Tag Archives: survivorship

In Light of the Incarnation

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So, it’s almost Christmas {obviously}. If you’re my sister Katie in Uganda, it actually might be Christmas already. I’ve been wanting to post on this for a while, but I let finishing my grad school classes stand as my excuse…really I think I’ve been sorting through my thoughts on this idea. I first had to think a lot about the “incarnation” over this summer after I got home from Wheaton in the Holy Lands and had to read five books for the program, one of which was early church father Athanasius of Alexandria’s On the Incarnation. Having grown up in the church {in every possible imaginging of what that means…Sunday School, private Christian school, Christian summer camp…you get the picture}, I’ve always heard a lot about the “incarnation,” or the fact that Jesus came to earth and was born as a human to save us from our sins. However, in the past six months, I’ve been thinking about it in new ways, understanding what Jesus’ incarnation actually implies for my own life.

In October, I devoured a book for my Teaching for Transformation class, and I can’t be sure of its long-term impact yet, but in the past couple months, it’s given me new energy, purpose, and encouragement in my pursuit of serving Him. It’s called Visions of Vocation by Steven Garber, and my friend Tony gave me the book back in March, but I didn’t get around to reading it until 7 months later. However, when I started reading, I kept thinking, “I know exactly why Tony gave this to me and knew I needed to read it.”

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5 Years

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Five years. I’m torn between exclaiming that “five years” is a long time and lamenting how quickly those years pass, how fast five years can be.

To borrow a phrase my grad school department frequently champions, I’ve been “living in the tension” of how short five years are and yet how much can happen in them.

This past weekend was my five year reunion during Wheaton’s Homecoming. I felt that tension this weekend when I saw the physical signs of the passage of time: several college friends have a child or two, many are married, a few are done with med school and into their residencies, a couple are practicing attorneys, and others are in their sixth year of teaching. By those accounts, a lot can happen in five years. 

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It’s Been a Year

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I haven’t posted in a while–2 1/2 months, as I just discovered. Wow…that’s pretty bad, and I can’t believe it’s already October! I meant to post after my 5 year checkup (more on that in a post next week), but I wanted to sit on it for a few days and then things got busy and days turned into weeks, and I never did. I struggle sometimes with posting here consistently if I don’t feel that I have something to actually say that seems worth saying. I don’t want to add to the noise, but then I also know the best way to keep people reading is NOT by posting super infrequently.

Anyway, here we are. It’s October 2nd, and that means it’s a pretty big anniversary for a couple of reasons, so I thought I’d dedicate this post to anniversaries–for today and for my 5 year “cancerversary” (it’s a thing…don’t judge…cancer card).

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On Turning 27 in 2014

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So, I turned 27 a few days into my Wheaton in the Holy Lands experience. I’ll post more about those six weeks soon–I have a couple of posts in the works but want to give them the time, thought, and effort that they deserve. 

Somehow, 27 feels a whole lot closer to 30, and 30 seems…well…old. (Sorry for any of you reading this who are over 30…but, you’ve been there, right?!?). I actually heard two girls from the US talking last night, and one was explaining that she’ll turn 27 in a couple months and it suddenly feels much closer to 30, so I’m not the only one, at least. Maybe the fact that I spent the past six weeks alongside 38 undergrads with an average age of 20 made me feel that much closer to 30. I’ve loved my 20s and most of what they’ve entailed: the adventures, the challenges, and the amazing ways God has shown His faithfulness in this decade of my life. Granted, He’s always been faithful and always will be, but I’ve absolutely seen that in the past 7 years. 

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Happy National Cancer Survivors’ Day

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…or should I maybe make that “Happy [inter]National Cancer Survivors’ Day” since I’m in Israel…?

Either way, I hope it’s a great day! Things in Israel are going well–I’ll try to give a better update in the next week, but for right now, I wanted to briefly reflect on and celebrate what being a “survivor” has meant through sharing what I’m thankful for on this day.

On this, NCSD, I praise the Lord for 5 years of remission, 5 years of NOT having to sit through chemo, and 5 years of generally good health (despite what the Chicago winter did to my poor toes and fingers this year).

