After seven years of being run down and sick from two rounds of surgeries and chemotherapies for cancer, I finally, finally got to ride my bike on our beautiful greenway system we have where we live. It meanders along a river and even through an old civil war battlefield. There are a few small waterfalls along the way. A number of spring wildflowers were in bloom and long the riverbanks you could see the remains of large, ancient trees.

Life can be difficult, but with the grace, mercy and strength of God we can persevere. Sometimes you just have to lean into Him really intensely.

Our family has had a very difficult ten years. It started out with moving out of our family home we had lived for twenty-seven years which was stressful in itself. Only a few months after that our daughter went through an unhappy divorce. Not long after that she met someone else and married them which was a happy event. Only a few months after the marriage she came up pregnant with our first grandchild, a beautiful little boy, Baric, another happy event, but within his first year we could tell something was wrong. He was not developing the way he should. Three months after his birth, my daughter became pregnant again.

While she was pregnant with our second grandchild, Baric was diagnosed as being autistic. Only two months after that diagnosis, I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer and immediately had surgery and a year of chemotherapy. Four months after my cancer diagnosis, my son-in-law’s father was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Unfortunately, he died within the year.

While I was on chemotherapy, my wonderful granddaughter, Rylan, was born. I got to come off all the drugs. My daughter moved to another town for my son-in-law’s job, and because we love being close to our only child, we also decided to move close to them to help with our grandchildren.

But it happened again. Right after we sold our condominium and during the process of moving my cancer came back for a second time. We moved on one day, and four days later I was back in surgery. Again, I had to have chemotherapy, not quite as much but still more drugs. I, of course, made it through. Whew, that was a lot in ten years!! It makes me tired to think of all of it.

If it had not been for my faith and closeness to the living God, I could not have made it through nor could any of my family. I’m so grateful to still be able to help with the children. May God show you today in this day the same love, mercy and grace that He has just shown us. Praise God, Christ and the Holy Spirit!!!!