SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: HOPE 2

8/25/13 Sabbath Snapshots (8/11/13) did not include a picture because at the time I could not find it. I asked each blog reader to create his/her own mental snapshot of the "Hope" wreath at Jones Cancer Clinic. Today I found it---on my iMac computer, which I rarely use anymore. Compare it with the one you imagined. Let me know how you fared. 

Hope is imbedded in the book of today's snapshot #2. Author Sarah Young's first book, Jesus Calling, is the "little" book that gave me BIG hope during that first year (2009) of my cancer struggle. It continues to be my daily devotional book, as it is of many.

 I hope to have a cuppa with her someday to share my thanks for allowing God to use her and her writings to bless so many of us.

ADDENDUM---WOW---ABOUT AN HOUR AFTER I HAD POSTED THIS BLOG ENTRY----SARAH YOUNG SENT A TEXT ASKING ME TO COME FOR TEA. SHE WAS IN NASHVILLE AREA AND SO WAS I! 

WE SPENT AN HOUR & A HALF TOGETHER OVER TEA! (CONSTANT COMMENT) WHAT A DELIGHTFUL DAY.

What an answer to the prayer of my heart! 

PUDDLING On…..

8/17/12 Yesterday was a "puddling" kind of day….and it ended up running in to this day. "Puddling", for me, as faithful readers know, is my euphemism for crying--- especially the blubbering kind. It can start with a knot in my throat, a welling up of tears, escaping tears that trickle down as does my drippy nose (neither of which I can feel) and eventually the blubbering comes. It’s not a pretty sight.

Puddling #1 occurred 8/13 when I heard disheartening results of CT Scan of dear, dear, friend and sister in the faith.

Puddling #2 occurred when I heard her always chipper voice explain that she knew it was bad when Dr. Mullins asked her if she had made plans for her hubby, who is both blind and paralyzed---since a 2004 accident. Since the diagnosis of stage 4 adenocarcinoma last summer, I know the prayer of her heart has been to live to take care of him.

Puddling #3 As I drove to pick her up to take her to her chemo, yesterday, K-LOVE blared out the last verse of Matt Redman’s “10,000 Reasons” as I started my car. 

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

Puddle #4 occurred when I left there remembering the last time I had been there with another dear friend whose hubby was closer to death than any of us knew.

My emotions were set up to “puddle” and the numbers increased though I kept repressing (somewhat) ‘til I could “blubber” in private.

But God…….gave me these Claudia induced “glory bumps” as I recalled these two days.

Everytime I’m with her, she blesses me by her “dance” with Jesus. It's like she's already soaring above the clouds. abunDANCE!

Her Discovery of God in this situation is so intimate, that she said, "It’s as if I can feel His breath.” She’s Accepted her mortality without morbidity. She’s grateful for the time the Lord has given her to “pack her bags” and train everyone to help care for her Terry. She Notices God’s hand at every turn and thanks Him.She Celebrates time with family. I even watched her “train” her 8 year old granddaughter, whom she homeschools, to administer the “prick” and the measuring of her hubby’s blood sugar. More than all of that, she never misses a chance to Extend her story as an encouragement to others so that they might know the One who is the source of her strength. Tuesday night, with all the pounds left in her little frame, she spoke BIG encouragement to a group of women in the “Way Out” ministry, an incredible ministry that exists to help women leave the sex for sale industry and discover the fullness of life in Christ. She contends her pain is nothing compared to their incomprehensible pain of rejection and abuse. That, my readers, is Encouragement---the capstone of her most recent struggle.

Today, following transfusions at Baptist East, we headed to Jones clinic for a necessary shot. Entering the large room, I saw the plastic bags holding the slowly dripping meds that were hanging from the IV poles; I saw  blinking monitors, the baskets---available with blankets, and the stacks of charts/files at the big nurses desk. She, on the other hand, saw people. She smiled and greeted folks she knew and then stood, stock still.

“What pretty music,” she said.

I hadn’t even heard it----though it was certainly a step above any kind of “canned” music typical of doctors’ offices.

