Over 30 years ago, I was Lincoln's age, nearly 3 years old. The only care in the world was how much time I could play outside, that is until I found out my brother would be born very soon. Now I had something to look forward to. Someone I could go to the park with and run around the neighborhood with and cause trouble with. We could walk to school, play soccer and go fishing with our cousins. We would become teenagers together and sneak out at night and get caught together. We would find girlfriends and get married and have children. This is something I could foresee as part of my life and for 30 years I saw a lot of what I expected.
We married our wives only a month apart 10 years ago. Getting married was a little hard for me to believe. I never really had a girlfriend but I knew I would find the only one I wanted. I had a couple of friends named Jenny but I thought the name Jenny Jones was too good to be true. Nonetheless, I found her and only a year and a half after meeting her we were married. I knew we were meant to be together and I knew she had mommy written in her future. Almost 3 years later we had our daughter Emma and after a few short years we would expect our son Lincoln. Another 10 years that were not to hard to predict.
During this last year watching our daughter and son grow into brother and sister, we expected to have moments of joy and frustration. Letting our daughter grow up from being our baby into a big sister, and watching our son walk, talk and eat on his own were things we had to adjust to but we knew would happen as they should. Everything in my life was just as straight as could be until July 1st cut the high wire, tight rope we had been walking, and our families world came tumbling down because of cancer.
From that day until now the only thing we could expect was that we would breath in....breath out....and take one day at a time as we focused on our sons journey. We knew that we had everything and nothing that we needed for this battle, but we would fight for him anyways. Everything was going as planned since the day of his diagnosis except for one thing. The one thing we have not come to expect was what I realized today: THE UNEXPECTED.
I have been reading about so many children with cancer that I have lost count. After reading so many stories of the horror that these children have to endure and all of the unexpected challenges they have had to face, I can humbly say, we have been blessed. Our little Lincoln, although he suffered through his first month of chemo, has what I believe is the Favor of God on him. God has sustained his little body and kept his side effects nearly nonexistent. He has never been sick or thrown up, he has not lost his hair, and he has not had a fever of 100.4 yet. He is eating, sleeping and playing as a little boy should. He is doing So Well, that I never expected it to be this great. It makes me feel like it's too good to be true, but I know now what to expect. I expect that as my world has been exposed to those fighting for their lives with cancer, I will use every resource available to see to it that these kids feel the Favor of the Lord God Almighty, wether they expect it or not. I'm sure the next three years will have many twists and turns but when I count up all the blessings that could not be expected, it gives me hope for our journey and the completion of it. This is the Hope I have for you and for me: For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:24, 25 NIV)
Hope for what you do not see, expect the unexpected and you will find blessing in disguise.
No comments:
Post a Comment