1. April 26, 2009
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Since our last newsletter, a lot of things have happened with us personally.
- In January, the Lord provided a new place for us to live. Consequently, much time was spent packing, moving and
unpacking as you can imagine. We are renting a house now and were able to get out of public housing. This is a
huge blessing and an answer to prayer. We are so thankful for the wonderful
church family at North Laurel and some other dear friends as well who helped
us with cleaning, moving, some much needed furniture and are now even
providing lawn care for the summer. We can’t thank God or His people
enough for always looking out for us and taking care of us the way He and
they do.
- In February, we were both very ill for several weeks with bronchitis and
pneumonia. So, between the move in the previous month and being sick, we got very behind on a lot of
things...including getting a newsletter out to you all. So, this letter is extra long because we are making up for lost
time. We are sorry for the delay.
- In March, we informed many of you about Terry’s sister, Lori, who had to have brain surgery. God provided the
means for us to make a trip to Maine to be there for her and her parents. While there,
God opened doors of opportunity for us to be a witness to other families in the ICU
waiting room. Please pray for Christy, a woman we met whose mom was brought to
ICU. Christy didn’t have the kind of support we did. She didn’t know what it was like to
have people from church show up and just be there for her. She didn’t even have any
relatives who lived nearby to share in her grief. But, worst of all, she didn’t have Jesus
in her heart…the only One who could have lifted the burdens that were weighing so
heavy on her. He could have taken that load from her shoulders and then carried her
through that valley. Instead, she was just distraught and all alone. She talked of
“lighting candles” for her mom, but we were able to show her Jesus, the Light of the
world! When her mom died, before anything else, she came to Lori’s room to tell us
about it. We hugged her and cried with her; gave her a copy of God’s Word and
showed her the plan of salvation in the back. She thanked us and said, “I’m really going to need this!” We pray that
she chooses her eternal destination before she also must face death.
Some conversations we’ve had lately have caused us to think about things like…. why do people make choices about
wills and leave instructions for their loved ones about where they want to be buried and which funeral home to use,
but they never consider choosing where they want to spend eternity? And, why do people who are presented with an
opportunity to choose Heaven and eternal life with Jesus Christ say “I know I need to…..but not right now.”? If you
can actually realize that you need something, why put if off when you can take care of it immediately? Well, of course
we know we have an adversary who is working against us to convince people that this is not an urgent matter. I
guess many of us put off making out wills and purchasing burial plots because we don’t want to think about death.
But, we really shouldn’t avoid the subject. Death is the gateway to eternity and for the Christian, that’s something to
look forward to, not to fear or feel sad about. It’s not the end, it’s the beginning! And, since death can come at any
time, at any age, we must help those who are lost to realize that by not choosing to live a life with Christ in it, on this
side of eternity, they are choosing a fate worse than death itself.

2. We noticed an ad for a funeral home recently that told how they could help you make your “end-of-life” plans. When
Terry went through training to become a CNA, they taught about providing “end-of-life care” for patients and their
families. Through Psalm 23 Ministry, we want to help people make beginning-of-life plans and provide eternal-life
care. We hear people say all the time, “Life is short”! But, if you’re a Christian, life is eternal. For those who are
unsaved, then yes, life on this earth is short. But, sadly, for them it is death that’s eternal. So, remember the next
time you hear someone say “Life is short!”, use it as an opportunity to find out if you can help them make some
beginning-of-life plans.
In our last newsletter, we introduced you to several of the people to whom we have ministered. We also told you
about plans to post updates on our website about these individuals. We decided that the best way to do this was to
partner with CaringBridge.com - a non-profit service that provides free websites to patients and families when
someone is facing a serious medical condition, treatment or recovery. All we have
to do now is get people to set up their pages. We’re working on a program that will
help facilitate that and we also have a page on the Psalm 23 website called
“Lambs” where we will post links to CaringBridge pages as they are set up. Right
now there are only two, but we expect more to be set up in the near future. Some
people have privacy preferences and require visitors to set up a profile before their page can be viewed, but it only
takes a minute and it makes getting updates on their status easier, too. Just go to
www.CaringBridge.com/Psalm23Ministry, click “Sign In” and then “Create Your Profile” to get started. In the
meantime, we will continue to include updates in our newsletter. Below are some of those updates. And, after that
we have a few more people to introduce you to.
