Finding the light of hope

“Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path”
-Psalm 119:105

Today I am going to the beauty shop to get my color corrected. Scarlett was in last week and when I made my appointment her hairdresser told her that the appointment after me was a lady coming in to get her "chemo cut." I remember my own "chemo cut" back in June 2004. I had already started my chemo treatments and my hair was thinning leaving strands all over my clothes and the backs of chairs I sat on. So I said the heck with it. I decided to cut it in a short pixie - Halle Berry style- to make the loss more manageable. Later on my dear hairdresser at the time, Annetta Nadolna, came to my house and shaved the rest. I realized after all was said and done that we ladies never realize just how much time we spend messing with our hair. It was the most liberating aspect of the whole chemo experience to me to be bald and beautiful!

So I wanted to leave a little letter of hope for this Lady who I do not know but yet am connected to as a sister by the ties that bind all of us who conquer cancer. I know she will conquer cancer also. I am adding her to my daily list of those who I continue to pray for after all these years. Prayer is such a lovely gift because it gives both ways. You bless and you are blessed in return through the joy of giving.

My gift to this lovely lady today is something I wrote a while back about finding the light of hope. Here it is. God bless you my sister in Christ whoever you are:


FINDING THE LIGHT OF HOPE

Do we find hope or does hope find us? I found it appears to us in moments of surrender. In my own cancer journey, the light of hope glimmered when I finally stopped fighting the fear that cancer could destroy me, and surrendered my fight to the power of God to fight for me. It was at that moment I decided to win. I faced my fear and remembered my brother Chip’s motto about fear – that it is False Evidence Appearing Real. So what is the true evidence that is real? These “facts” can be found in the greatest book of truths – THE BIBLE.

I started scouring the bible for verses that revealed the promises of God to each of us. I found a blank journal book and began recording the truths I found to feed my soul each morning and arm myself with the protection I needed to face each day. It brought me great joy as the nuggets of power jumped off the pages at me. They had been there all along but I think the difference was my new receptivity to embrace them. I finally understood what is meant by “power in the word.”

A popular country music song “Jesus Take The Wheel” by Carrie Underwood offers us great advice. It encourages us all to remember that God is in control. If we can begin by believing this, we can allow hope to perch itself and make a nest in our souls. But the key to this, is believing with all your heart and soul. Hope is believing in the outcome. It is believing what you cannot see. It is realizing the victory is already ours. Cancer is not so much a battle for your body as it is for your soul.

What we cannot see is more important than what we CAN see. What we CAN see is limited. What we CANNOT see is unlimited power of God’s universe that is available to us. There is great power in the unseen – it is that place where we can cleft in God. When we learn to abide in God, to immerse our spirits in quiet, we start to hear the whispers God speaks to our hearts.

The most important aspect of hope is understanding that you can hope because YOU ARE NOT ALONE. God has promised us He is there all the time. Wherever God is there is power. It’s up to us to accept that truth. Once we do the universe unfolds and begins to unleash mighty miracles.

The spoils of our victory is that peace that surpasses all understanding. It is knowing that no matter what God’s will is for our bodies, we have won the battle for our soul. When we can honestly say “No matter what happens – it is well with my soul” then we become filled with a happiness that makes us want to run out and bless the world. That, my friend, is what winning is all about. It is a battle we win day after day if we refuse to give in to despair and choose life.