Heading over to the couch to await her nurse, we saw the source. A dark haired woman in a pink and red stripe sweater with gold “Gigi-type” sling sandals, was gently strumming a beautiful, small Aziliz harp. A gift that soothed.

CP closed her eyes and listened. I “puddled” quietly.

She doesn’t “puddle” I do. She smiles through it all.

Excerpts of Encouragement

7/8/10 Leaving soon for Hoptown to spend a couple of days with Daddy and then on to Nashville to meet up with Michèle. Ah-h-h, Michèle---my encourager extraordinaire. What a mentor! What an example of ministering to others.
Here’s a peek at some of her “notes” that encouraged me without sugarcoating my diagnosis----she knew what I would be facing and was willing to share her experiences.

From first e-mail
Know that you are supported by this stranger who has stood where you stand and made it through to the other side.

2nd note---Throughout this McJourney, I have known a peace that simply cannot be explained in human terms. I know from reading your blog, Dotsy, that you have a special connection with your Maker and I know that will serve you well in the months and weeks ahead... He is NEVER far.

Please know that I am praying for you even as I write. (M taught me to do this)

1/23/09 I'm more than happy to walk this road with you ….I know there's no such thing as a benign response to the C-word...

1/24/09 I know the trauma, the physical ache, of this kind of thing--despite the strongest possible sense that God is near. But I've also reached the other side now and been able to look back and see the blessings, the GOLDEN linings that I might have missed ….. .I know that faith does not spare us entirely from the very real fears and nervousness that come from living in a fallen world with an ailing body. Those fears, those sleepless nights and moments of near-panic, are not a condemnation of our spirituality, they are the expression of our humanity.
And if we somehow manage to continue to live in hope and joy in spite of them, that's a validation of the God whose comfort surpasses our very limited understanding. (A-men to that, Michèle)

2/2/10 I want to encourage you--exhort you!--to allow at least a handful of those who love you to see the full scope of your emotional response to this devastating blow. Or if you'd rather vent to a relative stranger who would NEVER condemn you for honest emotions, you can do so to me too.

I've discovered that in moments of gravest need, God uses flesh-and-blood angels to soothe and comfort. The road of my McJourney has been paved with the stepping stones of kindred believers and gentle strangers, and I pray the same will be true for you. (Oh, how true that was for me---the “land of the living” my, willing to be used by God, flesh and blood angels have blessed me and mine beyond measure.)
I know that God is here… (and so do I!)

Michèle sharing her own journey was the greatest comfort for me----God was (is) here. It is His hand I've felt on my back, warmed by late-day sun. It is His peace in my mind, soothed and unraveled by His answer to my prayer. It is His promise in my chest, loosening the stranglehold, with every deep breath, of that oppressive opaque uneasiness. He was the faint light growing deeper; the warm colors of beginnings, not the heavy cold hues of endings.

Michèle THOTS---I’m not saying that it will be easy if Mac takes his worst possible course. But it will be okay....Because God has made promises that transcend our physical experience..... life is already—filled with ..... loving and being loved, and unfathomable serenity.

This morning when I read this year old note from Michèle, I realized the depth of truth that her words held.
Dotsy, every time I think about you I simultaneously feel a tightening in my chest for the journey still ahead and a surge of praise for the way God is going to walk with you at every turn in the unpredictable road that will lead to your healing. I'm sure you can't even imagine it the nearly-physical reality of His presence yet, but you'll experience it in a breathtaking way, even amid the pain and sadness and anger and depression the journey might entail. He'll be there. So powerfully and so comfortingly. You'll be amazed.

I was indeed amazed and blessed by my MAC journey/dance, just like Michèle said I would be. Her encouragement was a big part of that.

Last fall Michèle wrote on one of her gorgeous handmade photo notes:
I think of you daily and pray already for your October surgery. God has been so good to you.….and he isn’t going to stop now! I consider myself honored to stand with you in prayer & spirit & even more blessed to call you friend. With much love ---and already looking forward to our next encounter.

Our next encounter---wow it will this weekend. Isn’t God good!! Maybe I can, in someway, encourage her---because that’s the way it’s suppose to be.

