Sunday, May 1

Quote of the Day:  “That some good can be derived from every event is a better proposition than that everything happens for the best, which it assuredly does not.”   K Feibleman

May Day:  Alex said there have been these amazing festivals today in Copenhagen!  What happened to the flowers on the porch and the May pole?  I think we need to bring back May Day celebrations!

My life and my family’s lives have been so blessed by the thoughts and prayers of all of you.  Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t tell me that prayers are offered in our behalf.  Prayers are our connection to Heavenly Father and it’s such a way of serving each other.  I thought I had a testimony of prayer before this diagnosis but it has been so deepened and my understanding of how and when prayers are answered.  They might not be answered in the way we think is best but they are heard and in this huge universe one prayer matters, so thank you!  This beautiful prayer was sent to me from Chris Young Nelson, an ordained Lutheran minister in Salt Lake, and my half-aunt.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for Joanie, her family and friends, most of all for her beautiful spirit of faith and joy. You tell us Lord that the “joy of the Lord is our strength” and it is present in Joanie. Please continue to heal Joanie and Lynne in all the ways you heal; physically, spiritually, emotionally, financially etc…..be their strength in weakness, hope in darkness and their greatest joy.

We love you Jesus, AMEN.

Sundays can sometimes be hard days.  I love the feeding of the spirit that takes place but sometimes, especially those Sundays following a chemo treatment, my head really aches and so if I have a correlation meeting and then sitting in front of Relief Society where I’m looked at a lot, or at least feel looked at a lot, and then trying to prepare a family dinner, it’s exhausting by the end.  These past few days, I have felt stronger than I felt during past chemo treatments.  It gives me hope that I will feel good again.  It really does go hand-in-hand with motivation when you have energy.  When you’re health is poor, you are so consumed by it that all of the other goals and aspiration have to take a back seat.

Here is something I heard yesterday from Gloria Johnson in her lesson on marriage relationships:  “A small person gossips, a medium person talks about events and a tall person talks about ideas.”  I love this saying because haven’t we all talked about others in a way that makes us feel small and apparently keeps us small.  After I was diagnosed with breast cancer, an acquaintance came up to me and said “Now, I want to hear the real story of how you got cancer.”  She had been walking her child to school and the crossing guard, another person in our neighborhood who I don’t know very well, had told her I had cancer and that it was really bad.  The affect it had on me was that this person was hardly knew me, (and who knows where she got her information), was talking about my life as if it was this pressing bad news.  I started ruminating that she was telling everyone that there was no hope for my cancer, that she some how with her words could affect my outcome.  It made me realize what kind of power we can have with words when they involve others.  It made me realize how very careful we better be with the information we receive.  Many times in my life, I have been warned to not say something regarding another person.  I am so grateful for that still, small voice of warning.  I have not always heeded the warning which I am really sorry to say but now I try to listen with a more concentrated heart because I don’t want to hurt another in that way.  One of my favorite things about Kathy English is the way she honors people’s names and stories.  She has a saying in her home that says:  “You’re name is safe here” and she means it.  Thanks for your example, Kathy.