500 lovely cards have arrived at my doorstep. Each time I look at these, I remember wonderful friends and family who cheered me on during chemo for stage 4 breast cancer. Boy, was that a time when all was stripped away, and I surrendered all to Jesus – at least, a lot more so!
People ask me often if the cancer is in remission. No, I calmly say, knowing this will be painful for them to receive. God has chosen to keep cancer with me, although it seems to be on a much smaller scale than when I was first diagnosed.
“You will always be stage 4 breast cancer, Marcia.” my doctor once said. “What to do; what to think?” I said to myself as my eyes teared up. (Well, let’s emblazon that on my forehead, why not???) I decided the next day to just get up, one day at a time, and just show up for my life. No, I have no idea how many days I have, but with each of them, I am going to try to love better, show more kindness, and tell more people about Jesus’ love and goodness. The absence of cancer is not my great good – God is my great good. I have that, so, basically, I’m good.
If you’d like a set of these cards, please go here:CARDS Funds raised will go toward my upcoming trips to Romania and Peru using art to share my faith in Jesus.
A fellow blogger, sister in Jesus and fellow stage 4 cancer friend through the internet, Kara Tippetts, once said she and her husband were having a conversation about how much they surrender to Jesus. Our songs tend to be, “I surrender some.” Or “I surrender all….. if my life is perfect, my kids are perfect, and I’m free of cancer.” We all had to chuckle as we heard her speak. She got me thinking. How much do I really surrender? My greatest challenge is surrendering my control of my life – which I probably have far less of than I think! Cancer helps in this surrendering, it really does.
