This is an exerpt from an e-mail sent today by Patti who has faithfully organized care for the Greenes.
She also includes (towards the end of the e-mail) some words that Nichole wanted to share with you today.

Sincerely,
Carina

Oswald Chamber's wrote
" All of God's people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them.  God is at work bending, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. Why is He doing this? He is doing it for one purpose --that That He may be able to say " This is my man and this is my woman." We have to be in God's hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has place us"
 
Our sweet Nichole is indeed extraordinary. She so desires for those at the hospital who have witness the service and the love of  body of Christ to be saved. By way of encouragement, she wanted me to tell you to continue to be a witness to those in the hospital. Your love for the Lord and care for Nichole has spoken volumes to those who are watching. She mentioned that there were a few persons who have expressed interested in visiting our church.  Praise God!  I was very blessed by her love for the Lord and her love for the lost. She is such a great testimony of grace. She also, wanted me to relay a message to all the caregivers spouses. Please pass this on to your sweethearts. She is so grateful for you sacrifice and support . She is aware that the sacrifice was very much yours as it was for your loved ones who served.  She is indeed grateful for your service. Thank you.
 

I know that many people depend on this blog for updates on how Nichole is doing, and I have been attempting to gather some information (though I've moved to the other side of the country...). I still receive email updates on how we can help Nichole, so I thought I would post this now, though I hope to speak with someone who knows a bit more soon. I think it is safe to say that the end is near. Nichole seemingly has several blood clots in her legs, and is battling for physical comfort each moment of the day. She is unable to get rest, and is in severe pain, and yet she has still managed to maintain joy in the Lord and longs for heaven. This earth is not our home, and Nichole is ready to go home. Please pray for the family as I'm sure not many of us can even imagine the difficulty of this trial for them. These precious kiddos are being cared for by the Lord, yet they will (and already have) miss their mommy. Pray for Norm, Ansel, Noah, Josie and little Levi. Such a sweet family experiencing the most difficult of trials.

"We will stand as children of the promise, we will fix our eyes on Him, my soul reward, til the race is finished and the work is done, we walk by faith and not by sight."
This is our sweet Nichole. She desires to finish strong and bring Glory to God. Please pray that if it be His will that Nichole's last days on this earth will be pain-free and restful. She longs for heaven but know the Lord is Sovereign and is resting in Him.

Desiring to go to Heaven

I was at the hospital with Nichole today, and she said to me (several times), "I want to go to Heaven." Please pray that God would grant her desire swiftly and painlessly.

Oct. 20

This is a heartfelt and sincere plea from a dear friend of mine, and a dear friend of Nichole.

This is a desperate plea for everyone to devote some time this week or
every day to pray for Nichole Greene. I've always known she has had an
immense tolerance for allot of pain but what she is dealing with now
seems close to inhumane torture. God is sustaining her in an amazing,
almost peculiar way, when one considers the onslaught of agonizing
procedures and mishaps she's been racked with. Besides the fact that
she is a mere skeleton with skin, nothing is working right in her
body. Where some may have the mercy of a concentrated area of pain/
discomfort, or a cohesion or some predictability of symptoms, she's
been granted an extension of utmost suffering.

Our Lord was despised and rejected by humankind; a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. In this world God is letting Nichole partake in
that likeness of Him. And my security is that one day
she will make up part of His treasured possession - she will be made
like Him. I wish all of you knew Nichole and what a treasure she is to
earthen vessels. Our God is good. The time that He is allowing for
her to go through this is serving as maybe her last opportunity to
strengthen the body, and indeed that is what He is doing.

Under the physical tortures of no sleep, pain medication that is
causing confusion, pain from surgeries and a body riddled with cancer
that cannot be masked by the medication, bags attached to her
everywhere, tubes through her nose to suck out vomit in her stomach,
and... much more...we have heard her mumble, "I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me." Please pray for a continued inward
sanctuary of her mind that only God can provide. And please pray for God's will to be done quickly. I can
hardly understand the torture but I do maintain God is good in what He
is doing. She is His.

Oct. 14

A note of encouragment from as dear sweet saint...

To say she needs our help, encouragement, and PRAYERS is to say a lot, but at this time prayer and physical help seems to be at an even greater measure than it has been for in a while!!! As you know I was there last nite and this morning and I have seen Nichole in many phases of this disease and all that it has done to her, and all that God has allowed is beyond me. I just do not know how she, in her humanness deals with all the poking and prodding, tests and surgeries, procedures and disappointments, the tubes and doctors, people in and out, the Alzheimer’s screaming guy in the room next to her and……all the ups and downs she has been through. It is way beyond description and to say it’s incredible what she has been through doesn’t quiet do it!!!! Do I understand why no …except to say with great assurance that I know God does and HE is still in control.

As I sat next to her bed last nite and sensed the very presence of God I knew how she does it all. Yes it is only by and through and with God’s grace and goodness and sovereignty. So where does that leave us….right where it should….praying and trusting and then for those that can go beyond that….it takes us right to her side. Along with Jesus we go, some can’t because of family, work whatever that’s the reality of life. I know some who would go but just can’t….and I fully understand, and for those folks, I encourage you to continue to pray!!!!

I know God is the one who really takes care of Nichole and can work without our participation but, what a blessing it is to be a part of His great work if only to watch it happen. He has never left her side AND NEVER will!!!!

Certainly we know it has only been by God’s grace, and most definitely I know He sees her, and has never taken His loving eyes off her BUT…..I’ll tell ya for this human for this sinner it shakes my socks off to see her go through all she does. So folks I would just encourage all of you to PRAY to ask others to pray and ya never know by passing the word around maybe we will find others who will then be able to go to Nichole in this her time of real need.

