Living out tonight's lesson...

Tonight at family worship, we were reading about the story of Joseph, reading how God specializes in bringing good out of bad. It provided the perfect segway into talking about my mom's cancer. We recalled the beauty God has already brought out of the struggle--many sweet times with Neena living with us while recovering from surgery and going through chemo, the special relationship our Moms share together, to name but two.

Then we shared with the kids that Neena's cancer has begun to reappear. Tomorrow she begins a new season of chemo, and we wish we weren't an ocean apart. But this time none of us were really surprised. We were warned 3 years ago that ovarian cancer is at best a semi-manageable chronic illness, which with those who respond well to chemo, provides temporary remission, and then invariably returns. Mom is one of the fortunate ones, it would seem. Last year she even kept her hair, tried as best she could to live life, go to church, and even travel a bit, and then she allowed herself down times when her body told her they were needed.

The kids are sad, to be sure, but hopeful. So we prayed for Neena, for God's healing, for her to tolerate the chemo well and have the best results possible, just like last time. And for God to give us eyes to see the good He is bringing out of the evil of cancer.

To those who would join us in these prayers, thank you. -Brad