"LITTLE" MIRACLES...

My name is Darlene Hengel and I love looking for "little" miracles;  God's Bountiful blessings that are often overlooked in everyday life. It's because of the many little miracles that I wouldn't trade the most difficult time of my life for anything. Being an avid cyclist, a mother with two active boys and teacher of physical education, I was in pretty good shape. 

I had a ligament/meniscus issue with my knee that was left undiagnosed and untreated for 2 years while I was repeatedly refused an MRI by my doctor. It got to the point where I could barely walk. He finally told me, "You wouldn't know anything more than you already know."  This is the point where God took me completely out of his hands. Only a couple days later, I jumped while teaching and pain exploded in my knee as something broke loose. I immediately thanked the Lord! I was so grateful that a different doctor would evaluate my knee. As my son drove me to the emergency room we prayed for truth to be revealed and wisdom for the doctors. The preliminary report was a knee sprain and I was sent home. However, the Lord was orchestrating. My x-rays were taken by a master technician with a visiting medical student. Together they saw something that may have otherwise been overlooked. It would require an MRI after all and I was called back for the first available appointment. Finally! After two years in pain, it was to be properly assessed!  I thanked the Lord that my knee was injured significantly so as to warrant a trip to the Emergency Room and that he had the right personnel in place waiting for me.

 Later, the MRI results were read to me by a doctor whose body language suggested he didn't expect to see me alive again. I was diagnosed with stage 3-4 B-cell Lymphoma.  It is an aggressive form of cancer that had eaten almost the entire lower end of my femur (thigh bone) and was in several places around my heart.  As I sat there alone, I remember thinking, "I simply wanted help for my knee, and now my life is in danger!" 

Just before this diagnosis, my rebellious, uncompassionate teenage son had an encounter with God that would not only fuel his tireless, sacrificial care and compassion for me but completely transform his life. Later, it was through my son that the Lord told me that He had me but that it would get worse before it was better.

I decided to trust the Lord with my life regardless of its length. I could see his hand every step of the way while I was rushed through an amazing array of tests and full body scans. I underwent expedited surgery by a specialist in San Francisco where the cancerous material was removed and the thin shell of remaining bone was filled with cement the size of my fist, followed by a heavy chemotherapy regimen that astonished the administering nurses. Despite this, the Lord kept me from getting sick and everyone who saw me told me how good I looked! Jesus was carrying me the entire time and I could feel it. I believe this was because there were so many people praying for me. 

I experienced a huge outpouring of love and care by my family, school, and cycling club. Every person in the school where I teach walked to my house in one long line with homemade cards and lots of hugs. One student looked extremely contagious. I asked Jesus for extra protection for my weakened immune system and I hugged her anyway. His love was flowing in both directions.  The students prayed every day in their classes for me for a full year. The Lord used my journey with cancer to show me the vastness of His love for me. I was unaware of how much I was loved before going through this trial and am so grateful to Him for showing me!

After months of concentrated chemotherapy, the latest PET scan results displayed the words, DISEASE PROGRESSION. The cancer had increased. It was worse just as my son said the Lord told him it would be. I buckled in and and told Jesus, "Let's go!" I immediately underwent a more dangerous additional round of chemo with a much lower success rate, the end of which would require a 100 day bone marrow transplant in the hospital at Stanford. 

At this point I attended a worship service where a servant of the Lord, prophetically led us in worship and sang of the healing rain coming down. The Lord had just spent three days teaching me about home rain catch systems! I raised my hands high and eagerly accepted all the Lord had for me. I believed that healing rain was for me and felt my spirit lifted and taken to new heights as we worshipped.  I knew right then I was healed. Hallelujah! We needed additional biopsy results to confirm what my spirit told me.

 I was well into the next round of chemo and had had aother lymphatic biopsy performed when I uncharacteristically missed my lab blood draw day, delaying treatment for an entire week. Even that was God directed as the biopsy results had not yet come in. One more cycle may have caused irreparable damage to my bone marrow. God did not allow that to happen. The biopsy results came in the middle of that same week. They proved there was no more cancer! Praise God! The doctors at Stanford needed to be sure the lymphoma was gone, and despite another PET scan with the same results, a final massive tissue sample biopsy showed conclusively - I am cancer FREE!  

 I serve a good, good God!  I don't say this because He healed me, but because He loves me immensely and regardless of what I go through I know that He cares and is with me all the way through.  I can face tomorrow knowing He will take care of all that concerns me. 

 It is well with my soul, and I still love looking for those "little" miracles.