I trust in your unfailing love. Psalm 13:5 After my second surgery my husband and I spent a week at the beach. Both of us needed to recuperate from the many weeks of uncertainty and strain. It was the week of our thirty-seventh wedding anniversary. So we needed to both rest and celebrate. We were no longer waiting for results. We were no longer anticipating the possibility of radiation … [Read more...] about Know That You Are Loved

Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:39 One day while driving along a familiar road, I found myself accelerating through a yellow light. Everyone behind me had to stop, and I felt for an instant that I had “won.” It was as if we had all been racing and I had just pulled ahead and beat everyone. I enjoyed my small victory. But my pride didn’t last long. In order to … [Read more...] about Be Who You Are

He tends his flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. Isaiah 40:11 One summer we took a trip to Maine to visit family. While there, we went to an island off the coast to spend a few days hiking. On one of our hikes, my husband commented on the fact that the trail we were on was no longer a trail but a long series of boulders we had to … [Read more...] about Let Yourself Be Carried

This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 The kind of cancer I had was not life-threatening, but because of the diagnosis, I came to know more directly than ever before that I am not immune from catastrophic illness and death. With this refresher course in personal mortality came a heightened capacity to taste the sweetness of life. Life is … [Read more...] about Celebrate Each Day

There is a time for everything, and a season for everything under heaven, a time to weep and a time to laugh. Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 Many years ago when I was first dating my husband, he made the comment that it might be good for me to learn to laugh more. At the time I was so serious about everything that I didn’t really know what he was talking about. I have learned to lighten up over the … [Read more...] about Make Room for Laughter

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy. Psalm 30:11 I learned that I had cancer on a Thursday afternoon. The next morning I was planning to meet with a friend for breakfast. We have been meeting regularly for more than twenty three years. This particular Friday morning was to be our Christmas celebration. I had called her the night before to let … [Read more...] about Stay Open to Joy

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1 Every year just before or after New Year’s Day my husband and I plan a special date. We go out to lunch or dinner and sit together for some time compiling a gratitude list for the year that is about to end. We have been doing this for more than a decade. Typically we end up with a list of seventy to eighty items … [Read more...] about Express Gratitude

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Matthew 5.4 I was first introduced to the term “grief work” as a nursing student in my early twenties. I knew nothing about grief. The religious culture in which I had been raised didn’t grieve much. At least not that I ever saw. Our preachers sometimes said things at funerals that would stun the average person. Things like, “This is … [Read more...] about Grieve

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12 Life is full of loss. There are little losses and big losses. Ultimately, no matter how hard we try to stave it off, death itself will come to us and to those we love. Whenever we are faced with any difficulty, it is likely to have woven into it the fear of some kind of loss, some kind of death. I soon … [Read more...] about Acknowledge Death

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. John 14:25 Recieving a diagnosis of cancer left me in a state of anxiety that lasted for months. Struggling with the impact of childhood trauma had increased my anxiety for years. Just hearing or reading the daily news can sometimes leave me anxious. Life is full of anxiety. Anxiety can lead to many kinds of problems. Sometimes we stay busy … [Read more...] about Pursue Peace