Two Years Later

This very week marks two years that have come and gone since my surgery and I am celebrating! Life is good! The Lord has continued to bless my family. The opportunity to embrace life with full health is amazing. After illness, believing for a short time that I was terminal and my days were scarcely numbered, then making the transition to health and freedom of fear…you know I am living it up!

In the past two years the Lord has opened so many doors for me to grow spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Rex and I had a rare opportunity to host a 10-month class on Systematic Theology in our home. Our class was amazing as it gave us the chance to grow and learn with other believers about what the Bible says about any given topic. The knowledge I took from that class inspired me to lead a women’s Bible study in our home in the fall. Again, the Lord opened many doors. We had over 20 women coming together on a weekly basis, growing, connecting, learning to pray and strengthening our walks with the Lord. It was such a great experience that I decided to lead another group this spring! Again, over 20 women attended.

If you are not in a small group, I would strongly suggest finding one. It will rock your world! Getting to know a core group of people that you’re able to connect and grow with on a spiritual level will change your everyday life. I firmly believe this is the ‘community’ the Lord desires for us in our earthly lives.

How am I doing physically, you ask? I still sit back and ponder my accomplishments of the past year and think, “Really, God? Really?!” How amazing is it that He not only restored my health so I can raise my kids, but gave me stellar health and the physical strength and stamina to hike the freaking Grand Canyon, rim to rim?!?! 26 miles in one day and alongside 18 of the most amazing people you could ever hope to meet.

It was through Project Athena, an organization one can only hope to aspire to be a part of. While on the Canyon trek, a dream arose. “If I can hike 26 miles in one day with 102-degree temperature and blisters, could I possibly do a marathon?” And then the dream accidentally crept out of my head and blurted out of my mouth! The Project Athena gals couldn’t have been more encouraging. They committed to me that if I wanted to do the PF Chang’s Phoenix Marathon, they would travel to Phoenix and do it with me. So they did! And I did! I ran my first full marathon this year, with wonderful friends, amazing women and with great ease. I did it! I did it! I never thought I could run a full marathon, and then the Lord encouraged me with friends and physical health, and He was with me the entire time. I’m convinced that He was encouraging me, protecting me and smiling upon me at every step. Another feather in my hat is that I’ve completed six half marathons this year as well. The Lord has blessed me greatly with physical health and while I have it, I’m certainly not going to waste it!

Emotionally, I grew to accept the fact that I had been diagnosed with a terminal tumor, that the diagnosis had been wrong and that I had to go on living. I had to let go of the thought that maybe the second doctor was wrong and the first doctor had been right. I had to reconcile to that reality and move on to a much happier, settled place and cling to the joy and blessings that I had been given through this rare journey. And so for months, the Lord kept whispering, “Write it down. I want you to share this with others. I want you to encourage others that are struggling. I want you and your story to be a light in this dark world.”

So. Ahem (that’s me clearing my throat). I have started writing a book. A book about my story. A book that the Lord has laid on my heart to write. I pray that my book is an encouragement to all who read it. I pray that my book conveys that the Lord’s will is perfect, that His timing is perfect, that prayer is powerful and that He is present in our lives! He is alive! And He cares for you and me. I pray that through the blessing of my racquet-ball sized brain tumor, people will read my story and desire to grow closer to the Lord.

So today, I am telling you that my unceasing prayer is that the Lord will bless my book and continue to give me the content He desires to be in it. I pray that the Lord will open doors throughout this process (as He already has) because, although I do have a formal education, it ain’t in English!

Can I challenge you today? What is the ‘book’ in your life? What is the thing you’re nervous about tackling because you don’t think you can do it on your own? Is it going back to school for a higher education, losing 20 pounds, running a 5K, seeking counseling for an addiction or joining a small group? Whatever your hurdle in life is, I can tell you that prayer is essential! Essential, my friend. The Bible says, "Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose. Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself." Philippians 2:3-4

So, whatever your ‘book’ is in life, take it to the Lord and He will carry you through it!

Reflect
The ‘book’ in my life is _______________________________.
Through prayer and dialogue with other Christ followers, I am going to ______________________.


Update: When I was diagnosed two years ago, it was urgent. At the very moment I was told I had a brain tumor, it was the size of a racquetball. This means that no one will ever know how long I lived with this tumor. They are typically slow growing, so the thought is that I had it for many years. Now I routinely go every six months for MRI’s to monitor whether it’s growing back. I went in for my routine scan a little over a week ago. Three days later, I received a phone call from my surgeon’s office while volunteering in my son’s first grade class. I was looking forward to taking the call to hear that all was well but the call took a dramatically different turn from what I was expecting.
”Dr. K needs to see you to review your scans. He said you need to make an appointment.”
“What!?” I exclaimed. “Why??”
“Ma’am, I’m just making the call, he said he needs to talk to you about them.”
My heart was racing because I knew something was wrong. The surgeon doesn’t require an appointment if there is no change. In fact, I hadn’t seen him for a year.
It turned out that the next available appointment was three weeks away. Doesn’t it seem inhumane to give a patient enough information to know there’s something wrong, but postpone seeing them for three weeks??

Whatever is happening, it is the Lord’s plan.

I spoke to a friend I went to high school with (who is now a doctor) and, upon her suggestion, called to get a copy of the radiology report. The report was simple. ‘Post surgical change. Mild thickening of the surgical region.’
“Really, God?!? I thought this was behind me!”
Apparently it is not completely behind me. In layman’s terms, without hearing it from the surgeon, it sounds as if the tumor is growing back.
The tumor was completely removed during my surgery, but my skull is thicker on one side where the tumor imbedded itself in my skull. The area was cauterized well in surgery, but I was never guaranteed that it wouldn’t grow back. No one guaranteed me that I wouldn’t have to face those steel surgical doors—and a ridiculously difficult surgery—again.

Pray
Will you find a fellow believer to band together with and join me in prayer? It would be so powerful if you could pray with your spouse, child or friend for me. Pray that it is not tumor growth. And if it is, that it has not grown much and that I would be given years and years before it would need to be removed. I am so grateful for your prayers and eager to see how God’s plan unfolds as I learn to trust Him more.