Red Wednesday's Wisdom - Authority

Think of how often you communicate with people during the course of your day, and that will give you a glimpse into understanding why the word “prayer” is so often mentioned in what I share and write. Prayer is an example of the on going communication that takes place between God and me all day long. If I want lasting relationships in my life, and I do, I need to know how to communicate with others. My relationship with God is dependent upon that same communication skill so that He and I can share thoughts and feelings, ask questions, and listen to one another.

This Wednesday’s theme is about the word “authority.” The theme came out of the first Wednesday when I no longer had Rituxan treatments, and I met with my two friends Jack and Marsha, to pray. Our prayer was a pretty specific request, to gain insight into the spiritual root or cause of this cancer in my bone marrow.

I love how “marrow” is defined as being the innermost, essential, or choicest part. Those words are so descriptive of how I see God in my life. He is the marrow of my heart, and it is my heart that seeks to understand this cancer from God’s perspective.

Here is what I have learned over the past 8 weeks, I need to AVOID what has the potential to be spiritually infectious to me, and I have come to realize that what is most infectious to me is disrespect. I know there are people who I have allowed to treat me with disrespect, but here is the clincher – in my allowing it, I have been disrespectful to myself!

So what is the cure? I need to take authority over that disrespectful spirit and make the decision to replace it with an attitude of respect. What does that respect look like? Look up the word “respect,” and you may be as surprised as I was, to discover that it means to feel or show honor. Honor! Are you kidding? I have never even considered the thought of honoring myself, but that is what respect means. For me, that respect translates into my relationships where I am to honor God, myself, and others. It means that I honor God for who He is – GOD. And that I honor myself for who He created me to be – Colleen. And I honor others for who He created them to be – my family, my friends, my neighbors, and even the stranger that I have been inconsiderate and rude to - in traffic, a grocery line, waiting on the telephone, or not getting my order right! That disrespectful spirit has affected the very marrow of my life!

Look at the word “AUTHORITY.” What else do you see when you look at it? Until I wrote the word down, I never realized that it contains the word AUTHOR. Here is why I LOVE God’s Word, the day after I came to the realization that the word “author” was in the word “authority,” I was leafing through my Bible and my eye was caught by a title in Romans. The title of the chapter just blew me away, it says, “Respect for Authority!” “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.” (Romans 13:1) In other words, God was literally showing me in His Word that He is the Author of authority!!! How great is it when we are in communication with God Himself! As I reflected on just these two sentences from Romans 13, I was reminded of how I can even be disrespectful to the stranger who is my own President. And on a more personal level, I know there have been disrespectful moments directed to the people I love the most, my family. Please forgive me. Romans13 is full of wisdom, and I would encourage you to read it in its entirety.

No sooner did I get through Romans 13 when there was yet another scripture that came up for me on authority in 1 Peter 2:13. Talk about making sure that I got the reinforced message!!! The title of the chapter is “Respecting People in Authority.” I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried! 1 Peter 2:13 says, “For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority – whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed.”

As I reflected on these two scripture references, I was taken back to the one Scripture that I read all last year when I prayed for our nation. That scripture has routinely come back to me as I have dealt with this cancer diagnosis and its spiritual root of disrespect. The Scripture that I prayed in 2010, and that has now resurfaced for me, comes from 2 Chronicles 7:14, “Then, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”

Here is the bottom line. God is the Author of all authority and He wants me to respect those in authority. In other words, He wants me to honor them and be considerate of them. He also wants me to take the authority he has given me to care for myself, honor myself, and be considerate of myself. This is not selfishness but learning to care and love myself in God’s way!

As I personally deal with my own issues of cancer and it spiritual root of disrespect, I recognize how I am just a small reflection of the bigger picture that is filled with disrespect for God, the country that He has blessed us to live in, and the people who are its citizens. The marrow of who we are has been infiltrated with disrespect. I appreciate the words my Aunt Millie sent to me in an email that expressed a similar evaluation to the one I have just made in regards to our country. Her e-mail also included the scripture from 2 Chronicles 7:14. Here is how her e-mail ended in a quote from Ronald Reagan: “If we ever forget that we are a nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."

