Greetings my precious brothers and sisters in The Lord,
 

I just woke up and have started my daily routine of medication and worship. I start every day with the Lord and draw upon His strength with every passing minute of each day that He gives me. Yesterday I had a very bad day with pain and today I am very shaky and light-headed. Between the pain and the medication it is quite difficult to organize my thoughts and my eyes don't focus as well as they should. ` But my heart is about to burst with love, gratitude and appreciation for all that has been done already for Elaine and me. It is my intention to spend this entire day, if necessary, to try and convey to each and every one of you how much you are loved and how much you mean to Elaine and me, but there aren't enough words in the English language that could even begin to accomplish that.

First and foremost, Elaine and I have been totally overwhelmed by the love and generosity that has been shown to us in so many ways. Tears fill my eyes as I write this, sobs are gripping my heart and chest as I think of all the gifts that have come into our house because of your love for us. We have never experienced nor received such an outpouring of love and kindness as we have over these last few months. We are so humbled and feel so unworthy and all we can do is look to Heaven, praise the Lord and thank Him for you wonderful people who are in our life and blessing us in ways that you can only imagine. Thank you for being our friends and church family. Your prayers, gifts, thoughts, calls, well wishes all encourage and strengthen Elaine and me as we walk this road the Lord has given us.

Elaine and I are going through adjustments in our lives that a year ago we would not have even contemplated. Elaine and I have given our lives to the Lord for His work to minister to the church, the people of church and to people and family in general. We love giving to the church, we love giving to others and helping wherever we can help. I have always tried to live by the motto "I only pass through this life but once, so if I can do any good thing let me do it now because I shall not pass this way again". I have always given Elaine the credit for being the greater giver of the two of us. She was able to see and identify needs and together we would try to alleviate whatever needs we could see in others. For us to be the ones on the receiving end is a huge adjustment and we are trying to make that adjustment as gracefully as possible.

With that being said, I want everyone to know that God is Good! He walks beside me with every step I take. I have felt His presence with me from the very first doctor's appointment in June. I have never felt alone or forsaken. I don't have a lot of answers but I know like I have never known before, how much my Lord and Savior loves me, how much He cares for me. I am totally confident that His comforting hand is upon me, that my pain is far less than it could be and that He feels every pain I feel and only allows me to feel the pain I can handle.

Not only does He give me physical and spiritual strength, He has provided for me in every way. Last night we were asked if we were struggling financially. Please hear me when I say the Lord has provided for us in every way and that includes financially, through the loving and selfless gifts of you, our loving and supportive church family. I feel it is only right that we share with you some of what we have been facing and how each of you, through your gifts, has given us a greater hope for tomorrow and a greater faith for today. With no hope of insurance coverage for Elaine's surgery, the decision to get the surgery done was a gift of love from me to her. This decision for out of the pocket expense was made last February, long before my diagnosis.

I feel just as strongly today as I did then that the Lord led me down the path of homeopathy and herbs. Just because they didn't produce the desired result that I wanted in my body does not mean it was the wrong decision. Anytime that we allow ourselves to be led by the Word of God, prayer and the Holy Spirit, we aren't making a mistake. I still feel that the Lord has plans for my life that only He is privy to. The decision to attempt a homeopathic route cost several thousand dollars beyond our normal household bills. It was also time for fall taxes, and Satan who loves to kick a guy when he is down, decided to blow up the transmission in my Impala which is only four years old. We were overwhelmed in a perfect storm of bills and financial pressure for a time, and God forgive me, I began thinking in ways that were wrong. Satan was turning my eyes off my Savior and putting them on myself, my wife, my mother-in-law and our financial situation. I began rationalizing my situation and began saying the only way I can begin digging my way our of my debt is to start reducing my tithe. It is amazing how many "logical" arguments Satan can manufacture in preventing someone from tithing, and unfortunately I fell into Satan's line of thinking. I skipped a month's tithe and although I felt guilty and ashamed, it seemed like the only thing to do. The next month I drastically reduced my tithe and I began to feel incredibly remiss over the entire situation. I knelt before the Lord and began praying and I heard the Lord ask me, "When did you stop trusting me? Do you really think I can't handle your situation if you only trust me?" I thought of all the Sunday School lessons I had taught and all the sermons I had preached and I cried out loud "Lord forgive me. I do trust you and will trust you to my dying breath". Last month I wrote out my tithe and I could feel relief and forgiveness flood over me but more than that, I saw the Hand of God work in a mighty way almost immediately. Within two or three days, the Pastor was in my house handing me a check from session. The tears flew from my eyes like waterfalls because I knew I was seeing God's hand in motion. Elaine returned from a post-op visit with a check in hand from the insurance company covering the surgical fee of $3500.00. We were totally awe-struck because we knew this was totally the hand of the Lord because we did not submit any re-evaluation of our claims nor did anyone else. This was solely done on the part of the insurance company prompted solely by the Holy Spirit. Then yesterday, the Pastor and Charlie King presented us with a love offering that was just overwhelming.

