a long time, aside from prayer requests, and something inside me would not let me just hop into bed without posting this.

Are you in a dry place? Do you feel like you can’t pray? Have you lost the desire to speak with Him? Ask someone to pray for you. Put on praise and worship music. Talk to the Lord and tell Him how you are feeling, what you are going through, and ask Him for help. He will hear you. He will answer you. He is your answer.

And if you don’t think the enemy is real and behind our wanderings in and out of the desert, know this – I tried posting this 5 times with no success but was determined not to rest until it posted.  Something told me to highlight and copy my post before I clicked “post”.  When I clicked “post” it just kept spinning like it was trying to post, but nothing happened.  I could not figure out what the problem was, then I realized I was using Internet Explorer so I switched over to Google Chrome, started a new post, pasted what I had originally written and clicked post – voila – it posted!  Now, had I not listened to that inner voice, and not copied it, I would have lost it and given up.  Now I know the reason why I had to post this – someone is going to be blessed by reading this – even if it’s just me, that’s okay with me.  Praise the Lord!!!

Urgent Prayer Request – Neil Picillo

I am asking that everyone please put Neil Picillo on their prayer lists and circulate to as many as possible.  We recently learned that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer.  The doctors say he has 3 months without chemo, maybe a year with chemo.  He opted for the chemo with a positive outlook.  He has developed pneumonia, was severely dehydrated and he is having surgery tomorrow to remove a blockage in his intestines.  Please lift Neil and his family up before the Lord.  Doctors don’t know everything, we don’t know what tomorrow holds but we do know Who holds tomorrow and is All Knowing.  I pray that whatever God’s plan for Neil is, that he and his family have peace, and are able to enjoy the time they do have together.  I have never met Neil, but I do know his nephew and his family, and they are a very loving, giving, tight knit family, and they are standing in faith and believing that God is in control.  Pray for the doctors and nurses that will be taking care of him that they allow God to guide their hands during the surgery.  May He place His angels around Neil and his family to protect them.  May the Holy Spirit comfort them and give them peace and strength, and may He bless those who pray and lift Neil up before the Lord, in Jesus name, amen.