Lord, I ask Your forgiveness for the disrespect I have had regarding authority, especially, toward You, myself, others, and our country. Jesus, thank You that I can ask for forgiveness because of what You did for me on the cross, and may I continue to learn from You and be more like You in humility, gentleness and love.

"Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12)

"May you live to enjoy your grandchildren. May Israel have peace!" (Psalm 128:6)

My heart always seeks to honor my parents, despite those "missed the mark" opportunities . And when I see the honor and respect that my own daughter demonstrates towards her family and me, I feel deep gratitude. I love the promise that speaks to us about a LONG and FULL life when we are willing to respect the authority of what God tells us in honoring our family. When I see that I am still alive, still living in the greatest country, and enjoying my grandchildren, I know that God is fulfilling His promise in my life! The authority of God always blesses me and grants me peace!

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - The Feather

In my desire to know, experience, and love God on a very personal level, I also found out just how cluttered and messed up my journey to spiritual and physical health could get. I am a living example of what has been tested and tried - from traditional religion and medicine to eastern religion and medicine. When the New Age way of thinking got added to this mix, I got all tangled up in the occult world of horoscopes, astrology, psychics, palm reading, numerology, hieroglyphics, and various “healing” modalities.

I am so thankful for what I have gone through and learned, because in the process, I discovered God’s truth and love for me. Consequently, I was freed and healed from the demonic lies and traps that held me in pain and bondage. I ultimately recognized that the only way I can truly know, experience, and love God is through the truth that is found in His Word and what He says. Anything else is counterfeit. God speaks through His Word and He teaches me how to sort through the cluttered mess and confusion of whatever I may face.

As I have said many times, red for me is symbolic of the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life and God’s love for me. In the beginning stages of learning about God’s Word, I constantly heard this one verse over and over. It became so visible and audible that I even saw it framed in gold leafed lettering, and it now hangs on the kitchen soffit above my sink for everyone to see. It says, “I know the plans I have for you says the LORD…. to give you a future and a hope” Jeremiah 29:11.

This new venture into blogging is God’s plan for me, and He has used my daughter Lauren, to get me to realize it. I have agreed to do it because I have learned that God’s plans are far greater than mine. There is peace in doing life God’s way rather than my way.

Prior to getting the cancer diagnosis of Waldenstrom’s, my friend Julie would call me up and say, “Do red birds mean anything to you? Whenever I pray for you and your health I see red birds.” I replied, “No, they mean nothing right now, but maybe down the road they will.” And that was it; our conversation about red birds was over, or so I thought.

The Bible is filled with symbolism, but our focus is never to be solely on the symbolism, which is a very prominent theme in New Age thinking. Our focus is to be on God who is the Creator of all creation. God uses symbolism and His creation to speak to us, but so does the enemy, and that is why it is so important to look at these “signs” in relationship to what God’s Word says and what the voice of His Holy Spirit tells us in regards to our experiences.

After my last Rituxan treatment, I was lovingly taken into the home of my friends, Johnny and Lynn. Lynn and I had taken a brisk morning walk on the Loveland bike trail, when I saw what I have never seen before – a red feather in my path. Just seconds before seeing this feather I had this sense in my spirit that I was to continue writing Red Wednesday’s Wisdom, even though my treatments had ended. I picked up the feather and I asked Lynn, who is an artist and has a keen eye for color and beauty, “Have you ever seen a red feather on the ground?” She said, “Never, but I am sure it’s the feather of a red bird, a cardinal.” I shared with Lynn what I had been thinking about in continuing to write Red Wednesday’s Wisdom, and how this red feather was an obvious attention getter for me.

Over the past 11 years, God has used feathers to represent a quill for me. When I start seeing them on a regular basis I know that it’s time again to concentrate on writing that class, that curriculum, that book, that article, that BLOG! But this was the first time I had ever seen a red feather!

A few days later, after leaving Lynn’s, I was working at my client’s home. And as is typical in my business, my clients often become close friends. My friend Vicki tells me to stop working at 2:15 PM and says that she wants to take me somewhere. We end up in the salon she likes to go to, and I am clueless as to why we are there. While waiting to see what is to happen, I share my red feather story with Vicki. How she remained straight faced when hearing my story, knowing what she herself was about to do with me, was beyond my comprehension, but she did. As it turned out, her gift and surprise to me was a strand of red feathers to be weaved into my hair!!! All I could do was cry! I was moved by the fact that Vicki knew nothing about my red feather story and I was in awe of how God had neatly arranged all those precious red feathered moments with my friends to take place!

