Every other week for 6 months I had chemotherapy. Each time it was the same…very predictable. Sometime, I will write about what those times were like, but this time I want to write about all the support we received. It was the most remarkable showing of love and support my family has ever known. I will forever be touched and amazed at the love my family was shown during the first four months of my treatment. Even to this day, as I remember every single friend and family member who gave of their time and resources to support us, I am brought to tears of awe and appreciation.
This is in no particular order… I am still a little foggy on time frames and instances (really, sometimes when I think back there is literally fog in my memories, weird).
Our church family at Daybreak Baptist (it was Panama Baptist at the beginning of my treatment) was amazing! Truly, they were. We were kept in constant prayer, of course. That is to be expected from a church family, right? Our wonderfully faithful and loving family did not stop there… I cannot possible count the amount of meals we received. For the first 4 months of my treatment someone brought meals at least every other night. The Sunday School classes took turns being in charge of bringing us meals. The youth even got involved and brought food. Amazing right? That’s not all though. One Sunday School class, the BYKOTA’s, took it upon themselves to clean after church on Sundays. I should mention at this point that I was the janitor of our church when I was diagnosed. The kind ladies, who are known as “Angel Ministries,” sent a card of encouragement every week. AND…. Friends would stop by on their way to church to pick up Dillon and Patty. They would go by some fast food type place and buy them dinner on the way to AWANA and youth group on Wednesday nights and choir on Sunday nights.
Don worked for a Christian High School at the time. As soon as the faculty heard about my cancer, they began praying for us. Many of the staff members donated their vacation time to Don so he could take extended time off and not lose pay. They also brought meals and filled in the nights that the church wasn’t bringing them. A Bible Study group that one of the staffers was involved in, kept our family in prayer.
Of coarse, our families were of great help as well. My mom and sister took over most of my work at the church. They did this for free…just because they loved us. They both also came to clean the house a number of times and my mom fixed many meals for me and sat with me. She also came to my chemo appointment with me a couple of times even though watching her little girl (her words not mine) go through such yucky stuff broke her heart. My dad came and stayed with us for a while, and after I was able to go back to work while still receiving treatments, he became our live in cook. Don’s family was also of great support. I couldn’t possible tell all that they did for us during those days.
As I think back to all the people who God had put into our lives and where he had us working and attending church, I am amazed. I am amazed that He arranged our lives in such a way as to make this incredible difficult time in our lives easier. That is how God works though. He places us in places, put’s people in our lives and arranges things today, for the event down the road when we will need to be in that place, with that person by our side in order to make it through.
Thank you to all of our family and friends who held our hands and helped us push through those days.
