In lieu of Cancer Prevention Month

I have shared about my life more than I would have ever thought.
I also never thought I would live my life as a cancer survivor.
I pray for changed hearts among many but pray against cancer to be the change.

This MONTH is Cancer Prevention Month... and as I prepared for yet another visit to the cancer clinic this week, to be proactive in my health, this was what I read;

"Sometimes we like to imagine swapping lives with others-lives that look more attractive and desirable than our own. The cleaned-up, airbrushed impression we get on Facebook makes us envious of their opportunities, their marriage, their vacations, or their families. But the truth is, we really don't know whats inside their lives, behind those smiling "selfies" they post. At the same time, we tend to forget our own inside story. We forget how God has equipped and enabled us with special abilities to cope, grow, and thrive through life's challenges. We forget the loyal friends and wonderful people He has placed around us and the many times He has helped us, encouraged us, forgiven us, and pulled us out of trouble. We forget the incomparable, eternal purposes He has for our lives. Would we really want to swap places with someone else? How much better than to be thankful and content with God's provision!" Joni Earekson Tada

As my best friend picked me up this morning, and we drove out to the cancer clinic I was thankful for his provision. Always taking care of me.  I don't want to forget any of that for one minute. I want to see it in everyday and name all the ways he carries me. Just yesterday at outpatient therapy for my lymphedema the therapist stopped and said, "was it hard for you to find someone to help care for your children when you were sick?" At first I was caught off guard, I hadn't thought back that far in awhile. But then... I smiled as I shared with her the story of how God provided our "Mickey". Who just "happened" to live with us that summer before and get to know our ins and outs. It would be her who would show up in my kitchen with her husband and say, "I'm here, to help with whatever you need me for." So my simple answer to my therapist was, "Well as a matter of fact no, I didn't even have to look... GOD provided."

Never before in my life have I had several surgeons and oncologists debating over what best way to remove a mole off my face. What has my life come to... these are the things of a Stage 3 survivor. We had been watching it until I saw my "quarterback", that's what she calls herself, at Penn last week. She doesn't mess around and said the mole had to come off asap. She took it upon herself to work out all the details and I found myself getting stitches on my face this first week of cancer prevention month. Mole be gone and now we wait for good pathology. I will do this hard thing to prevent a harder thing, one that I know. I have said it before and I will say it again to as many as I can. GO GET A SKIN CHECK! The inconvenience of one appointment with a dermatologist, or a scar on your FACE it WAY less convenient than a year of cancer treatment. Trust my words. Just do it. Prevent it. Wear sunscreen and sit in the shade. Catch it early and make it a priority. Go to the doctor, it's not that bad there.

With scars all over my body, one on my face now, and more to come I was reminded of the beauty of a scar. They all tell a story, they mark who I am and His victories over my life. I have been able to hide my big scars on my leg most of the time. No one else sees them, neither do I. Now I will look and see this, small, but significant scar in the mirror everyday. It will remind me of the story go my life, the one God wrote and I'm living. Reading the book, The Scars That Have Shaped Me, I was reminded that when Jesus rose from the dead and presented himself to his people, it was his SCARS that made him recognizable. He could have removed them and shown up perfect and unmarked but he left his nail pierced hands as the best way for his disciples to validate his identity. "God chose not to erase these marks of death - the wounds of his love for us - so our Savior will always be know by his scars." -Vaneetha Rendall Risner

More of him. Less of me.



"My scars are significant and precious. I shouldn't keep hiding them. I am recognized by them; they make me unique. They are in integral part of who I am. They show that through Christ, I am a conqueror-that I have suffered and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, have overcome. My scars remind me that God is sufficient and that physical perfection is not our goal. A life lived to God's glory is infinitely more valuable. Scars represent more than I ever realized. They can be beautiful. They dictionary says "a scar is a mark left by a healed wound." A HEALED WOUND. My scars signify healing. Even though my initial flesh wounds have healed, there is yet a deeper healing in acceptance. 

Those of us with scars should wear them like jewels treasured reminders of what we've endured. Its ok to show our imperfections. It is even courageous. And perhaps we'll discover the beauty in our scars."

-Vaneetha Rendell Risner