Vicki is a decorator, so naturally she wanted a way to decorate me in red every day of the week! The feathers in my hair were her way of doing this for me. Every time I am asked about the red feathers in my hair, it is an opportunity to share this story and talk about the power of God’s Holy Spirit in transforming me, loving me, and healing me!

After getting "feathered" by Vicki.

A good 6- 8 weeks had gone by since I had that conversation with Julie about the cardinals that she would see when praying for me. Their appearance now had meaning as I thought about them in relationship to the red feathers and God using it all to leading me in writing Red Wednesday’s Wisdom.

As I write this post, I am drawn into my kitchen to retrieve the decorative rock that Lynn gave me while I was staying at her home. The inscription says, “My help comes from the Lord” Psalm 121:2. The red feathers will always remind me that my help does come from the Lord and they will also symbolize the plan that God has for me to continue writing Red Wednesday’s Wisdom in this blog format. It will be used for God’s purpose and for His glory. I am honored to be His servant and child!

I love being a witness to God’s detailing, timing, and presence in my life. For He is not dead but alive, He is the Resurrected and Living God! It is so awesome to see how He uses all of us to come together as a body to help one another. We can see it when we slow down enough to listen and reflect.

Even the Damask border that my daughter was drawn to as she and I were led to designing this blog, has its own symbolic meaning. As we prayed about this pattern being used as our border, I had to laugh when I went to get my blood drawn one Wednesday and saw that one of the techs was wearing a Damask printed smock! In our research we learned that the Damask pattern actually derived its name from the city of Damascus, which today is the capital city of modern Syria. In Acts 9 we can read the story about Saul, who was on the road to Damascus. While on that road, he had an encounter with Jesus in the Spirit and he was forever transformed. I hope that Red Wednesday’s Wisdom can help Jesus to transform us as He did with Saul, who became known as Paul, and wrote more of the New Testament than any other author.

I pray that Red Wednesday’s Wisdom will help all of us to know, experience, and love God more intimately. May God’s infinite wisdom bless all of us as He continues to show us the plans He has for us that give us a future and a hope, no matter what circumstances we may face!

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - More On Its Beginning

How did last year’s seed planting for Wednesday Wisdom grow into this year’s Red Wednesday’s Wisdom?

If you recall, my first treatment was on a Wednesday. My folks and I were all dolled up in our red. And as we waited to see my doctor, I found myself reflecting on the comments that had been made about how cute we all looked. So, in my desire to see through the eyes of others, I asked one of the nurses to take a picture of the three of us with my cell phone. I treasure that picture and its memory! It’s on my refrigerator, and when I went to Lauren and Craig’s, it was on Lauren’s desk. She made a point to say, “Mom, I just love that picture!” I agree. That picture is a reminder of how intentional we were to wear our red. But it was not until we were asked the "WHY" to wearing red that I realized the impact of what that question meant to me. Here I was walking into a situation that had the potential to be very scary for me, and yet, there I was looking into my cell phone seeing the three of us, and feeling peace in my spirit.

God tells me in Philippians 4:6-8, “Colleen, don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell Me what you need, and thank Me for all I have done. Then you will experience My peace, which exceeds anything you can understand. My peace will guard your heart and mind as you live in Christ Jesus.”

I had peace because the truth of those words lives inside of me and I saw those words being manifested in my parents who were there to support me and to love me as they always have. And despite the fact that I felt such a deep pain in my heart for them as they witnessed their child going through this journey, I was so thankful that they were with me at that time and through most of this past summer. The three of us were being surrounded by God’s Divine intervention of love, His Holy Spirit, and His perfect timing to have us all together so that I did not go through this alone!

I have journaled almost every day since I was pregnant with Lauren, my oldest child of two that God has so graciously blessed me with. As I wrote in my journal about that first Wednesday treatment with all its red stories, and that picture that reflected all of it, I saw how the seed of last year’s Wednesday Wisdom had grown into the fruit of this year’s Red Wednesday's Wisdom. That “off the cuff” photo of me with my parents in red became instrumental to what God was putting on my heart to journal. It became clear to me that God was going to use Red Wednesday's Wisdom to bless, grow, and stretch anyone who had the desire to experience His touch. By sharing my story in Red Wednesday's Wisdom, I hope you will see how God wants to help you in knowing and sharing your own story.

