Refocusing

Hi All!

Welcome back.  Today it is sort of rainy and chilly so you might want to grab a blanket to bundle up in.  These southern houses are built to stay cool in the summer and are pretty lousy at staying warm in the winter.  Do you want some extra socks to keep your feet warm?

During the past few visits, I have been concerned with pretty much focusing on my and my back story.  Yes, I want to tell you about it so that you can avoid some of the pitfalls that I ran into at a full run but, the stories are all about me.

Me.  Me.  Me.

Sometimes it is so easy to get wrapped up in my own life and my own dramas that I lose sight of what others around me are going through.  It is during those times that God finds a way to remind me to refocus and to think of others.

Yesterday, I got just such a reminder from God.

My roommate from college (during my Sophomore year) is a wonderful woman named Marcia.  She has always been an inspiration to me - from the very first minute we met.  Marcia has such an inner strength and an inner peace that you just can't help but notice.  She has a positive outlook on life which is anchored in her belief in God.

For the past several years (it is around four or five years, I think), Marcia has been battling with a very rare and very aggressive form of cancer (whose name I can't remember).  She has had multiple surgeries and what seems like endless rounds of chemotherapy.  The number of CAT scans and PET scans and x-rays number into the unbelievable as does the number of doctors' visits and consultations.

Through all of this fighting, Marcia has kept her sunny disposition and her belief in God.  She has had her "down days," certainly, but she never failed to see God's hands at work in her life. Marcia's family - a husband and two teen aged boys- has been very supportive during these years and have worked together to adjust to Marcia's illness even though she has struggled to keep things as close to "normal" in her household as possible.

Yesterday, I read on Marcia's Care Pages Blog that she has stopped fighting and is now focusing on living the rest of her life as happily and as pain-free as possible.  She has been admitted into Hospice Care and has had a hospital bed moved into her living room.

Tears poured down my face as I read about Marcia's decision to stop the battle and to live life to the fullest in the time she has left.

Tears poured down my face at the thought of the world losing such a wonderful person.

Tears poured down my face at the thought of this wonderful person being gone from my life.

Tears poured down my face at the thought of Marcia's two sons growing up without their mother.

Tears poured down my face at the thought of her husband being a widower raising two boys.

Tears poured down my face at the realization that I had been thinking that my life was difficult when in reality, it was nothing compared to Marcia's life.

Tears poured down my face as I prayed for Marcia, her family, and for me.  For me to never forget that others are struggling.  For me to never get so wrapped up in my life that I miss hearing others call for help.

Tears poured down my face.

God bless.

Trisha