6 Years ago...
So here we are. 6 years.
This day. Every year as it approaches I cannot help to think, feel, and reminisce all that it stands for and encompasses. This day is the anniversary of my cancer diagnosis. Every year that it gets further out, I can still go right back to where I was that day that the phone rang. A lot has happened since that phone call, years of suffering and pain, years of perspective change and cherished moments. I have learned several things, here are a few of them.
1. Healing is journey. Sometimes a lifetime long journey.
2. Every single one of us will have life interrupted. Everyone at some point will have heartbreak and trauma that in a moment can change everything.
3. You do have a purpose and sometimes the rug pulled out from under you reveals that purpose.
4. I am not my cancer, but that will never mean it's not a huge part of me, and always will be.
5. Today could be your last. So instead of living in fear, appreciate all the good parts and bad parts, just appreciate today. Find true Joy in all things, that how you will survive this friends.
6. Cancer is aweful. I wish I could take it away. Experiencing it has opened my eyes to so many suffering through so much. It has taken too many dear friends and I dedicate my days to living the ones that they couldn't.
7. God is the only foundation that stands when everything is crumbling around you. It's everlasting, but it stands in each and every hard moment that we face. Trust him.
8. Surviving cancer changes you. Changes relationships, changes your emotions, changes your physical body permanently, it changes you. You never go back to life BC (BeforeCancer) but the days that remain after that phone call day will forever take you closer toward an opportunity for intimate healing in heaven.
9. Be kind, be patient. Although everyone is facing some battle many have not experienced what you have. listen, encourage, promise to be there with them when it does come. Relationships matter.
10. Let go those that have moved on. Open your eyes to see who God has given in places that were empty. See that relationships come and go, and at each new day you will have who you need when you need them.
“Indeed, wefelt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:9 (NIV)
Friends, this life is crazy right now. 2020 has brought highs and the lowest of lows. It was hard for me to think of reminiscing on what seemed so difficult so long ago when everything feels hard for so many. I awoke this morning from this text from my best.
He is faithful, and he will be. Remembering is in so many ways so important. Hope that you are encouraged today. Know that I have dedicated my life to walking with and encouraging others in their life's waging wars. I am with you. Here for you and praying for you.
God has seen me through quite a fiery furnace. And he will see you through too.
xoxoxoxo
Jo
"I kept thinking about that statement everyone loves to throw out in times like these: “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” But that’s not actually in the Bible.
God does say He won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear and that He always provides a way out. (1 Corinthians 10:13) But that’s not the same as God not giving us more than we can handle.
God didn’t cause this. But He was allowing it. And He sometimes will allow more and more.
As I type these words, I know I’m not the only one who feels they’ve been given more than they can handle.
The world is filled with people who are dealt more than they can handle. And, surprisingly, so is the Bible.
The Apostle Paul wrote: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9, NIV).
No, God doesn’t expect us to handle this. He wants us to hand this over to Him.
He doesn’t want us to rally more of our own strength. He wants us to rely solely on His strength.
If we keep walking around, thinking God won’t give us more than we can handle, we set ourselves up to be suspicious of God. We know we’re facing things that are too much for us.
After my diagnosis, I had some really difficult days. I needed God to show me His perspective so I could set my perspective. But it didn’t come right away. And that frustrated me. I was filled with fear and questions like, Why this? Why now? Why me?
The story I started telling myself was that life would never get any better.
But thinking about everything I didn’t know wasn’t getting me anywhere. So, I started listing things I did know. And the main thing I know? I know God is good. I didn’t know the details of God’s good plan, but I could make His goodness the starting place to renew my perspective.
So now let me tell the story of the recent events in my life using God’s goodness as the central theme. Had things not blown up in my marriage a few months beforehand, I never would have hit the pause button on life to go get a mammogram. But because I had a mammogram at that exact time, the doctors caught a cancer that needed to be caught. And because they caught a cancer that needed to be caught, I had every fighting chance to beat this cancer.
You see, we’re all living out a story, but then there’s the story we tell ourselves. We just need to make sure we’re telling ourselves the right story. Yes, God will give us more than we can handle. But He always has eventual good in mind."
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