After sending out an email with an update on my first treatment along with our family photo, many of you replied by saying you were going to wear your red every Wednesday, so I took what you said to heart. I made it a point to wear my red every Wednesday and so did my Rituxan buddies along my side. You honored me and the Holy Spirit with every Wednesday treatment.

So, the Wednesday treatments are over. Why am I going to continue writing Red Wednesday’s Wisdom? Stay tuned to find out how God uses everything in His creation to speak to us about the plans He has for us; in my case it’s red birds and red feathers!

These next pictures represent why I will continue to be writing Red Wednesday’s Wisdom. You will hear more about my feathered friend, Lynn who is pictured here in the first shot. The second pictures is the vase of beautiful feathers, not flowers, that she presented to me. It was in commemoration of what I will share with you in the next weeks.

Birds of a feather flock together, and we certainly do!

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - How It Began

I hope that by sharing the following story with you over the next couple of weeks, that you will have a better idea as to why I am writing Red Wednesday’s Wisdom, and how it gives credence to why I believe in God’s presence in my life and His desire to be in yours as well.

First of all, I want to remind you that all four of my Rituxan treatments took place this past August, 2011, on Wednesdays. I make a point to tell you this because last year during the months of August and September, my friend Val, who was my Rituxan buddy at my second treatment, was meeting with me every week so that we could begin to edit the book that I had, and have been writing. The writing reflects my 17 years of being in a personal relationship with Jesus and the healing that He brought to my broken heart and life. Out of those 17 years, 11 of them have been spent in writing and teaching others how they too can experience a personal relationship with God, through His Son Jesus, and to receive the healing that He has for each of us, if we want it. Through God’s Holy Spirit, the whole reason for red, He is the One who shows us how we can declutter, heal and rebuild our lives with His simplicity, His order, and His nurturing ways.

Val and I did not set out to meet every week on Wednesdays, and to say that it just turned out that way would be negating God’s divine orchestration. Whether we admit to it or not, and whether we are aware of it or not, God’s divine order is always at work. So as Val and I met on Wednesdays to share, pray, and edit, we discovered that the Holy Spirit had been at work growing the same spiritual gift in both of us; the gift of wisdom, also referred to as knowledge. If you look at 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, you will see that these verses give you insight about the different spiritual gifts. Wisdom is one example of those spiritual gifts. All of them are meant to be used in our helping one another.

The wisdom I am talking about is far greater than the worldly wisdom that comes from man. The spiritual gift of wisdom is much greater and deeper. It is the Godly wisdom that is experienced when we have a relationship with Jesus, His Holy Spirit, and His Word.

Consequently, Val and I began to wonder if the Holy Spirit was putting it on our hearts to refer to our meeting days as Wednesday Wisdom, so Val and I prayed and we asked for the Lord’s guidance in His Word. Of all the 66 books in the Bible, the Lord led us to the one book that is filled with God’s wisdom. It is called the book of Proverbs, and it is also known as the Book of Wisdom. Here are the two scriptures that we were specifically led to:

1. Proverbs 3:5
“Trust in the Lord with all of your heart; do not depend on your own
understanding.”

Understanding is a synonym for knowledge or wisdom and we were being
reminded to depend on what God knows, rather than depending on what we
thought we knew.

2. Proverbs 4:7
“Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do,
develop good judgment."

God was reinforcing that our coming to Him in prayer was the wisest thing we could be doing. We had asked for God’s wisdom to describe our Wednesday meetings, and it was affirmed by Him leading us to the book of Proverbs (The Book of Wisdom), and the wisdom Scriptures that we were to reflect on.

Even as I am in the process of writing about Wednesday Wisdom and doing my morning devotions from the book called Jesus Calling, I see God’s “attention getter” with these words in the book of Colossians 2:3, “In him lies hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” The "he" that is being referred to is Christ. Therefore, wisdom = Christ!

