At the End of the Journey

I am that point where it is time to finish my journey through cancer.  Today was the culmination of all of that as Dr. Goff removed my portocath which means since I have been cancer free for a year, the hope is that I will remain that way for the rest of my life.  So now what to do?  We are champions and so are each and every one of you that has shared this journey with us.  Had it not been for your prayers, thoughts, support, faith, and love, this journey would have been much more difficult and may not have had the outcome it did so THANK YOU!  May God Bless you in all your righteous endeavors. 

When you come to the close of a really good book or movie you want more.  When a life experience has come to an end it can be bittersweet.  It is bittersweet for me to end this blog through my journey with cancer.  Bittersweet because through this experience I have come to realize so many things like how awesome it is to have nose hairs so that you don't have an eight month long runny nose, or how much better I look with eyebrows, or even how nice it is to be able to walk around without any foot pain.  There are many more things on a temporal scale but I won't bore you with those today.

What I have come to realize more than anything is God has a plan for us and we shouldn't fight it. Of course something like cancer wouldn't be the ideal thing anyone would want to learn that lesson but I was okay with it from the beginning because I have faith to trust in his will and not my own understanding.  Was I afraid I could possibly die?  Absolutely I was afraid but I know that this life is but a blink of an eye in terms of His eternal plan for us and I'm grateful to know that even though we go through trials and challenges in our lives, we all have the opportunity to seek His love and comfort through prayer.  I'm grateful for the my faith and belief in the Plan of Salvation that we are here to gain earthly experiences so that we may return to live with Him one day as eternal families. 

I'm grateful that God allowed his son Jesus Christ to suffer for our sins so that we may be able to enjoy all the blessings of families and happiness that this life has to offer and in the life to come. One of the things that kept me positive is that the Lord Jesus Christ said to the Prophet Joseph Smith that the Son of Man hath descended below all things, are ye greater than him?  I take that as we may be asked to go through trials in our lives but to remember that Christ suffered greater than we ever will.  That gives me comfort to know he can comfort us because he knows exactly what we are experiencing and it proved to be true to me.  One of the church hymns I grew up with is called Abide with me tis eventide.  The hymn states, "Oh Savior stay this night with me behold tis eventide" and He did stay with me during the toughest times.

If there is anything to take away to help any of you in your personal lives and struggles when it seems why me and how come others seem to have it so good I would say, God sees potential in us that we may not see ourselves and sometimes our suffering is like a refiners fire.  We're being polished just a little bit more so that in the end we may shine like a beautiful stone that was meticulously perfected but only after being put through a rigid process of purification. With that being said, how we will react and what will we do when we are face with this process will determine our heavenly reward. May God bless each one of you according to your needs.