Good News, Bad News, and The Important News

Day 105

The Bad News

I can’t believe it’s been over 100 days since I started this whole chemo “thing”, but indeed it has. I always like to get the bad news out of the way first (kinda like vegetables), and have to just get real for a minute.

Cancer is never a good thing – but chemo Totally Sucks. I had my 5th round a week ago and have found that with each treatment I get sick faster, worse, and for longer amounts of time.

The Good News

… is that I only have 1 round left. There’s actually a light at the end of the tunnel. I’ll be moving on to other phases of treatment but the worst is almost over and I know that the day will come when I feel good again!

The Important News

My Nana, God rest her soul, taught me something that has always been profound to me, through something as simple as the expression of her heart-felt gratitude for her bed. I’ve found myself so many times echoing her thoughts, and want to take a look at an expanded view of what this means to me.

I’ve been receiving chemo every 3 weeks, which has led me to experience life in 3 week cycles lately. As I spent my afternoon today resting in God’s presence, I had a bird’s eye view of the last 21 days.

I’ll start with my inner circle. Today I received some news that actually provoked the response, “what the f@@@”? It was the 2nd diagnosis of someone with a very serious form of cancer. The last 3 weeks have also brought a life-threatening accident, a tragic death, and some totally unforeseen problems that came at a highly unlikely time.

My outer circle has been kinda crazy too. Less than 3 weeks ago my community became glued to Hurricane Irma, which was expected to hit us as a category 5 hurricane. After watching the very recent devastation in Texas from hurricane Harvey, there was widespread concern (even fear) that I have never witnessed in my 9 years living in Florida.

Despite the solid predictions regarding Irma’s path, it changed at the last minute and spared my home and my community. Great news yes, but there were thousands of people who weren’t so fortunate. Major flooding and destruction wiped out Puerto Rico, several Caribbean islands, and parts of Florida.

Right on Irma’s heels, we watched as hundreds were killed in a major earthquake in Mexico, then another hurricane, Maria, dealt a final blow to Puerto Rico – leaving its people without power, food or water. I even caught a news story about the evacuation of almost 100,000 evacuations in Indonesioa, where a catastrophic volcano eruption has been predicted.

And in political news, we’re watching 2 major world leaders bullying each other like 2nd graders trying to claim king of the castle, while the people in our country are experiencing division over pretty much every subject imaginable.

Yup it’s been a crazy 3 weeks! Which brings my thoughts back to Nana, and my bed. I love my bed. I love that on these bad days I can spend countless hours sleeping and resting – complete with air conditioning, indoor plumbing, a well-stocked kitchen, and a husband who is doing everything in his power to help me. But…

The Important Thing

…. is that none of that is guaranteed to me. When I look around it’s all so very clear that we have absolutely No control. I think that last news of a cancer diagnosis cemented that fact in my mind today – but it’s not at all a bad thing.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 tells us to:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

This one verse offers tremendous comfort to every one of us living in an out of control world. Through these words God is telling us that we can rest it all at his feet, and that we don’t ever have to micro-manage him. He knows what he’s doing, even if it doesn’t make any sense to us. It doesn’t have to. It makes all those “why, God?” questions meaningless and it gives us peace when we can finally just accept.

Our Part

Notice that Proverbs 3:5-6 calls for action on our parts, “in all your ways submit to him”. The good news is that this doesn’t have to be difficult. It all boils down to 2 commands:

• Love, praise and honor God in all that we do
• Love one another

When we do our part, we can trust that everything else fits into God’s eternal plan for us. We can be at peace regardless of the physical reality that surrounds us.

Love

A long post, I know – but I want to leave you with a clear picture of what true love looks like.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

“4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”

In Love,