First, the updates:
- We are excited to report that Joe Whisnant had a PET scan this month and the results revealed that he is cancer-
free once again. Praise the Lord! There is power in prayer when you pray to the One who is all-powerful! We have
heard the Whisnant’s sing, “The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows”, so we know they would testify with us
that with every answered prayer and after every valley He carries us through, our faith is made stronger, our joy fuller
and our lives made more complete in Him. So, keep on singing, Joe, we love you!
- Terry’s sister, Lori, is still recovering at home and doing well. She is slowly becoming more active and seems to be
more like her usual self every day. We are so thankful to God for keeping Lori here to serve Him a little longer. We
know He has great things in store for her yet to do. Please continue to pray for total healing of the impaired vision in
her right eye. God made us, He can fix us! Go to www.CaringBridge.com/visit/Psalm23Lori to see Lori’s CaringBridge
page. Lori has set up privacy preferences which require you to create a profile before you can view her page.
- Billy Parson’s lung cancer has now spread to his brain and he is no longer receiving any radiation or chemotherapy
treatments. During our last visit with Billy, he was very weak and confused at times. But, despite his deteriorating
condition, he still managed to smile and have a positive attitude. That’s because Billy has already made his
beginning-of-life plans. He talks about Heaven because it’s now more clearly in view than ever before. Please pray
for Billy’s wife, Margaret, as she has lovingly taken on the role of “nurse” to care for him at home.
- Please pray about our conversations with “Katherine” that she would open up to us and be honest with herself
about where she stands in her relationship with the Lord.
Now, meet……
JESSICA - We have been following the trials of Jessica Wentz for many months now. She
has been on a roller coaster of being in and out of the hospital constantly throughout her
journey of fighting a very rare cancer. Her family is now trying to help her make some very
difficult decisions about how to proceed with an experimental treatment. Jessica is a strong
and courageous Christian woman who is also a wife and a mother of two small children.
She is fighting because she wants to see her children grow up and have families of their
own. Her husband, parents and her whole family are praying for a miracle. We are also
praying that God would give them discernment about His will and for wisdom in the critical
medical decisions that need to be made. Go to www.CaringBridge.com/visit/JessicaWentz
to see Jessica’s CaringBridge publicly published page.

3. MILLIE – This is Millie McCathern, a woman who has become one of our dearest
friends over the past year. Millie isn’t officially a Psalm 23 worker, but she has a
burden for lost people and she has a tender place in her heart for people with
illnesses because of her own battle with breast cancer. She has had one
mastectomy and may have to face another one, but for now her latest test results
show no tumor growth since her last checkup. Despite the lasting effects of her
treatments that sometimes cause discomfort and drain her energy, she hasn’t let that
keep her from being a vibrant and active person. She is a retired nurse who is still
taking care of family and friends whenever a need arises….especially when it’s
someone who has cancer. She always puts the needs of everyone else before her
own. We are so thankful for Millie. She is not only a Psalm 23 “lamb”, but she’s a
Psalm 23 supporter as well. She cares about the people we care about. We pray for her and she prays for us. We
love you, Millie! Keep fighting and pressing on!
DARBY – This man was recently rushed to emergency and hospitalized for about a week. It was discovered that he
has blood clots in both lungs and they are very concerned about his overall health. He is continuing with blood
thinning medication and is on oxygen at home. He is scheduled to start pulmonary rehabilitation next week. He will
have to be monitored closely while doing any type of activity right now. Darby is usually very outspoken and enjoys
engaging people in lively religious and political discussions, but we have heard reports that he has been very quiet
since coming home from the hospital. It is not unusual for him to spend most of his time at home. He has not been
very socially active for a while now and prefers listening to Christian radio and television programming. Please pray
for Darby. We would like to see his health improve and are praying that he will want to get out more….especially to a
good, bible-preaching church where he could find fellowship and become involved.
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We look forward to reporting more next month about some plans we have been putting together for an outreach
program that will hopefully be implemented and put to the test in our local church over the next few months. If all
goes well, we want to use what we learn as part of one of our future goals to involve other churches in a networked
way for a more collaborative approach to providing spiritual care to people with life-threatening illnesses…..especially
those who are unsaved, un-churched and have unmet spiritual needs. Many thanks, again, to all of you who pray for
and support Psalm 23 Ministry.
In His Service,
Tom & Terry Shuford