She never goes through it alone, God is always with her. Many of you have been very supportive either at her home, or by her side. Many of you in prayer and God is the one who needs to direct who and when one goes to Nichole to help out. Somehow I just felt compelled to encourage you….each of us…to remember to pray, to continue to trust and to then see HOW God answers our prayers and isn’t that always a blessing. God supplies our strength, He answers our prayers, He has already been through tonite and tomorrow with us and with our precious Nichole…….IN HIS great Love a sister in Jesus

Oct. 14

Another testimonial of God's grace written by a friend of Nichole's.

As you know, I was just with Nichole yesterday. My heart came away heavy with many thoughts and emotions, but two things prevailed... Our Lord is good and my love for my dear sister continues to grow! She's a brave, strong soldier who takes no credit for herself. In the midst of her minute by minute pain management struggle, she managed to asked me how my family was doing and how I was doing! She does not demand. She acts with kindness. She is polite and says "thank you" often. She even showed some humor! She asked me to help her w/ some leg exercises, and after a while she was concerned with ME and told me to please not "hurt myself!" I'm the healthy one, I am the helper and her concern is not for herself but for me! Nichole may be quiet but her thoughts are right on, and when it comes to things that pertain to the Lord, she is sharp! Her love and devotion for the Lord continue to be fervently on fire. Nichole asks for little but you come away with so much. You come away in awe of her strength, which is the Lord's. You come away in awe of her faith, given to her by the Lord. You come away a bit more sanctified than when you first walked in... Knowing that we have NOTHING to complain about and EVERYTHING to be thankful for. The Lord in His infinite knowledge has allowed Nichole to go through this fiery trial, and I shake my head often and think how much I (along w/ many) are being sanctified and convicted by watching our dear sister fight with all she's got. I continue to pray for her family... Her husband, her kids, her mom and dad who all ache as they watch her suffer so much physical pain. I continue to pray for a miracle, that our Lord will make her whole again.

Blessing on this beautiful rainy day!

by Jennifer Jane Ostroff-Uwarow 1974-2009

This was written by a very dear friend of mine two years before she died from a rare cancer. Her courage was, and still is, palpable and contagious.


">Friends have been telling me how brave I have been these last twenty months. True it is that the past has had daily afflictions-the symptons of that curse we have all been dealt...but the idea of a personal valiancy makes me pause and consider those symptoms. I have not felt brave. The wasting away of my earthly home, the destruction of my outer nature, the tent constructed of chest and arms and ivory skin and brown hair is progressively being dismantled. While I haven't lost heart, it more than occasionally seemed misplaced or hiding. The Apostle Paul reminds me of the objective inner reality that "I am of good courage" and not only that, but "I am always of good courage." (2 Corinthians 5:1-10) How does the impossibility of courage become not just possible but guaranteed?

God is Himself preparing me for a change of address. I am moving out of this dirty and deteriorating temporary shelter that is me into a heavenly and lasting home, never to be relocated. This new home designed by God "eternal in the heavens" will never need a remodel. A raw look in the mirror and the insufficiency causes a sigh of shame: scars of imperfection, a pale color caused by weakness, a chair beside me to relieve the burden of standing. I still haven't removed the old calendar taped to the mirror. July reflects that last chemotherapy appointment. I should probably take down that reminder of painful moments gone by, yet the human capacity to count-down to painful days not yet marked will still be there. Taking another glance at my reflection, I know that it will be difficult to say goodbye to the eyes staring back at me. I want to live. I really do want to have this scarred body for just awhile longer. As Paul says, "not that I would be unclothed" I want God to "further clothe" me so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

So what do I do? Regardless of how many Januarys I will have to purchase new calendars it is my aim to please the Lord and I think I am biblical in saying it is courage that pleases. I am learning that I can bring delight to the heart of God by believeing something that is really hard to believe...so hard to believe because nothing here can prove it to me and there is little discoverable evidence available to convince myself of it. Such belief is so crazy, I might venture to say it requires faith? I am to live believing the claim of Philippians 1:21 that "to live is Christ and to die is gain...to depart and be with Christ...that is far better!" To take hold of that and to trust such truth is what produces the courage that pleases God. My life here is Christ and when I die, then my real life is even more Christ. I suppose that is why Paul could say, "with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death."

I've been in many worship services with music that extols the better-ness of being with Jesus. I always sing with some hesitancy. Pleasant moments talking with mom and dad...silly moments of laughter with my twin sister...peaceful moments resting in my husband's arms...will it really be better? I can't know for sure. Well, I can know by faith, but not with a knowledge gained by sight.

When my husband and I moved to the desert, time necessitated that he secure a home for us without me first ever stepping inside. Being rather selective, it took a small degree of trust on my part to believe that he was moving me to a dwelling capable of safety and beauty. He did a pretty good job. The cupboards aren't ideal and the fixtures were a bit brassy but despite these features I am content with our home. Home is where he is. Our Lord knows our deepest hope and what will ignite great joy in our soul and newly glorified body. He is moving me into that house where every expectation will be far surpassed and the ugly features replaced with divine designs. I will be home. Home because that is where He is and by faith I know it will be far better.

Oct. 6

Nichole is weak, but getting stronger. She is more alert. Nichole has every intention of fighting this thing with all her might. Pray God continues to strengthen her and her family, and help her in this battle.

Oct. 3 update

Nichole has been in the hospital longer than anticipated, due to her intestinal problems. Please continue to pray that God will provide (maybe through you?) people to help her throughout the duration of her hospital stay.