Hope

As the end of the year approaches, deaths of women around me has been the constant reminder that today is ALL I have.  And what I have is good.  What I have is really enough.  Never have I felt so content in all my life.  Never.  And what a blessing to have this sense of contentment and deep gratitude living inside me. The knowledge and understanding that this life is the only one we are guaranteed. Today is all we are gifted.

So what does it take to recognize the fragility of life if losing Ofie,  Sandra, Jen, or Meg wasn't enough?  These four are just in my personal circle of acquaintances and the truth is there are so many more who have been called home too soon.  And yet still some of us live as if we have all the time in the world. December 27th burns bright in my memory because it is the anniversary of my grandma's death.  Pancreatic cancer ate away at her and she went quickly.  Yet years later, cancer would return to haunt her only daughter at fifty-one and the battle that ensued was life changing and life giving.  Thank God for new treatments and doctors who know their craft to concoct a plan that would ultimately give me more time with my mom. She's nine years cancer free.  Praise be to God!

Earlier this year, a former student of mine succumbed to death weeks after a lung cancer diagnosis.  She was fit and smart, a radiant light snuffed out too soon.  There was such a deep grieving taking place in that church at her funeral.  But as I looked around, I was filled with a sense of hope. I was hopeful her untimely and unfortunate death would speak life giving words into the lives of lost teenagers. They would live their life well because Sandra's life was lost when it was on the brink of new beginnings with graduation looming in her future.

Just weeks ago another acquaintance in her late 30's died from lung cancer.  She was not a smoker.  But she is gone, leaving a husband and two small children to do life without her and it is tragic.  It is untimely.  And I'm mad about it because it just doesn't seem fair.  It isn't.  But it happened and it will keep happening.  We need to be more acutely aware of taking care of ourselves from the inside out--fueling our bodies with real food, nourishing our hearts and souls with the word. . .and being proactive when it comes to our health!  We can not afford not to be!

But no matter what we are going through. . .we must always choose hope.  And that is where Heather Von St. James' story comes in.  Like Sandra and Jen, she too was diagnosed with lung cancer. My woman warrior heart and my mama heart collided when I heard her story. And I knew I had to share it.

When she was 36, just after her first baby, Lily was born, she was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a form of cancer caused by asbestos. People that young aren’t supposed to get mesothelioma, but she did. When she was a girl, she wore her dad’s work coat all the time. It was covered in asbestos from his construction job. People who get mesothelioma aren’t supposed to live for very long. She was told she had 15 months.  Nine years later, holding on to hope, she is still here. Praise be to God! She is using her voice to tell her story, to spread hope and raise awareness about mesothelioma.  

Let's do our part.  Life is fleeting, hang on and live it well.  Live it with eyes wide open that YOU matter and your voice is listened to. Let us be a voice for those who have been silenced by this disease. Let us raise our voices and declare that with hope the odds don't matter!! 

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a future'."--Jeremiah 29:11

Here's to a hopeful 2015 filled with blessings and good health!!!