Thursday, July 30
Mom and Dad had a day out today and I stayed home and worked on homework and waited for the UPS man to come. Her chemo medication arrived today. I'm hoping we start the radiation on Monday so that we can get a majority of it over with before I have to go back to school. We should know tomorrow after our appointment.
This evening we had our dinner from Shari Rexroad and took it over to Aunt Betty's. Shortly after we got there, John passed away and we spent the evening over there trying to be helpful and comforting. Please remember the Jenkins family (especially Aunt Betty and Logan) in your prayers. Having been touched on a personal level with cancer it has made me more aware and compassionate towards other people going through the same thing. Like Donna told me, you become a part of a club that you never wanted to be apart of, but it ends up being a blessing. We continue to see God's grace as we keep on our journey. We may not understand the path we've been called to travel upon, but God does have a plan for each and every one of us. I read back through my devotional journal to find some passages that I feel the need to share.
Comfort each other and edify one another. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 It is an undeniable fact that usually those who have suffered most are best able to comfort others who are passing through suffering. Our sufferings may be rough and hard to bear, but they teach us lessons that in turn equip and enable us to help others. Our goal should be to learn all we can from what we are called upon to endure, so that we in turn can comfort one another. Are we doing our best to comfort others who are passing through suffering?
St. Francis of Assisi prayed this prayer: O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much see to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born to eternal life! Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength. I am not as sensitive as I ought to be until I am able to weep over the erring one and lift up the fallen. And until I have learned the value of compassionately sharing others' sorrow, distress, and misfortune, I cannot know real happiness.
If I take nothing else from this experience, I hope that God will make me a more compassionate person so that I am able to console others who travel the same path I have been called upon to travel. Thank you to all of you who are compassionately helping us with our journey. Your concern has been so uplifting to all of us. We continue to get more cards in the mail than bills which is a blessing in itself. Thank you!