Gideon Pressley More than a Conqueror

Welcome to Gideon's CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

It started with a swollen lymph node after a cold  And then a phone call from Grandma saying something didn't look right about Gideon's neck. Then a doctor's visit. And then the flow chart. The flow chart of test this to rule out this, and test this to rule out that. Results: negative. Test that to rule out this. Result: negative. Consult with ENT. Test this. Negative. Fine needle biopsy. Result: inconclusive. Open biopsy. Result: cells consistent with nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma.

It's nothing. We've known it is nothing for months. There was a point where the prayer was for something to be positive so we could stop the momentum of flow on the flow chart. Then we remembered, whatever the "something" was called, it was still a nothing.

"Be anxious for nothing" it says in Philippians 4:6.  So whatever the result, it was not worth our worry. Whatever the name of the thing, it was still nothing to God. Gideon is something to God! Whatever the nothing, it is a something that has to bow to the Name of Jesus. The nothing is not something to fear. Did we give it to God and it was settled? I gave it to him and, wait, hold on...

...alrighty, I'm back, I had to go give it to him again. I have a mental pause sometimes wondering if this is our life, needing to take a deep breath and then  follow the instructions in the rest of the verse: "...but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." So there is a lot of prayer going on 'round here...a lot of praising and thanking God. A lot of requests...not for big things, but the little things needed in each  moment. And...

...then it comes: "...and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." This peace is more visible in Gideon than anywhere else these days: "I don't want people to worry about me. I'm fine. God's got this!"

We would rather not walk this road. But it is a road that -- in so many ways already  -- we see is paved with God's grace and supply, we are willing to walk this road. It is a faith road. Henry said it best to the boys: "We are doing what is necessary to make a healthy kid stay healthy."

Our family and so many dear friends have provided so much support and love to this point: cards, meals, scriptures, riotous snapchat video, chocolate, toys, childcare, food delivery, and did I mention prayer?! We are all growing in faith. We are all becoming better conquerors. As my dear friend Norma said, "How can we be more than conquerors if we don't have something to conquer?" Gideon asked for that to be the title of his bridge site. We love this young man SO MUCH! In attitude alone, he is already so much more than a conqueror.

We invite you to stand in prayerful agreement with us for complete restoration to Gideon's whole body health. We ask you to pray for us to walk daily in God's grace. The current plan is to complete 2 cycles of chemotherapy, starting Monday. Then a PET scan. Then a third cycle of chemo.

Thank you for understanding that we cannot reply to every email and text. We truly need to focus on supporting our immediate family at this time. We may need logistical support: a ride, a meal, or something else. You'll hear from 2 others aside from our family on this site. Elizabeth and Norma have graciously agreed to be a mouthpiece for us when we are unable or we need support. 

Romans 8:31-39:
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through HIM who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Christ and His love,
Henry & Stephanie Pressley