So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith (Galatians 6:10)

Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, (I Thessalonians 5:11)

Encouragement is a great way to “do good.”

Encouragement. Reciprocate, pass it forward---just do it. Strew your life’s path with excerpts of encouragement for others. You’ll be glad you did and so will they.

Michèle’s Morsels

7/1/10 One year ago yesterday, I met Michèle Phoenix stateside. The face-to-face / scar-to-scar meeting took place in Louisville, KY where my older brother Buddy lives. The timing, of her being there from Germany for a MI doc appointment, and me being there after a high school reunion weekend, was such a God-thing. Of course, the two of us (MAC victims) connecting at all, especially continents away, was miraculous in and of itself. Musing on all of this I as I read back through my journal, I realized that Michèle mentored me, albeit from afar, and it was her personal knowledge of the cancer and her spiritual grounding that God used to equip me to find joy in my journey.
My memorable morsels from Michèle:

• MAC (our cancer) is a gift we can embrace because it flows from God’s grace;
• Ceaselessly seek reasons to celebrate a life turned toward Him;
• Make note of kindnesses of strangers and the serendipitous occurrences that lend a ray of unexpectedness to your days;
• Acknowledge “Divine Winks;” (similar to my "glory bumps")
• Focus on God’s truths throughout your journey/dance;
• The Center of God’s will might not guarantee physical safety but it does offer utter fulfillment, purpose, comfort and peace;
• We are to each other a priceless gift from a tangible and intimately present God;
• Be a galvanizing inspirer and come to the rescue of others by using your first hand experiences to serve an eternal and invaluable purpose; (A-MEN!)
• In your “new normal” (cancer victim), continue to seek and lean on the One whose love redeems your pain;

Some of these morsels are found in her beautiful book, Postcards from the Waters Edge, which she shared with me early on in my cancer journey. It’s a book that continues to minister to me and one I can share with others who are now in the midst of their own cancer struggle.
http://michelephoenix.com/postcards-from-the-waters-edge/

One week from tomorrow in Nashville, TN where my younger brother, Bobby & his wife now have a condo (near their grands) Michèle and I will meet again. Such another God-thing!

PRAYERFUL PLEA

8/26/09 Prayerful Plea is the request from one whose writings have blessed so many of us, Sarah Young.
During these past eight months of my MAC journey so many of you have told me that you are “on the same page.” It’s become our way of sharing the fact that we’re reading the devotional, Jesus Calling, every day. Many times we have joked that the daily entry was written just with us in mind. I don’t know what Jesus Calling said to you today, but this part _______ (fill in the blank yourself) was written just for me!! My part from the August 26 entry dealt with needing to detach from the disturbances around me and to quit striving for control.

Sarah Young is the author of our shared book and she is asking for folks to prayerfully plead on her behalf. Here’s an excerpt from an e-mail I received this week from Cindy Cole in response to questions about Sarah’s health.

Sarah Young . . .who is in Kansas City undergoing treatment for Lyme Disease . . .in a letter from Sarah dated August 5th, she said, “Stephen (her husband) has to leave Kansas City August 18th . . .a wonderful Christian family will take care of me after he leaves. Please pray for them and for me during this difficult time. My level of disability has increased markedly since I’ve been on IV antibiotics, especially the vertigo, weird brain sensations, and weakness. I’m scheduled to begin IV antibiotics again on Monday . . . I’ll need prayer that my liver will cope with the treatment this time . . . and that the treatment will be effective. My twelve weeks of treatment will end on October 15th or l6th, and I need to get strong enough to travel all the way back to Perth. This is not only a prayer request, it is a PRAYER PLEA. I have never felt so helpless in all my life!” Sarah began IV therapy on July 23rd . . . has a treatment every morning at 6:45am and another every afternoon. She said, “This is a grueling regimen . . . seven days a week for three months.” Steve and Sarah are missionaries in Australia.

As one of her faithful readers, I feel it is a privilege to go before the Throne of Grace on her behalf. I hope you’ll join me. A card of encouragement might be nice as well!!

Sarah Young
c/o Donna Mastalio
10804 W. 118th Terrace
Overland Park, Kansas 66210