I found this picture on Facebook. It really hit me because this is the last time I remember seeing Deborah. Halloween evening. She was dressed up like Queen Esther. Elijah is showing her how a lion "roars" and you can see how scared Deborah was of that roar!Incirlik is a small base. Very small. I think there are a total of 3,000 people living on Base. Now remember that there is only ONE church for us to attend. If you can put yourself in that situation and then include the news that the Pastor's wife of this one church has just been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, you may be able to understand what our tiny community is feeling. We are reeling. We are saddened. We are scared.
Deborah (pronounced Deb-or-uh) is a charasmatic and lively woman. She's blonde and fit and beautiful. She has a six year old daughter and is herself only in her 40's. She's one of these women that can make an entire room full of women feel as though they are her very best friend. She ended up in the emergency room this weekend due to stomach issues. The doctors came back from the surgery with the news that her condition was"grave."
Chaplain Crumpton spoke tonight at the prayer vigil held in Deborah's honor at the Chapel. As is often the case, God's amazing strength was obviously holding him up. He spoke with grace and charisma. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He told us to remember that while we pray for Deborah, we also need to praise for Deborah. She is already recovering from the surgery faster than the doctors thought might be possible. She is living.
She has a long road ahead of her. Nine months of intense treatment with no promise at the end of her future. But Ch. Crumpton reminded us Deborah has been promised a future. She's been promised an eternity in a healed body praising her Lord.
What they and we are even more saddened by is that the Crumptons will be leaving us in just a few weeks. Better care in the U.S. means they are going there. They were planning to extend and stay with us for an additional 2.5 years. I was thrilled with this since it would perfectly match our DEROS (departure date.) It was talking of leaving that choked him up more than anything.
Gathered in the chapel this evening were people of every denomination you can imagine. There were new Christians mixed with people who have known the Lord their entire life. We are Catholics and Charasmatics. We are Baptist and Church of Christ. It's such an amazing thing to witness. To be a part of a place where all we have is our small body of fellow believers. You picture the early church and I feel like, here at Incirlik, we get a small taste of what that would have been like. All we have in common is Christ. And that is enough.
Tonight, six individuals stood and read six scriptures. And then they prayed. One "younger" Christian introduced herself to the Lord as she began. One person said the Lord's prayer. One prayed in only the way a Gospel minister would pray. We are a wounded community. Our other Chaplain is back in the U.S. on leave. The Air Force is sending a "back-up" Chaplain in to help this community face its pain.
But we are united in one thing: we plan to play for Deborah.
I don't pretend to know everything about God. But here's what I do know. I know that He answers prayers. I know that I spent five years on my knees begging the Lord for a child. Pleading. Screaming. In agony. Just one thing. A child.
(I have two.)
I know there are women who have prayed longer and harder and more than me who don't have a child now. I don't know why. I don't understand. That's okay. I can still pray.
I remember not having a vehicle right before we got married. We prayed. We told the Lord we had no money. We had no car. But we needed transportation.
Someone gave us a car.
Miracles DO happen. They do. I don't know why they do sometimes and why they don't sometimes, but I am tired of trying to figure that out. All I know is that I am going to pray for Deborah. Our community is going to pray. We aren't going to conjecture and grieve. We are going to petition and celebrate.
Together. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
P.S. If you are interested, here are the six scriptures that were read tonight for Deborah. I plan to pray them every day.
Psalm 103:1-5
1 Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 107:19-20
19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave.
Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Matthew 18:19-20
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
John 14:13-14
13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
I John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
Deborah (pronounced Deb-or-uh) is a charasmatic and lively woman. She's blonde and fit and beautiful. She has a six year old daughter and is herself only in her 40's. She's one of these women that can make an entire room full of women feel as though they are her very best friend. She ended up in the emergency room this weekend due to stomach issues. The doctors came back from the surgery with the news that her condition was"grave."
Chaplain Crumpton spoke tonight at the prayer vigil held in Deborah's honor at the Chapel. As is often the case, God's amazing strength was obviously holding him up. He spoke with grace and charisma. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He told us to remember that while we pray for Deborah, we also need to praise for Deborah. She is already recovering from the surgery faster than the doctors thought might be possible. She is living.
She has a long road ahead of her. Nine months of intense treatment with no promise at the end of her future. But Ch. Crumpton reminded us Deborah has been promised a future. She's been promised an eternity in a healed body praising her Lord.
What they and we are even more saddened by is that the Crumptons will be leaving us in just a few weeks. Better care in the U.S. means they are going there. They were planning to extend and stay with us for an additional 2.5 years. I was thrilled with this since it would perfectly match our DEROS (departure date.) It was talking of leaving that choked him up more than anything.
Gathered in the chapel this evening were people of every denomination you can imagine. There were new Christians mixed with people who have known the Lord their entire life. We are Catholics and Charasmatics. We are Baptist and Church of Christ. It's such an amazing thing to witness. To be a part of a place where all we have is our small body of fellow believers. You picture the early church and I feel like, here at Incirlik, we get a small taste of what that would have been like. All we have in common is Christ. And that is enough.
Tonight, six individuals stood and read six scriptures. And then they prayed. One "younger" Christian introduced herself to the Lord as she began. One person said the Lord's prayer. One prayed in only the way a Gospel minister would pray. We are a wounded community. Our other Chaplain is back in the U.S. on leave. The Air Force is sending a "back-up" Chaplain in to help this community face its pain.
But we are united in one thing: we plan to play for Deborah.
I don't pretend to know everything about God. But here's what I do know. I know that He answers prayers. I know that I spent five years on my knees begging the Lord for a child. Pleading. Screaming. In agony. Just one thing. A child.
(I have two.)
I know there are women who have prayed longer and harder and more than me who don't have a child now. I don't know why. I don't understand. That's okay. I can still pray.
I remember not having a vehicle right before we got married. We prayed. We told the Lord we had no money. We had no car. But we needed transportation.
Someone gave us a car.
Miracles DO happen. They do. I don't know why they do sometimes and why they don't sometimes, but I am tired of trying to figure that out. All I know is that I am going to pray for Deborah. Our community is going to pray. We aren't going to conjecture and grieve. We are going to petition and celebrate.
Together. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
P.S. If you are interested, here are the six scriptures that were read tonight for Deborah. I plan to pray them every day.
Psalm 103:1-5
1 Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 107:19-20
19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave.
Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Matthew 18:19-20
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
John 14:13-14
13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
I John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
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