I practice being thankful and showing gratitude to God, especially during the Thanksgiving season. But, living a life of gratitude became a critical part of navigating the many challenges my family and I faced this last year.
Last Thanksgiving we learned that mom had stage 3 breast cancer. She had lost her husband the prior year to leukemia and was still in the grieving process. I'd been looking forward to pursuing my women’s ministry full-time, but when the time came, there was no question that I would be caring for my mom. And, what a blessing she has been to my family and me! We are all grateful for the wonderful times we've shared in the midst of her brave struggle.
At 80, Norma, still full of life and hope, decided to have a mastectomy and then undergo chemotherapy. She made the difficult decision to move to Arizona to live with us after having lived in California for over 50 years. Bravely, she left the home she had built only five years earlier without much looking back.
While in recovery from the mastectomy, the nurses often asked her if she wanted something for pain and she would always say, “I don’t have pain, just some discomfort.” I came to realize as I watched her suffer through chemo treatments that she lived what she’d always told me. “It is mind over matter”, which is her way of saying that God is in control no matter what is happening.
At one point when she was extremely sick, the chemo nurse took me aside and told me that mom didn’t have to continue treatments. She and others warned my brother and me that at mom’s age, the treatments might kill her. We didn’t want to see her suffer, but agreed that she was able to make up her own mind about whether or not to continue the treatments.
She wasn’t ready to give up yet and has surprised us all with her strength; both physical and spiritual. From the first day she learned that she had breast cancer until this day she has said, “I’m ready to go when the good Lord wants me, but I’m going to do everything I can, to live,” and she has. We look forward to hearing from the doctor that the cancer is in remission, but we agree with mom that she will go when it’s God’s timing and not one moment sooner.
Norma continues to bless her family with her love, faith, strength, and dignity. God is building us up and strengthening us through what would otherwise have been expected to take us down. That's the reason that this Thanksgiving, I find myself especially filled with gratitude.
It would be great if you would to share your stories of gratitude in the JTD forum.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God , which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7 (TNIV)
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with surging.
