Speechless… and loved.
Sometimes life leaves you speechless.
About a week ago, a friend I hadn’t spoken with in nearly 15 years found me on Facebook. For those of you that don’t know, Facebook is called a “social networking site,” where you can keep in contact with people easily. You can post pictures, home movies, all kinds of stuff for all your friends to see.
One of the neat features is that people can “look” for you. I have been back in contact with several friends from high school that I hadn’t heard from since, well, high school! All these years later (and no, I won’t say how many!), we are catching up, sharing pictures and laughing together, even though we live all over the U.S.
As I said earlier, a dear friend of mine recently found me on Facebook. I knew “Bill” when I lived in Virginia and he was a Naval Flight Officer stationed there. We met through friends and got to be good friends through our mutual love of sports, movies and… marching band. Face it, band geeks find each other everywhere!
He moved from Virginia around 1995, and we lost contact. Until last week when I had a “friend request” on Facebook, and there was my old friend. We caught up through posts… we are both happily married to the loves of our lives, and have daughters who would rather take ballet class than eat (two for him, one for me). And then he told me his story… that he is recovering after a year long battle with cancer. He directed me to his Caringbridge site (more on that later), and I read his story. It’s a common story for those who fight life-threatening illnesses, but always harder to stomach when it is someone you know. But the upshot is that he has been declared cancer-free and is doing great.
Then tonight, another bombshell. He asked me if I remembered another old friend “John.” Seems John’s 17 year old son has brain cancer, and is not expected to live to see his graduation this spring.
Wow.
Once again, I read through a Caringbridge site full of radiation stories, chemotherapy, sickness, love and hope. I marveled at the strength of this teen. And I prayed. But something else seeped through the lines that I read, both on John’s site and Bill’s.
God’s love and comfort.
Both of these families are strong believers in our God and His son. And their faith hasn’t wavered in the face of their battle. They take comfort in His love. They turn it all over to Him, and willingly accept whatever He delivers to them.
And that is what God is about. While He never promises us a miracle of healing, He does promise to stay with us through the dark night. He does promise that He won’t forsake us. And finally, He promises that, at the end of whatever journey our life takes us on, He will be there to meet us at the gates.
Our God is an awesome God!
*NOTE: Caringbridge is a wonderful website where those who are ill or their loved ones can have a direct site where others can come to get updates on treatments and health. It is a way for families to communicate with their friends and extended families all over the world. For more information, or to make a donation, visit Caringbridge.org.
June 10th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Well written post. Over time I recovered from depression but it took medication, counseling and also a lot of personal development. Are there any good forums you would recommend?