Two weeks ago, a parishioner at my church shared that she had been praying for my healing. She also had a Scripture to share with me. Prior to this exchange that we were having, I had asked her to please share any specific Scripture that the Lord had put on her heart for me. The Scripture she shared with me was Proverbs 3:5. The first Scripture that I mentioned above when Val and I prayed last year about Wednesday Wisdom!

So, as Val and I continued to meet for Wednesday Wisdom, we began to think that Wednesday Wisdom could eventually become a Home Touched web site feature. Catalin (Cat), who is married to Val, is a web designer, and he registered Home Touched as a domain name over 11 years ago for me, but we have never received the green light to create a web site. Often times God says, “WAIT!” And over the years, I have learned that God’s wait is much different from my wait. So even though the three of us explored and played with different ideas for the web site, it became clear that God was still saying, “Wait!”

The day was Wednesday, July 26th 2011, and of all the people who could have been with me on this day it was Val. The doctor’s diagnosis from the bone marrow test was Waldenstrom’s, a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer. After much discussion with the oncologist, and Val asking more questions than me, Dr. Partridge made a brief exit. I glanced at Val with tear filled eyes as I expressed the feelings of shock, as well as relief. Finally, I had a diagnosis to go with the laborious search to explain the symptoms I had been experiencing over the last 2 years. But what was hitting me even harder, was that the two of us were witnessing the hand of God as He had been preparing us, and particularly me, for this day’s Wednesday Wisdom and for future Wednesdays as I faced upcoming treatments. How could I have known that Wednesday Wisdom would be about me being diagnosed with cancer?

I look forward to continuing the story and telling you how RED became part of Wednesday's Wisdom.

What Cancer Can Not Do

What Cancer Cannot Do
Author: Unknown

Cancer is so limited……
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Holy Spirit.

One of my friends Barb, with her bible study group, proudly showing of their red in honor of what the Holy Spirit can do, and what cancer can not!

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - Psalm 91

We are remaining hopeful that the 8/31/11 treatment is remembered as the last one that I will ever need.

As a recipient of the “love IV” that you all have infused in me over these past 4 weeks, there is only one word that consistently comes to me over and over and it is this: AMAZING. During this time that I have gone through the Rituxan treatments, I can honestly say that I feel like I have been on vacation! How many people could ever be blessed to say such a thing??? Mom and Dad, Val, Lisa, and Linda you are my witnesses to the laughter and fun that we had during my treatment times, even though there were some minor challenges physically and emotionally along the way. In these past 4 weeks I have not been by myself, not even for one night. The original reason for this was so that my family would feel at peace about me being around people who could help me if there were any adverse reactions from the Rituxan, especially with my respiratory system and the possibility of psychotic psychosis. Many of you, particularly, my neighbors and clients, just laughed when I mentioned the potential psychotic side effect. I think you were implying that it would be very difficult to distinguish a psychosis from who I am!!! Am I that crazy to you all????

I love what my friend Lynn said after being at her home with her and her husband Johnny, "Now you come on back! You here!" Every one of you who opened your home to me or stayed with me in mine, said over and over how you were expecting me to be rehabbing, and I was, but it was not at all your typical rehab, as we all found out. You all bathed me in rest, prayers, laughter, food, movies, shopping, walking, tears, and Scriptures. I witnessed the presence of God in the flesh through all of you.

Lynn and Johnny, you stepped up to the plate with prayer and fasting from the moment you heard about the diagnosis. Every day Lynn called and blessed me with a message of scripture for that day and its practical application. Sometimes I answered the phone, but most times I did not. Hearing and reading God's Word breathed life into me!

Psalm 91 will be the Psalm and prayer that I hold on to tightly as I continue to go through these next months of blood work, scans, and various tests. When I was being evaluated in the spring with the mouth lesion, which is still present, and before I was even diagnosed with the Waldenstrom's, my friends Lynn and Melissa shared a book with me by Peggy Joyce Ruth called Psalm 91 - God's Umbrella of Protection. I want you all to know that I CONSTANTLY heard this psalm everywhere I went and I asked many of you to read it and think of me before we even had a diagnosis. Here are the 7 promises that God speaks to us in this psalm. I believe in these promises because God is the One making them, and that is why I can say with confidence that God is healing me.

