Yesterday was a day.
Picture this if you like…
I was weary from a visit to the oncologist. It was a good visit. I am staying in maintenance mode… my white blood cell counts and iron continue to be low, which means I have a weak immune defense and next visit I will have to have an iron infusion, because we can’t seem to get my iron levels back up. Not fun, but a whole lot better than chemo! It also explains the extreme fatigue I have on top of just normal recovery from treatment.
It’s National Cancer Survivors’ Day today. Here is a quote that I clung to during the past 18 months of surgeries, treatment and recovery. And here’s to the thousands of survivors out there who have battled this brutality and are living life!
Jesus Christ is stronger!
Stronger than my fears about the future or my shame over a past that cannot be altered though I wish so much I could do things differently.
Stronger than my tired prayers with well-worn phrases and weary pleas.
Stronger than my need to know now, and have the trial terminated.
In the Rocktown Weekly, a local newspaper, Andrew Jenner writes:
The dudes of Team British Rust will end up in Newport, Tenn., tomorrow night, and reach New Orleans by Friday evening, if The Mighty Boosh makes it. The air in the parking deck is electric now, bursting with the infectious energy of a few guys on the cusp of middle age doing something too few guys on the cusp of middle age do: devoting a whole week to juvenile, and, therefore, immensely enriching amusement.
Yep. I choked up. What a surprise.
Look at this face.
Now look at this face.
What’s different?
The second picture is that of a rising second-grader, and I can’t believe how time has flown. Ash had an excellent year of school… his favorite subject? Everything. I can’t get him to pin down what he likes to do best in school. I finally asked him, “If you had to only do one subject every day for a whole week, what would it be?” He replied with, “Can I just do a different subject every day?” Laughing. “Nope. Only one.” Thinking for a while he piped up with, “Math.” Ahhh, yes, a good subject for our little thinker.
This past week has been constant. Just constant. Getting Brian ready for his trip. My in-laws here to help while he’s gone (for which I’m so thankful). Asher’s last week of school. Several big family decisions we’re working through. Sleepless nights with children scared of thunderstorms and wetting beds. My own stress level rising and the battle against Satan’s whispers that something is bound to go “wrong” soon.
It is a barrage of busy-ness. And I have missed my solitude, peace and time to just sit, be still and worship.
Then this morning, I listened to Brooke Fraser’s song, “Hymn”, again.