God knows our needs before we do and He wants to take care of us in every possible way. He rewards our obedience and trust in Him in very real and tangible ways. You wonderful and generous brothers and sisters have demonstrated such a magnificent outpouring of love to us and the Lord through your gifts, that all the financial pressure and stress has been totally eradicated. The timing has been perfect and Elaine and I are totally confident that no matter what Satan throws at us, greater is He who is within us than he who is within the world, and He will give us the strength to overcome any and everything that comes into our lives. Thank you so, so much.

I am not sure how to continue this letter because I in no way want to offend anyone. We love you all and want the blessing of the Lord to fall fresh and new on each of you. The last thing we want is to be a burden on anyone. Your monetary gifts have spoken to us of your love for us and I cannot tell you of the number of tears that have fallen from our eyes every time we realize the love those gifts represent. Elaine and I both feel that the gifts we've received are a sacred and holy trust that the Lord has blessed us with through your generosity and love toward us. We accept them with great humility and responsibility and we vow to each and every one of you wonderful people who have donated to us, that those gifts will have been used solely for the purpose of fighting this cancer. Hopefully this can be the beginning of a movement in our church to strengthen the unity and harmony of our church, to bring new peace and love into the hearts of each and every member so that we can truly say, feel and believe that we are the family of God; that we not only love our Lord and Savior but we love one another just as He loves us.

I am going to say something now that may seem very strange to some of you, but for those of you who know me best, you will probably just roll your eyes and say "that sounds like something Jim would say". I pray with all my heart that my suffering will be a blessing to each and everyone of you in the following manner. First, I have been blessed beyond measure throughout this entire ordeal. I have literally felt the presence of my Savior even during the height of my pain, and as He has been with me, He will be with each and every one of you regardless of the physical, emotional and spiritual torment you may be facing. If we allow Him to be our Lord and Savior, he will also be our comforter and companion. His love for us knows no bounds. Everything in the personality of Jesus wants to be a servant, a brother, a friend and a fulfillment of the needs we have. My prayer is that you will allow Him to be all those things and more in your life as He is in mine.

Our church has come under the attack of Satan in a mighty way over the past few years. He has done his best to attack our little congregation from many different angles. This is not a time to despair. This is a time to rejoice - Satan has lost! He lost on Calvary. He drove the nails into the body of our Lord and Savior, but it was the love of Jesus that kept them there for the salvation of you and me. Satan loses, Jesus wins! Satan rolled the stone in front of the grave but God rolled it away. Satan Loses, Jesus wins!

When Satan watched Jesus ascend into Heaven, strike three was called and Satan's doom was laid in stone. We have a Savior that is alive and well and sits at the right hand of God to make intercession for all who call upon Him as Lord and Savior. Satan was defeated 2000 years ago but our little church is holding forth the Word of God like a beacon of light in a dark and dying world. We feed the hungry, we minister to the lost and we are walking away from man-made laws of the Presbytery to the Holy laws of God's pure and perfect world. Those who take the strongest stand against the world and Satan can expect the strongest persecution. Just like Job in the Old Testament, and Paul in the New Testament and the countless prophets and martyrs since time began who were persecuted not by man alone but by Satan himself, I find myself in privileged company to be persecuted by Satan himself. But just as Job, Paul and countless others before me, I say with my last breath "PRAISE THE LORD". He is my hope, my life, my Savior and Redeemer. With Him I have everything and without Him I have nothing. Satan can have my body. I have a body waiting for me that will be perfect. I don't want this one anymore. Satan can't take anything from me that God isn't going to restore a million fold. My love for Jesus grows stronger with every passing minute and will continue to do so till I stand before Him face to face.

My precious friends, this is no time to say "Oh poor me", but rather a time to say "Praise the Lord". It is a time for growth and commitment, to become unified in our battle against Satan and evil. A time to solidify our harmony and peace among ourselves, so that others can see the love of Christ in everything we do and say, that the love of Christ will shine bright from our little church on Lake Avenue in Blasdell.

I again want to thank all of you for your acts and gifts and words and kindnesses. One of the greatest comforts Elaine and I receive are cards with a note or letter. Knowing we haven't been forgotten, knowing it takes effort to get a card and write something in it, says you have taken time out of your day to remember us. It is so precious to us to have you in our lives. We truly consider you our family. We all have the same Savior and the same Father and each of you are precious beyond words, don't let anyone think otherwise. We are in this fight together. THANK YOU.

If you prefer to call, please do. I will probably be sleeping but you can leave a message, and whenever I hear Elaine laugh, I immediately praise God for whoever it was that brought laughter into her life. One of the greatest joys in my life was being able to make someone laugh, especially Elaine. I haven't been able to do that very much lately and I just praise the Lord for everyone and anyone who is able to make her smile and laugh, so please feel free to call whenever the Lord might lead you. You may be the very thing Elaine needs to hear at that moment.

In my last act toward my fellow man, I have decided to give my body to science in the hope that maybe something can be discovered to help combat this terrible disease. From what I have researched, Satan has afflicted me with the worst possible type of pancreatic cancer in that chemotherapy and radiation has little to no effect in curing it, unlike a lot of other cancers. I know that only the Lord can cure me and to Him all the honor and glory will be given whether He chooses to cure me on Earth so I can continue to love and serve Him here or whether it is in Heaven where I will have a brand new body to honor and praise Him for all eternity.

May God be your constant companion as He has been mine. I love each of you. Thank you.

Jim and Elaine Hilty