I think Jenna said it earlier in the comments but I, too, burst into tears upon reading this. You’re a lucky woman to have such a great man by your side (and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that!).

Even though we don’t know each other, you’re frequently in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for sharing your journey with me.

Loving you.

me

Those flowers are gorgeous! What a lovely surprise.

(I’ve found that I never get frustrated in traffic anymore – cancer has a knack for giving us a certain perspective on things, right?!)

Take care, sister!

Reading your blog helps me along the way, it gives me hope that the Lord will be there for me in my decisions and my “thorn”. During the day you pop into my mind and I think if God is sooo big that Heather can trust Him, then I can too.

Praying for you Heather,

Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today”, so she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up,
looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.

“H-M-M,” she said,
“I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today”, so she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up,
looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.

“Well,” she said,
“Today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail”, so she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up,
looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.

“YEA!” she exclaimed,
“I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

Attitude is everything.

Have a beautiuflly blessed night!
**Lots of Hugs**
Deborah

It’s terrifying having a rare disease that no one knows how to treat. They want to try chemotherapy, but aren’t sure if it will work or even what kind of chemotherapy drugs to use. We’ll have to try one drug at a time. I can now add guinea pig to my resume! I like to make jokes, but I wish I had more answers, and I wish I knew where the line was between benign and malignant. I wish my line were more clearly defined. Maybe in the end, it doesn’t really matter. This can kill me.

I read your blog regularly and I love it. I’m so proud of you for being so courageous and graceful through all of this. It shows me that it is possible for me to keep on living through all of this. I am ready to fight, and I will overcome this. I don’t have a choice because I have my sweet baby to take care of!

Thank you for continuing to write and share. It helps more than you know!

That freedom to say “no” is a wonderful thing. It is very freeing to be divorced from people’s opinions, isn’t it? Praise the Lord we can live to our audience of ONE.

Alesha
http://www.xanga.com/akconklin

I love your humor! And I love the positive outlook on cancer…because being sad or stressed just wont change it!

I had a dear friend, a mother of one of my students actually, who was bald because of treatment for breast cancer, and she always said that being bald was ok as long as she could still wear her dangling earrings!

Thanks for the quote. I’ll remember it when I get a little too crazy trying to get to point B. (Or trying to get my kids to get to point B)!

Your outlook on things through all of this just amazes me. You are truly taking from this experience what so many of us should during our struggles!

shalom to you….
xo

Your sister in Christ,
Susan Lee

Comfort to spare
by John Fischer

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Wow, that’s a lot of comforting going on there!

Now I am no expert in biblical languages, but I bet in the original Greek text this is a play on the word translated “comfort.” How else can you explain the use of the same word five times in a sentence except to make a point about being comforted by God? What he’s saying is that the comfort of God has it all over the troubles that come our way. The comfort of Gods drowns them out.

First, for all the afflictions and troubles that come our way, God is there to comfort us. But it doesn’t stop there because it doesn’t stop with us. The point is not only that we receive comfort, but the comfort we receive in our affliction, then becomes something we can pass on to others for whatever their trouble happens to be. In other words, the comfort we receive is specific to our need, but it becomes universal in its ability to be applied to someone else. This comfort stretches until it can cover others around us who need it.

I think the key here is that God’s provision doesn’t stop with us. The point is not just to get relief from my affliction. The point is to receive comfort in my affliction so that I can then turn around and bless someone else with the comfort that’s left over. It’s like a friend of mine used to say: “There’s more where that came from.”

“For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” (1:5) See what I mean? This is comfort overload.

We live in a society where everything starts and ends with me, and in that environment, it’s easy to apply spiritual promises to myself as if the end of the matter was my well-being and freedom from pain. It is not. It is only so that we can be loosed on the world with comfort to spare, because our need has already been met.

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