Jared

This is not a usual post for me. Today my heart is heavy. I am asking for your prayers for someone I've never met. I have only followed his story. His name is Jared Hess. Fellow blogger, Natascha, is friends with him and his family. She asked for prayers for him a while back and I have followed his long, painful, and trying journey on his blog. He was diagnosed with AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia) in May 2007. He is 30-something with a wife and two small children. I am asking for your prayers because his wife posted this late last night...

There's no good news to report tonight...Jared has not responded to the latest treatment. And there are no more treatments for him. We will likely be bringing him home tomorrow so that he can have some time to rest at home. It's been a really long fight and he is finished. We've been having some tough conversations over the last two days and he has an incredible peace about him. He told me yesterday that he would like to write a post for all of you. I hope that we get the chance to do that in the next few days once he's home. We met with the doctor this afternoon and I'll speak with him again tomorrow morning to go over some details. I'll post again...it's hard to know what to say. There are so many of you out there who love Jared and this is not the way it was supposed to go. It is so clear that God's peace is resting on Jared right now. It's good to see. I am looking forward to having him home even if it's only for a little while. I am able to experience peace too but am also experiencing such loss when I think of how much I want Jared to be my partner in this life. There are so many things that are special about him and perfect for me. It's hard to have to give up the way that I envisioned our life, that path I chose and the person I wanted to walk it with. We need your prayers more than ever. We do feel cradled in the palm of God's hand. Thanks for sharing this burden with us.

As a wife and a mother, I simply cannot imagine the pain she must be enduring right now. I admire her strength to write such eloquent words. I admire his strength as I have read his battles this disease. Please....please, be in prayer for Jared, his wife Anne, and their two young sons Caleb and Noah.

I should have done it sooner, but I am adding Jared's blog to the right. Maybe some of you will visit and pray with me.