our team:

Jim

DeL

aere

feature

Co

nce

Grif

fin

Jim

DeL

aere

Jolted from a restless sleep, I sat up and looked around the unfamiliar room.Reality hit hard and I desperately wished

I were waking up in my own bed from a

horrible nightmare. Instead, the sound of

pumps and monitors was my harsh reality.

The doctor’s voice rang

in my ears, “I have some bad news to

share,” he paused. Head hung low, eyes

fixed on the floor, he continued, “It looks

as if your daughter has leukemia.”

Mackenzie, the youngest of our five girls

was just over a year old. But the story of

our faith and healing doesn’t begin with

her. Sorrow and suffering were not new

experiences or feelings — we were all too

familiar with devastating diagnoses. We

had already endured nearly eight years in

the valley. Our oldest daughter, Lindsay,

was born with serious heart defects and

underwent seven open-heart surgeries.

While the doctor’s statistics and predic-

tions were grim, we saw the hand of God

work miracles in Lindsay’s life and expeh

hunger:meeting the need through community