Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Yes

a lady from church came to visit us at the office yesterday. she is around my mom's age and has been battling cancer for almost a year. two weeks ago she returned to teach her second graders half time after completing all her cemo. life seems to be on the up and up for her and she had an epiphany she wanted to share with us. you see 3 months ago the future was not looking so bright for this extraordinary woman. the chemotherapy had made her very sick. she was depressed, angry, impatient, and felt dead. a typical persona of your average cancer patient.

it was in the midst of that dark valley that this thought hit her: she had yet to thank God for her cancer. what?? (i thought as my heart sank in my chest) she had actually expressed gratitude to our Creator for this awful disease that had ravaged her physically and emotionally for almost a year. she was grateful. and she meant it. incredible

Paul's words in Ephesians to always give thanks to God for everything had struck a cord with her. (easier said than done, right). but she was serious, and you could see it her face. she let us know that she and her husband were closer than they had ever been. that her 25 year old daughter had matured greatly in the past year. that because of her cancer extended members of her family, who in the past had been distant from one another, had been brought together and talk on a daily basis. she said she had experienced true friendship like never before. her faith has been stretched and her prayer life awakened. every morning she wakes up and thanks God for this horrible affliction and for the ways he is working through it. what an amazing story of faith.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.

i pray for faith like hers. to see all my circumstances as yes's. to always trust and continually give thanks for everything. everything.
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pic of the day, our HS kids at Zenith last summer:

2 comments:

Lindsey said...

Great post

ewall said...

thanks for the encouragement cb!