One Year...

I posted this on my FaceBook page on April 18, 2017.  I wanted to combine it with my blog about my cancer diagnosis.

It has been a year. One year ago today. One year exactly since my husband and I sat in my doctor's office and we were told I had cancer. My life was turned upside down that day, and I am not the same person I was. 

I used to not think about cancer very often. Why should I? I didn't have it. I used to not think about having multiple surgeries and the pain and slow recovery that came after it. I used to not think about how having a bilateral mastectomy would make me feel like I have lost a part of my womanhood. I used to not think about chemotherapy and the awful side effects that would ravish my body, mind, and spirit. I used to not cry, almost every day, because of the fear of losing my life and leaving my husband wifeless and my children motherless. I didn't have a reason to think about those things, every day, until one year ago exactly.

Talking about life, my grandfather would often say that "it's a long hard pull." Few truer words have been spoken. Life IS a long hard pull. Every day is a long hard pull. But don't you think that what we do with our life, and what we learn when we are experiencing trials or difficulties are what shapes and molds us into what we are meant to be? The potential to become stronger and to improve and be more Christlike, for me, is what helps me make it through those days when the 'pull' may seem too hard to endure.

Because of my cancer I am stronger. Because of my cancer I have done really hard things that I am proud of myself for doing. Because of my cancer I have experienced and felt more love than I have ever known. 

A lot has happened since one year ago today...