Hello!~~~

Welcome!~

It has now been ten years since I started this blog. How quickly time goes by! We are many members but we are one in the body of Christ. Therefore you do not journey alone! Hopefully through this site you will be encouraged by the fact that many things you are going through in your own walk, others are going through (or have gone through) as well. Sometimes we think we are "going through things alone." But we are not. God said that "He would Never Leave Nor Forsake Us." (Hebrews 13:5) and that "There is Nothing New Under The Sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9). No man is an island. It's easy to forget that. May the words in this blog help you to think, encourage you in whatever spiritual state you are in and may the Lord use them to help us to grow in Him! He is the Author and Finisher of our faith!

I don’t want any readers to think that I am “promoting” being a prodigal. I definitely am not. But what I am hoping to do – is to encourage those of us who either have had or are currently experiencing a hard time in our walk to be honest about it. Personal conviction is a powerful thing, especially if you truly love the Lord. I think that sometimes the Body of Christ critiques and judges to the point where the person who is at the other end of that pointing finger feels ostracized, alienated and alone. I don't think that that is what Jesus intended. When I read through my Bible - I see a firm yet gentle restoration that Jesus ministered to those around Him. Look at John 21:15-19. When Peter who was at an all time low point in his walk - he was firmly, yet lovingly restored by Jesus. He didn't tear him down, or yell or make him feel any worse then he already did. He spoke to him lovingly and gently - and in doing so, Peter was able to repent and minister in a much more powerful, humble and confident way and it became one of the largest ministries ever.

Please note that I am only a vessel, my calling - to write. I dedicate this blog to the Lord and ask that He use it to reach out and touch whoever needs a special, loving, personal touch from Him. My hope is that the Holy Spirit allows you to see Him through the words (and not me). We go through things so that we can extend our right hand of fellowship behind us to assist and help someone else. Our Bible is the same today, as it was yesterday as it will be tomorrow. (I am far from perfect and do not profess to have all the answers...) but the good news is - Our Heavenly Father does! His love, forgiveness, grace and mercy is real!Nothing you are experiencing in your walk comes as a surprise to Him! May He be glorified through this blog and may God bless you at whatever stage in your walk you are in!~



I am a Breast Cancer Survivor

I am a Breast Cancer Survivor
I was diagnosed with early stage triple negative breast cancer on June 24th, 2010 - I have been cancer free for 10 years now. It was only a chapter in my life - NOT my life, but the impact is one that has changed my life forever. Its important for women to know that 80% of the breast cancer diagnosis come from women who don't have a history of it in their family (My family didn't). Early detection is the key. For more information please click on the pink ribbon above. It could save your life.
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February 6, 2017

GO LIVE


“The cancer is gone!  I declare you cancer-free! Go live!” The oncologist declared over me, the support staff applauding.  I simply stood there looking at them blinking.
The nightmare was over? The fight had been won? Go live? HOW.

HOW
For almost seven years I have tried to “Go live” but on the grounds where the battle occurred – the scar tissue of a fight hard fought and won unbeknown to me began to grow seeds of anxiety.

How does one live after cancer?  How do you put the fear and terror aside? How do you go forward knowing fully not only has your body changed on the outside, but you yourself has changed on the in? Your life as you knew it is not the same.  Almost seven years later I am still trying to go forward.

There are days when I just want to burst out in tears of frustration.   Feeling like I’m on an escalator and I don’t know where it is headed.  Feeling like I have no control.  How does one “live” when they are afraid?  Living with fear is a cancer of another kind.
Feeling the responsibility of being given a second chance at life but afraid to make mistakes… When you go through cancer you are more keenly aware of all the mistakes you made in life.

How do you get past the fear? Life has changed as you know it.  You are not the same person.  The cancer is gone – but YOU remain.  All you can pray in your head is, “God help me to live.  Help me to know how..."  I don’t KNOW how… And you think that the knowledge will come in time – but the truth of the matter is it doesn’t go away… You learn to live with it.  You choose every day consciously to become better and not bitter.  All of a sudden you feel like a different species of human.  Those who have gone through the battle understand.  Those who don’t – can’t, you haven’t been where we have (and thank God you haven’t). 
There are days when I wake up and I look around my life astonished that it has changed so much. It all seems so surreal... Like I'm living a very weird unexpected dream...  A failed marriage, millennium children who think differently than the children of my era; how do you get through it? By it? Around it?   You have become a different person.  The people you feel closest to are other survivors who have gone through it.  You cling to each other’s hands like a lifeline. 

“Don’t let go! I might sink without you!”
"I won't - don't let go of mine either!"
Strangers that have become closer than family.

You second guess every choice you make and you live in fear or uncertainty that life will ever stabilize.  You feel like you are looking around every corner because once you were taken by surprise and now that you know how that feels like, you sleep with one eye open.
You love deeper and more passionately - it happens naturally because of what you've been through.  I call it "bear hug love" - that's the only way you know how to those who are important to you and remain in your life... you try not to stifle or smother those you love because you are afraid of losing them or afraid of having them lose you... They can't fully understand...
Before life everything was in water colors – now, post cancer everything is in vibrant hues.
Such an oxymoron of becoming stronger, yet feeling so fragile…

How do I live this life with so many emotions warring inside of me?  The truth is none of us is promised tomorrow – but how can I NOT let that fear influence how I live today?
How do I fit all my living into each moment?  How do I not allow the fear of “what could happen” ruin my here and now? HOW?

Tick tock goes the clock... Not to be taken for granted... What's around the corner? Don't think about it! Walk by faith and not by sight... Okay... Tick tock - what's around the corner? Even unspoken the thought goes...

LIVE! LIVE! LIVE!

I'm TRYING.  I put my hands over my ears.. I hug myself closer to try and rid myself of the fear... I quote words of scripture God's promises to wrap around me... Picking up the shattered pieces of my life, trying to make sense of it all... Who am I? Why did this happen? How do I go forward?  Stepping out on faith.  If I take your hand will you hold it forever or will you simply let go? Tick tock...  7 years have gone by - how did they go by so fast? I'm on automatic pilot.  Life has changed so drastically.  Good things have occurred but still the uncertainty and fear and surprise of having had cancer never goes away.  It NEVER fades away.

And my body temperature is cold ALL the time... "I'm cold Father... Help me..."

Anxiety, fear, depression – emotions you didn’t expect to feel after the battle.  I don’t feel victorious. I feel timid.  I don’t feel like a winner, I feel small and afraid.  Like a deer who is caught in the headlights of a car and cannot move out of the way.
I look toward my Pink sisters, other women who KNOW.  Other women who understand.  We are a sisterhood of survivors.  We are a pink rover line holding each others hands we do NOT have the ability of letting each other go.  We simply can't.  We didn't ask to be in this line.  We were drafted.  The line is so long it seems unending.  We CRY out together in unison, "We NEED a cure! God help us and every survivor.  WE NEED A CURE."
God help me.  This is not how life was meant to be. Help me not to be afraid.  Take my hand. Calm my soul. In my head I know that NO one is promised tomorrow – but please don’t let that fear take away my joy of today.  If I allow that to be the case then regardless of whether or not the cancer is gone – it has won.  Because with it has gone my innocence.  My carefree sense of being, please renew a steadfast spirit inside of me and return to me the joy of my salvation and my healing; the joy of LIFE.