Trial Signs. July 6, 2015.

July 6, 2015

I catch myself people watching more than ever. Not in a creepy way I just gaze out the window when we’re driving, or look around at the various people in church, or at the grocery clerk ringing me up. I try to picture what their lives look like. What they could possibly be gong through. I know that if anyone were to look at me or see my family at church the last thing they’d think is “Wow they look like they’re dealing with Cancer.” At least I’d like to think that’s not their initial thought. It’s made me realize that you truly never know what people are dealing with. Just this Sunday the lead Pastor at the church we’ve been attending had to confess to the congregation that last Tuesday he got a DUI. You really NEVER know. Coming to this conclusion has led me to believe that because we don’t know what goes on in peoples lives or what they’re dealing with we should really let that affect how we treat others. This was a huge conviction of mine when working in customer service. Wow people can be so annoying, rude, hurtful, needy, you name it. It took an extra dose of grace to be able to serve others for my job. The day I was diagnosed with Cancer I went to a CVS to pick up some pictures. The guy was so rude and snappy toward me I really just wanted to say to him, “Oh by the way, I just found out that I have Cancer, yeah, hope you feel real good about the way you’re treating me!” How many times did I get snappy with a customer, or roll my eyes at the man at the bank who is taking forever to write his deposit slip. If we all walked around with a sign on our head saying “Just lost my daughter.” Or “Just got evicted from my house” or “My Dad just got arrested” or “I was just diagnosed with Cancer.” How different would we treat each other? Everyone has something going on. Everyone has something hard that they have to deal with or some kind of trial. Big or small. How much better would I have felt had the guy at CVS taken an extra dose of patience with his breakfast and treated me with warmth and kindness. I’m convicted guys, it’s a commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s not easy to do! I want to think about my interactions with people, I want to be the 1% girl in that I will be the one that made that person forget about their trial, even for just one minute.

Today I got an MRI. Thank the heavens that it wasn’t as long as the PET scan! This one is a lot more relaxed, less rules and restrictions. The machine is super tiny, if you’re claustrophobic you’ve been warned. I felt like I was in some kind of space movie where I get stuffed in a tube and launched off. The annoying thing was that you can only swallow when the noise stops. It’s the worst when you are told you can’t do something because all of a sudden the need to do that one thing escalates. I would feel the spit collecting in my mouth and I waited anxiously for the sound to stop. I’ve never been so relieved to swallow! The noise in the MRI is ridiculous. Think squeaky rocking chair, atomic bomb, machine gun, car alarm, and sometimes a rusty car engine. Something about the noise made me cringe at first and later lulled me to sleep. Yes that’s right I fell asleep again. The tech had horrible bedside manners and without warning took me out of the tube and shoved an IV in me arm then pushed me back in. ALL WHILE SAYING NOTHING. Overall it took about 40 minutes. I don’t know if I mentioned it last time but in my head I saw Taylor Swift during the PET scan, well she was back during the MRI!

Thank you for your prayers I found out today that I get surgery next Tuesday the 14^th! Praise God that they were able to squeeze me in. Until then it should be a fairly easy week, just filling myself with grass tasting liquid and taking lot’s of naps.

The Lord continues to be so faithful. Today we went to FedEx to mail the MRI’s to Stanford and Seattle. It was going to cost $30 to mail two CD’s! While the lady was ringing us up I just prayed that the Lord would bless us with a discount or something. “Hmmm, that’s weird the card didn’t go through” the woman had already printed a tracking slip thingy and put the one package in the bin and there was a glitch in the system that wouldn’t let her re-scan that package. “Well I guess this one’s on us! Consider that your Cancer donation from FedEx.” $9.00 was the grand total. I couldn’t even believe it! God is so amazing and here once again He has blessed us.