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Time to Kickstart My Book!

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So, “How’s that book coming along?” you might wonder. Well, it’s almost finished! I’m done writing it and now working through final, detailed editing. April was really great for writing and editing. I’m so much better at editing on actual paper—there’s something about being able to physically cross out errors or draw arrows to move paragraphs around that makes my process go much smoother than on a computer. So, when I realized that, the book took off! Hallelujah because it’s been an arduous process.

I’ve told a lot of people about my book and how I’m going about publishing it, but here’s a little more info. Basically, very few companies will publish first-time authors. Now, if you’re like me, you think, “Hmmm, so how does someone ever get published?” and that’s a good question…and one I haven’t mastered yet. But, I’m hoping to work with WestBow Press, which is the independent division of Thomas Nelson. The only issue is that they need money up front, and for those who know me well, I’m broke. Teaching high school in Hawaii didn’t exactly allow my savings account to build up.

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Finishing Strong

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Here’s the truth that’s bombarded me lately: I suck at long-term goals.

I’m really good at setting goals three months at a time. I set new goals each year from January-March, April-June, July-September, and October-December. That’s manageable for me, and I like charting progress over time, but only a short period of time.

Long-term goals, on the other hand, are my nemesis. I start out really well and full of energy, and then, somewhere in the middle, I lose sight of my purpose, get discouraged, and want to bail out. I’ve always known this about myself, but somehow I’m still surprised amidst long-term goal situations when I start muddling through. I have a bracelet that says, “Finish Strong,” and that became my motto one summer during college. I know I need to finish strong, I tell myself to finish strong, and yet, the act of finishing strong isn’t exactly made easier by either of those.

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A Thrill of Hope in a Season of Humiliation

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I realize it’s been a ridiculous amount of time since I last posted. I could blame it on the fact that I’m in the process of writing a book while also working three part-time jobs, or I could just call it what it is: avoidance.

Confession over. Now onto bigger and better things.

I’ve been feeling lately like I’ve been in a season of humiliation. Before I go much further, let me clear up what “humiliation” means. The dictionary definition is: “the act of humbling someone, being reduced to lowliness or submission,” and it adds that “humility can be self-sought, but humiliation involves something [or someone] else.”

Okay, so what does that mean? Though we often use it to mean “embarrassment” or, in my shameful case “things that are comical for me to see and laugh at,” the word humiliation is more about being reduced to lowliness or being humbled. And, it involves either some other force or person in the process.

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It’s been a while…

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(though that might have been obvious if you looked at the date of my last post)

Maybe you’re wondering WHY it’s been so long. I could give you a few reasons such as I’ve been teaching high school English, I’ve been living in Hawaii, the sun and sand bleached my brain, I’ve been working on some things, etc. All of those reasons are legitimate.

However, the real reason I’ve been radio-silent is that I haven’t known where to go from my previous posts. At about the year-mark post-chemo, I felt like to continue blogging was a good idea, but since all of my previous posts had been about my lymphoma (I did, after all, start the blog for that purpose), when I was healthy and not a lot was new or out of the ordinary on the cancer-front, I simply didn’t know what to write about.

To write about my everyday life seemed a little self-important and mundane (though it’s been a great adventure for me), and to continue writing about my lymphoma when there wasn’t much news about it seemed like I was either milking it or trying too hard to make it fit.

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“Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength; we will sing and praise Your might.” ~Psalm 21:13

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(Written on Friday, 5/14):
Today is a day of celebration. Why, you may ask? Well, today is exactly one year from my last chemo treatment!!! That, my friends, is definitely a cause for celebration.

I’m kinda liking that May 14th is one week from my birthday because I think I’m going to annually give myself a reason to celebrate one week early, which will, of course, carry out through the following week, so it’ll be like one big week of celebration, basically. 🙂 Anyway, as I think back to one year ago, I first cannot believe it’s already been a year, and second think that at the same time, it feels like that was in another lifetime. Weird how that happens, isn’t it??

I guess I really don’t have that much to update other than the fact that today is such a day of praise, but I have been learning some things lately that I’d like to share.

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