Waiting for Cancer Report

The waiting room. Not an easy place to be. That is where many of us are this holiday season though. Some are waiting for direction, a job, an answer, healing. The young beautiful Christian mother I have written about before today (see previous blogs) shared last night what it is like to wait for news about cancer after months of chemo and finally surgery. Her story about waiting is inspirational.

Please, join me in praying for her as you read her view on waiting for an answer.
Blessings on you today. If you have a prayer request, let me know. I will pray for you, too.
FROM JODI:
Greetings family and friends! Let me begin by thanking you for your love, support and most importantly your prayers this past week during my surgery. The surgery was successful and I am now sporting a few new breast cancer battle scars and a lovely whole in my side with a drain. In regards to yours (and more importantly my own) pressing question…NO I haven’t received the pathology report yet. As you can imagine the waiting is very challenging. I have learned so much since Tuesday and I thought I would share a few lessons.

First, I learned that a hospital is no place to get rest! Tuesday night was a very rough night. I was quite sick from the anestesia and I was sent a roommate who had no trouble sleeping (or snoring loudly!) I kept looking at the clock praying for how many hours until daylight when I would be checked out by the doctor and I could beg to go home. I must say the one thing that kept me going at 3am was checking out the I-pad and reading your awesome messages of love and random acts of kindness. I am so touched by the soda delivered to the tired bell ringer, the teacher who spent her free period writing notes of thanks and encouragement to her student’s parents, the family that delivered a meal to a needy neighbor and the friend who bought flowers for his wife “just because”. Thank you to all of you who honored me with your acts of kindness to others. (Not to mention I am just so impressed you are still listening to my requests!)

Secondly, I have learned that not having use of one of your arms is more of a challenge than I realized. It is hard to ask for help when I am so used to being independent and yet I have such a new awareness for those permanently restricted in their mobility (ah, yet another lesson for all of us to count our blessings!)

I am once again challenged to learn the lesson of patience and waiting. I am so eager to get the test results back and yet day after day this past week they didn’t arrive. Every time the phone rang my heart raced with anxiety and anticipation until finally Friday afternoon I just broke down and sobbed. Then I was so graciously reminded about the beautiful season of advent that we are in…and advent is known as a season of waiting (waiting for baby Jesus to be born). Waiting is not something most of us like to do and I think we often feel like if we are smart or clever maybe we won’t have to wait. We play the grocery store game to find the shortest check-out lane, we spot the open gas pump and peel around so we don’t have to wait, we go for fast food, and we hope for quick car pool lines with no waiting. In our busy world none of us really like to wait. And yet, at times in our life we are called to do just that – surrender control and be patient for God’s timing. So I am living that lesson right now as I pray for help to wait patiently. I am also praying that great news will come from the wait – just as we wait for spring flowers or a new baby to be born! I also pray that each of you may embrace the season of advent and take a moment away from the hustle and bustle and prepare for the God who waits for all of us to spend time with Him.

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Are you waiting for an answer this holiday season? Join me, join Jodi, join us in trusting God. He is there in the waiting room with you.