Psalm 91 Promises
1. God delivers me
2. He raises me up (lifts me up)
3. He answers me
4. He rescues me from trouble
5. He honors me because I love Him
6. He satisfies me with LONG life
7. I behold His salvation

This book is FREE by calling 877- 972- 6657

Please continue to pray for my complete healing with no side effects. The flare up of IgM can occur up to 4 months after treatment, so PLEASE do not retreat in your praying and seeking God's Word. And for those of you who do not know about Irene, my son in law's mom, she has come off of hospice with half of her cancer GONE and no new growth, and she has Stage IV ovarian cancer! When I pray for my own complete healing I pray for hers as well.

My longtime sweet friend Linda and I at the last treatment of this round.

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - Joy

My cousin Lisa had come from Canton to be my Rituxan buddy this week. One of the first comments that she made to me was this, “Colleen, you will never know how many people you have touched by what you are going through and sharing.” I quickly got some idea of what she meant.

Her Name is Joy. She has been dating my cousin Lisa’s son, James, for a couple of years, but we have never met. Six months ago, Joy started working at the Clinique counter, where Lisa is her boss. What Lisa was about to describe to me, brought tears to my eyes as she presented me with a beautiful red gift basket that was from Joy. Lisa told me how Joy was moved to go on a “red shopping spree” just for me. Having gathered her shopping treasures, Joy wanted to share her findings, so she displayed them at the Clinique counter for her co-workers to see. This sea of red began to attract customers, and the question that has now become very familiar to many of us was asked, “What’s with the red?”

As I discovered the contents of this red basket that had been beautifully tied with a red stretchy scarf and filled with an assortment of red Bath and Body antibacterial soaps, scented candles, body crèmes, and a red puffed loofah, I could see the waving banner of red that had been created at that Clinique counter. Even the basket was lined with yet another scarf of red, black, and white plaid, it was just beautiful!

I share this with you, because many of you know that I am the “froofy” type. I had gone to my closet the morning that my cousin was coming and thought to myself, "I can’t believe that with all the scarves I have in my closet, I don’t have any light weight red ones!"

What did all of this mean to me? It went so far beyond what the eye could see. It was about the power and love of God’s Holy Spirit and how God’s Spirit works through us.

I don’t know Joy, but I do know the Holy Spirit and that is WHO this red is all about. Joy was reflecting the love that God has for me and the compassion for what I am facing. God is the one who made me “froofy” and He knew exactly what my closet did not have that I wanted, but certainly did not need. God is our Provider and Supplier in so many different, sweet, and practical ways, and I love that about Him!

The name Joy is not one of those coincidences either. Joy is talked about throughout the Bible. When we ask Jesus to come into our hearts and we surrender our need to control to Him, we can begin to experience the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit living inside of us, and one of the characteristics of that fruit, is Joy (Galatians 5:22). To have the joy of God living inside of me, means that no matter what circumstance I face, I can walk it out with joy, regardless of what happens! "The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all of my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving" (Psalm 28:7).

Thank you, Joy, for being used by the Lord to accessorize and pamper me to help me look and feel my best!

Thank you, Lisa, for taking the time to make the drive down here to spend time with me and to love on me, and to put it in your words, “I am here to focus on you!” Lisa knows that it is not easy for me to think of myself as being the focus (and many of you know that to be true of me also), but I also know that God is saying this is what I need right now. There is a time to be outward focused and there is a time to rest and be inward focused. It’s a life long process of learning how to love ourselves so we can get a glimpse of how we can then love others with greater compassion and empathy the way God loves us.

In my excitement to have Lisa with me, I literally have had renewed energy. She has been such a great example of God giving me a dose of His healing Holy Spirit Power. And to ALL of you who have given me a dose of God’s spiritual medicine, I say thank you, even if I don’t know you, because I know the God who is Love, and you are His gift to me!

Going through my treatments has been a celebration of life. Cyndi, you said it so well when you talked about the days I spent being cared for at your home, “Our time together was like being on a mini vacation.”Laurie, you have always been so inclusive about me being a part of your family and wanting me to be around by asking, “When are you coming back?” This time in my life has truly been a time of JOY!

I know that my Mom, Dad, and Lauren were so concerned about my being alone during these times of treatment. What an answer you all have been to their prayers and concerns for me. You can not put a price on peace, and my family and I thank you for the peace you provided.

My precious cousin Lisa and I sporting our red power.