My best friend from all throughout childhood and to this day has been updating me on her mom who has been fighting a battle with cancer. One of the most recent caring bridge site posts on her site said that Mary is 'sucker punching cancer in the face, Chuck Norris style'. This is who her mom is, and this is who she has raised her daughter Sara to be as well. I am in awe of their family's strength in this time of incredible uncertainty. Cancer is something I will never understand, and will be one of my first questions once I get to heaven.... Why cancer?
While on the site for Sara's mom, I put in Nancy's name, entered her site, and immediately a wave of emotion came over me. 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, perfect love casts out fear. This was a verse that Nancy held dear and in one of the posts Andrew wrote after that 'We do not fear the future because God has it under control and because of the perfect love that my mom has shown throughout her life'. As I read the final post that was made on her site, the post Andrew and I wrote the morning Nancy passed away I started to cry. I haven't thought in such detail about that morning in a long time. I miss her, I miss her so much. She was an incredible person and she was so special to me. She accepted me as her daughter, she encouraged me and challenged me in my faith, and she loved me. She showed perfect love throughout her 49 years of life. She was, simply put, an inspiration... an inspiration to live a selfless life, to love Jesus wholeheartedly, to put others before yourself, and to live out your faith boldly day in and day out, no matter what comes your way. The day before she died, Andrew and I were able to say our wedding vows to each other with her present. When I think that a week after she passed away we had our wedding day, I rejoice in the fact that she not only was able to be there for all the planning but she also was able to celebrate with us in that little ceremony we had at her bedside.
So while this month is a month of remerberance and celebration we praise God for all that he has done in our lives... for those that have touched our lives and have impacted our hearts and for those who we are yet to cross paths with. We thank God for the amazing (sometimes challanging) 4 years, for the wonderful 2 boys we have been blessed with, and for the amazing ministry we get to do together. Through it all, God is good!
