As I wrote about last time, I have had a biopsy and have gotten my results back.
No malignancy, praise the LORD! I am so happy to say those words that I grin whenever I just think about it.
The only part that I wasn't expecting was that I will have to have the tumor removed. There is nothing quite as unexpected as surgery. But as I was talking to my doctor, he told me that the type of tumor I have will continue to grow and place pressure on structures so surgery to remove them is a necessity.
I'm still not exactly ecstatic about having to go under the knife, but I know that my health should come first no matter what my circumstances. That being said, I will have my first surgery this Friday April 12 and a second one in May. And if all goes as planned, those will be the only two I should ever have to need! Now THAT is something to get excited about.
As silly as it sounds, I was extremely bummed out that my surgery was falling on the day before my birthday and severely interfering with my plans to celebrate with people in Athens. But the more I talked to my family and friends the more I realized that a party can be delayed but good health cannot.
I can't say that this journey has been easy for me. There are days when I talk to my aunt or my mom and say, "I just don't want to do this. I know tomorrow I will wake up, but today I just don't want to." This experience has been more of a mental game than anything else and some days it feels that I am losing, but the encouragement and support of the people I have behind me helps me to overcome any slight shade of doubt or gloominess. I was reading my quiet time today and fell on the Parable of the Sower. Now the story basically is, a sower went out to plant and some seeds fell on the bath and birds ate them, some other seeds fell into rocky soil and didn't grow strong roots and when the sun shone upon them they withered away, other seeds fell into the thorns and began to grow but the thorns grew with the seeds and choked them and killed them, other seeds fell on good soil and began to grow and produce a lot of grain. Then Jesus goes on to explain the parable to the disciples:
No malignancy, praise the LORD! I am so happy to say those words that I grin whenever I just think about it.
The only part that I wasn't expecting was that I will have to have the tumor removed. There is nothing quite as unexpected as surgery. But as I was talking to my doctor, he told me that the type of tumor I have will continue to grow and place pressure on structures so surgery to remove them is a necessity.
I'm still not exactly ecstatic about having to go under the knife, but I know that my health should come first no matter what my circumstances. That being said, I will have my first surgery this Friday April 12 and a second one in May. And if all goes as planned, those will be the only two I should ever have to need! Now THAT is something to get excited about.
As silly as it sounds, I was extremely bummed out that my surgery was falling on the day before my birthday and severely interfering with my plans to celebrate with people in Athens. But the more I talked to my family and friends the more I realized that a party can be delayed but good health cannot.
I can't say that this journey has been easy for me. There are days when I talk to my aunt or my mom and say, "I just don't want to do this. I know tomorrow I will wake up, but today I just don't want to." This experience has been more of a mental game than anything else and some days it feels that I am losing, but the encouragement and support of the people I have behind me helps me to overcome any slight shade of doubt or gloominess. I was reading my quiet time today and fell on the Parable of the Sower. Now the story basically is, a sower went out to plant and some seeds fell on the bath and birds ate them, some other seeds fell into rocky soil and didn't grow strong roots and when the sun shone upon them they withered away, other seeds fell into the thorns and began to grow but the thorns grew with the seeds and choked them and killed them, other seeds fell on good soil and began to grow and produce a lot of grain. Then Jesus goes on to explain the parable to the disciples:
"And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word.15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
It sounds like the seeds in the good soil got a pretty sweet deal. That is where I want to be. I want to be able to withstand the cold and the sun because those times will pass. No matter what you're going thru, it will always pass. And at the end of the day I would rather be deeply rooted and alive than eaten by birds, killed by the sun, or choked out by thorns.
Live Today.
