A few years ago, while living in Germany, I was given the amazing privilege of serving a dear friend by being a participant on her "cancer team". This was the team of people who brought meals, gave rides to her son, donated money to pay for a house-keeper, took her to appointments and prayed for healing. Since we all know I can't bring people meals, I volunteered some of my time taking her to appointments.
There were numerous visits to the clinic and hours spent waiting for her turn for x-rays, blood tests, chemo treatments, and psychology visits. There was a lot of waiting. There was a lot of time for me to get to know her more and more importantly for me to see her shine.
She sat in the waiting room of the chemo area as if she were a mere visitor and every one else were patients. She talked to people, gave them her number, and told them about her healer, the one found not in tubes or pills but in the power of the one we call Jesus.
I remember her asking me and those around her how we were all doing, she would counsel us and pray for us....in the midst of her very own struggle. She was truly a light to all those sitting in darkness!
My dear friend was diagnosed with a cancer that didn't have any receptors (this is bad), she also tested positive for the "cancer gene". She had a double mastectomy, chemo, and radiation, followed by a full hysterectomy. The latter was an attempt to give this genetic cancer less stuff to go after. Shortly after she completed her final radiation treatments she fell and shattered both of her feet, this required surgery and some time in a wheel chair as she recovered and gained strength to walk again. Just when her health seemed to be returning, a spot was found on her lung, it was determined to be breast cancer metastasized. She had lung surgery to remove the cancer and weeks later had a grand maul seizure that sent her into the hospital where doctors found she had a cancerous brain tumor.
Today she is laying in a hospital bed with cancer in her liver, brain and lungs. Her lungs are trying to give out on her, she struggles to breath, and her strength in waining.
I have been praying for her without ceasing. I don't know what I'm praying for. Sometimes I pray for God to just take her home. Other times I'm asking him to help her hold on until Christmas. I know that God can choose to keep her on this earth, but at this point everything we see with earthly eyes are pointing to that time here not being very long.
When my friend was first diagnosed with cancer she said that her one prayer was that God would be made known through this. I know he is so pleased with how she ran this race. She fought the good fight even when it seemed fruitless. And she will be healed, either on earth or in heaven.
I'm a member of a private Facebook group that she started to keep her friends and family updated along the journey. She posted pictures of her losing her hair, during treatments, trying on wigs, and testing out bras with fake boobs. She posted videos of her dancing because even in a trial one can find joy in Christ. She wrote about feeling low and feeling good. She talked about the really weird cancery stuff that most people don't share. She posted a photo of her twice her size due to swelling, she showed off her scars from brain surgery and more often than anything else she praised God for the people who love her, for the strength she was able to muster, and for the life she was given.
As I pull up her Facebook group, I hold my breathe, I am so afraid that the words of her passing will soon appear on the page.
Her fight will be over, the victory will not be one seen on earth, and she will leave behind hundreds of people who diligently prayed for her and loved her and showered her with blessings. She'll also leave behind a sweet boy just 11 years old, and a devoted husband who loves her so dearly.
She will leave behind a world full of sorrow and pain. She will leave behind suffering, loneliness, grief, injustice and pride. She will leave behind the body that she has fought against for the past 4 years.
She will breath a breathe so full and deep that it overwhelms her, she will run, she will laugh, she will smile the contagious smile, and she will be free. She will stand before the throne of her Lord and Savior and I know more than I have known this about any other.... her king will say "well done, well done my good and faithful servant". For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Cor 13:12)
I don't know the doctor's prognosis or the timeline she has been given, but I know that her life, until her very last breathe is in His hands.
There were numerous visits to the clinic and hours spent waiting for her turn for x-rays, blood tests, chemo treatments, and psychology visits. There was a lot of waiting. There was a lot of time for me to get to know her more and more importantly for me to see her shine.
She sat in the waiting room of the chemo area as if she were a mere visitor and every one else were patients. She talked to people, gave them her number, and told them about her healer, the one found not in tubes or pills but in the power of the one we call Jesus.
I remember her asking me and those around her how we were all doing, she would counsel us and pray for us....in the midst of her very own struggle. She was truly a light to all those sitting in darkness!
My dear friend was diagnosed with a cancer that didn't have any receptors (this is bad), she also tested positive for the "cancer gene". She had a double mastectomy, chemo, and radiation, followed by a full hysterectomy. The latter was an attempt to give this genetic cancer less stuff to go after. Shortly after she completed her final radiation treatments she fell and shattered both of her feet, this required surgery and some time in a wheel chair as she recovered and gained strength to walk again. Just when her health seemed to be returning, a spot was found on her lung, it was determined to be breast cancer metastasized. She had lung surgery to remove the cancer and weeks later had a grand maul seizure that sent her into the hospital where doctors found she had a cancerous brain tumor.
Today she is laying in a hospital bed with cancer in her liver, brain and lungs. Her lungs are trying to give out on her, she struggles to breath, and her strength in waining.
I have been praying for her without ceasing. I don't know what I'm praying for. Sometimes I pray for God to just take her home. Other times I'm asking him to help her hold on until Christmas. I know that God can choose to keep her on this earth, but at this point everything we see with earthly eyes are pointing to that time here not being very long.
When my friend was first diagnosed with cancer she said that her one prayer was that God would be made known through this. I know he is so pleased with how she ran this race. She fought the good fight even when it seemed fruitless. And she will be healed, either on earth or in heaven.
I'm a member of a private Facebook group that she started to keep her friends and family updated along the journey. She posted pictures of her losing her hair, during treatments, trying on wigs, and testing out bras with fake boobs. She posted videos of her dancing because even in a trial one can find joy in Christ. She wrote about feeling low and feeling good. She talked about the really weird cancery stuff that most people don't share. She posted a photo of her twice her size due to swelling, she showed off her scars from brain surgery and more often than anything else she praised God for the people who love her, for the strength she was able to muster, and for the life she was given.
As I pull up her Facebook group, I hold my breathe, I am so afraid that the words of her passing will soon appear on the page.
Her fight will be over, the victory will not be one seen on earth, and she will leave behind hundreds of people who diligently prayed for her and loved her and showered her with blessings. She'll also leave behind a sweet boy just 11 years old, and a devoted husband who loves her so dearly.
She will leave behind a world full of sorrow and pain. She will leave behind suffering, loneliness, grief, injustice and pride. She will leave behind the body that she has fought against for the past 4 years.
She will breath a breathe so full and deep that it overwhelms her, she will run, she will laugh, she will smile the contagious smile, and she will be free. She will stand before the throne of her Lord and Savior and I know more than I have known this about any other.... her king will say "well done, well done my good and faithful servant". For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Cor 13:12)
I don't know the doctor's prognosis or the timeline she has been given, but I know that her life, until her very last breathe is in His hands.
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