A Layne Post

Maninha has a 3 year old little girl named Tanya. Tanya is talking more and more and loved chatting with her Mom on the phone. Maninha had been away from home (here at the hospital) for six months and was growing weary from being away from her family. She always loved seeing Anaya and watching her play, probably imagining her own little girl and the changes happening in her absence.

Her last round of Chemo took it’s toll. Arriving at the hospital, I turned the corner into her room, and there she lay. She didn’t need to say anything; I could see it, she was sick. The sweat was beading on her forehead. “Mae de Anaya, estou mal.” (Mom of Anaya, I am bad.) I assure her I can see that, grab her hand and begin praying for relief from her pounding headache and fever.

The treatment ended, and she was weak. Without the will to eat, she became quite fragile. She concluded she didn’t have the energy to fight anymore and decided to go home. This process takes a couple of days, arranging transport and whatnot. She was unable to sleep, becoming somewhat delirious. During her last days in the hospital she just wanted to be held. She reminded me much of a little child, wanting to be cradled, not wanting to be alone. Scared. Scared of what was coming. She would whine through tears how she would never see Jon, Anaya, and me again. I assured her, with her head resting on my chest, that we would remember her, that we would pray for her, that we love her.

She is home now. Would you pray with us? Would you pray for Maninha during the days to come? Would you pray for Tanya during the little time she has with her mom, and for coming years without her?

Thanks for joining with us, for partnering in this ministry.

A Layne Post

“Hoshana” (הושענא) is a Hebrew word meaning please save or save now.

“Hosanna” (Greek transcription: ὡσαννά, hōsanna) is the cry of praise or adoration shouted in recognition of the Messiahship of Jesus…

It seems that “Hosanna” is a cry for salvation; while at the same time is a declaration of praise.

They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Matthew 21:7-9

Today I sat in a hospital looking into the eyes of a lonely thirteen year old, whose face and neck are being taken over by cancerous tumors. I rubbed her back as she cried in pain, no parent to comfort her, not even one in the same country.

Hosanna. Please save.

I glanced over and made silly faces at a little girl whose mouth is being deformed by a tumor, her teeth literally moving. After she fell asleep she was startled awake with difficulty breathing.

Hosanna. Save now.

Jon played a game with a eleven year old boy as his chemo treatment ran, who laughs to escape thinking of the friend/mentor who died three weeks ago. A boy who has lived fifteen months alone, bravely enduring treatment.

Hosanna. Please save.

Today a sixteen year old boy being taken over by fear asked Jon, “Do you think I’ll die here (in the hospital)?”

Hosanna. Save now.

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:55-56

Hosanna. Lord we praise you.