An Update about Amber
Many of you know my beautiful wife Amber. She is my best friend. She is my greatest encourager. She daily reflects the love and grace of Jesus to myself and to those she comes in contact with. About 10 years ago Amber noticed some changes in her ability to speak over noise in different settings. Over the past year and a half it has become more and more difficult. We have seen specialists, gone through testing and yet there is still not clarity on what is happening with her vocal strength.As you can imagine this is a difficult thing to face, especially when most of what we do is a family centers around speaking and meeting with other people. We were talking the other day about sharing it with people beyond our family and co-workers so people could be aware and join us in prayer.Here is a letter that Amber wrote for everyone:[divider]
April 30, 2014Pastors and Friends,I want to personally write you a letter and let you know how grateful, humbled, and blessed I am to be able to serve alongside Tyler in our current position as Northwest Ministry Network Youth Directors. When we began this season over a year and a half ago, I remember feeling a little bit like Gideon, “Lord, who am I to serve in this position?”The past year and a half we have been surrounded by such encouragement, support, and grace by you all, and I am forever grateful. I feel like I now need to share about a struggle with my voice that I’m walking through, especially in the past year.About ten years ago, I first noticed that I had a hard time in really loud settings, speaking or praying over background noise (eg: camp altar times). Over the years, I’ve mentioned this to my doctor on different occasions and first had my throat scoped six years ago. Every scope that I’ve had, has never provided any answers. I don’t have vocal cord damage, nodules, or anything out of the ordinary. This difficulty to speak however, has gradually gotten worse, and I really hit my low point this past summer. I no longer was able to sustain a phone conversation (which means even scheduling doctor & dental appointments for our kids), and just normal conversations have become very difficult for me. I shared with some of you at summer camp that I was starting speech therapy to try to strengthen my voice, went on medication for acid reflux, and had more advanced scoping done. I’ve not had improvement with these treatments and am now pursuing more doctoral opinions and treatments.I share all of this to ask that you would pray for me and our family that God would bring divine healing or healing through medical treatment. This journey has really shaken my everyday world. It’s been a dark and lonely season. I am confident that God is using this season, and in the future I will look back and thank Him for bringing me through it, and for the growth that has resulted from it. As I walk through it though, it is incredibly challenging.I want you all to know, especially ladies, that I love you, pray for you, cheer for your victories and my heart hurts with you when I hear of your own challenges. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if I can be praying for you in a specific way, and I thank you for praying for me.Lots of love,Amber Sollie
[divider]Thanks for keeping Amber in your prayers. We are confident that God has us in the midst of this season! We are constantly reminded of His faithfulness and goodness. His ability to sustain is greater than the challenges that we face in this life. Thanks for your friendship and journeying with us!