Pass it on...

Cancer.  It's everywhere.  It's like....well, a cancer.  Spreading, growing, taking over with disease what was beautiful and functioning before.

This past week, I have heard of two people I know being diagnosed with cancer.  You may know them or you may not.  That is their story to tell.
But I remember those days of discovery so well.  The fear and uncertainty.  The anxiety.  The inner dialogue whereupon the words "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING TO ME!" keep pulsating through your mind.  The rearranging of life to fit in appointments, mammograms, ultrasounds, bone scans, blood work, blood work and more blood work........

I remember Paul and I attending one of my first doctor's appointments together.  This was the appointment where we would find out if I had breast cancer or not.  We were pretty sure that cancer was what we were facing....I mean, we had been called out to the Juravinski Cancer Centre and they don't usually call you over to make balloon animals and eat cake.

It was Wednesday, August 26, 2015.  (I'm not going to jolly well forget that date!)  Paul and I perched on hard, waiting-room chairs with hammering hearts and churning bellies.  I was so sweaty, jumpy and nervous and kept thinking that this was all some crazy, weird mix-up.

I didn't belong with all these bald people.
This was not a setting for any part of my life.
I was scared.
No!  I was terrified about what this would all mean.

Strange.

At the dawn of spring....only a little over seven months later, I feel that I do belong with bald people (although I have some hair again!).
A cancer hospital has become a very common setting for my life.   I know where all the bathrooms are located and where the stairwell is so that I can insert a short cardio routine into my visit!
I am not as scared anymore.
I am familiar with my new routine and landscape.

So, I would like to pass these assurances on and I will.

I may have been shocked out of my mind.  Had my world rocked!  Carpet pulled from right under my feel.  (insert your mind-blown/ world-rocked cliche here)
Yet a short time later, it is all so normal.  Weird normal, mind you, but I am pretty sure my normal was always sorta weird.

If your world has been rocked today, know this:  God's world has NEVER been rocked.
He designed it, planned it, intricately put it together.
With His word.
And He cares for it and He cares for you and me.

Before I entered this world and began arranging and scheduling it, God had my life laid out.   He knows my days and he knows yours.  How many there are and what they are filled up with. Uncertainty?  Fear?  Worry?  Sorrow upon sorrow?
He knows.
He has always known.
And He is there now.

Cancer.
Seems like it's everywhere; oozing like some great, black monster onto everything that is wonderful and beautiful.
But it is not.
Maybe it's blotting out some serious happiness in your life right now but don't let it steal your joy.
I know it's terrifying to hear your name attached to that word but God is directing the course of your life still now!
God's got you.
He always has.
He is before you, behind you and with you.
He sees those tears - gut-wrenching, aren't they?
He knows your fears - roiling and menacing.
Your life is taking a terrifying turn right now, but trust in His plan for you.
He loves you so much.

"O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.  You hem me in  - behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me."

  Psalm 139: 1-5