Choosing Life

I've been volunteering at the Abbotsford Hospital in the Cancer wing, it has proved to be a very fulfilling job.

This last Friday was an emotional day, from the moment that a woman came off the elevator, saying through tears "this has been a bad day"…to the six ladies that I helped in the wig room, we laughed and hugged and cried.

Then as my shift came to an end, a lady approached my desk, she was looking for Christin or Kate. Hmmm, I didn’t know Kate but Christin ...did you mean Kristen, Kirsten, Christina or Christine?

She was late. She was supposed to meet for 10:30.

I walked her down to Kirsten’s office even though I was quite sure she wasn’t there. While we walked down the hall, I asked her what she wanted from Kirsten. She wanted to pick up some papers that had been promised to her. When I asked her what they were about , she began to cry… It was to be her husbands ‘celebration of life’ the next day and she was expecting to pick up the foundation information and donation tracts.

Ahh, the Foundation.

So now we were looking for Christina who would help us find Christine who had the key to Kate’s office at the Foundation.

Yes, here they are, the papers and tracts in a purple file folder, she held them. Now she told more of her story. She wasn’t much older, in fact maybe younger than me. She lost her husband to cancer, just like me. She donated his eyes, so someone else could see, just like me. She was a widow, just like me.

There was a difference though, she has been a widow twice…life, death, death…

But this is what she told me “I choose to live with joy” she said “we have two ways to go, to be sad and bitter, grumbling, low with no hope or... looking for the good and going on with a smile, choosing life. I choose life...”

then she said, “…the trouble is, both come with tears.”

True, so true.

But even in our tears this is our hope...

"They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4

The Truth will set you free

Our sermon on Sunday was on injustice, it was thought provoking and compelling.

I'm reading a book that speaks to this same theme of injustice. It is interesting how God speaks through people, sermons and books. I love that. He is telling me something.

I downloaded this book to my sony reader, it was offered for free and I thought I would try it.

The Swan House, a story of injustice, but also a story of faith and freedom. It's told by a young teenage girl and is set in the 60's, it speaks to the injustices done to blacks, to jews, to the poor and to the mentally ill and it speaks to death. It speaks to faith and standing by it.

Injustice, loss and faith.

We all have our sufferings our losses and what we see as injustices, we find ourselves calling out to God as Habakkuk did "How long Lord?" and "Can't You do something?" "Save him" "Save me..."

What I love knowing is that God loves to hear our hearts that cry out to Him...it speaks to our faith. Faith in Him. We all see or feel injustices, some of us everyday.

We can't all do everything, but we can do something... Pray, understand, search for Truth, have Faith.

Hope...besides, our Lord witnessed suffering ...He suffered too.

"No wound. No

scar?

Yet as the Master

shall the servant be.

And pierced are

the feet that follow

Me.

But

thine are whole.

Can he have followed far

who

has no wound,

No scar?"

"Our suffering will be used by God to help someone else who is suffering...it is never wasted...

God's Word is incredibly rich. His Bible provides us with all we need to know to live in this hard hard world."

Miss Abigale, The Swan House

Summer Thoughts

LTO is taking a break until the fall, for now I'll be posting a few thoughts through summer.

Well, my thoughts will be coming, as for summer, I'm not so sure...here's hoping : )

I hope you all enjoyed Canada Day!