Eternal Things

Hello everyone! I hope that this week has been extremely spectacular and you have learned to find joy in the little things. This last week at school I only had to leave early to go home and rest one time which is such a great improvement from last year! I get better each day but I still have my bad days. Recovering from cancer is a huge process and I have to not only recover from my treatment but also from the alterations of my thyroid supplement. My medicine is always changing because of the absence of my thyroid (the energy source of your body) and as a result I get extremely tired and weak. Thankfully I am at the point where I don't have to take a nap everyday but now it is now just a couple times a week. This morning I read Romans 8:18-39 and I wanted to share this extremely promising passage with everyone and share how this passage has provided so much encouragement for me as someone who is recovering from cancer "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us." Romans 18:1. Wow, what a promise! This year has been such a difficult year but as I have said a hundred times and I will continue to say it, I would not take back this journey for anything in the world. I am at a great point right now because in June they told me that there were no cancer cells in my body but there still was thyroid tissue left over. Because my tumor was on my thyroid and my entire thyroid was removed there should be absolutely no thyroid tissue left over. Thankfully the tissue that is left is not cancer but we still have to get rid of it because it has the ability to turn into cancer. Now everything is just a waiting game as we are waiting for my tissue to see if it is going to decrease on its own or if we are going to need to do more treatment. Some days I find myself getting impatient and it is so easy to become consumed in my situation. The whole passage of Romans 8:18-39 is such a wonderful reminder to focus myself not on earthly things but to focus on eternal things. This journey has been difficult but with the strength of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I have been able to face my daily health challenges. I would be lying if I said I am completely fine and that is the beauty of this blog because it is so raw and real. Honestly everyday is a struggle for me energy wise and emotionally but my daily struggles are NOTHING compared to the eternal life I am going to spend with my Father in heaven! Later on in the passage it continues on to say "...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us, with groans that words cannot express." Romans 8:26. Some days I am just so worn out and my heart is troubled with the emotional healing I am dealing with so sometimes I run out of words to say when I am spending time with God. Romans is my favorite book of the Bible and I love it so much because no matter what I am feeling or struggling with there is always a passage in Romans to lift me up and provide encouragement. This week Romans 8 has been my rock because it is such a wonderful reminder that we don't need to get caught up in our struggles because there is so much more to come but even when we get so caught up and run out of words to say the LORD works in us and provides us words to say. I want to encourage each and everyone of y'all read this passage and try to focus on eternal things! It is so easy to get trapped in our trials but we need to remember that there are much, much greater things in store for us. :) Thanks for the prayers and a friend of mine sent me a message the other day asking for specifics to pray for. Personally when I pray for someone I like to be as specific as I can be and I have noticed how I have failed to be really specific on this blog. I am really good at being honest and true but it might be easier if I named some of the things I am struggling with right now so y'all can be specifically praying for me. 1. Please pray that the treatment that is still in my body is fighting off my thyroid cells so that this winter I will not have to endure another round of radioactive treatment. 2. Pray for my patience with my energy levels. Some days I get super frustrated because I know what I used to be able to do before I got sick and some of those things I am still not able to do. (Side note I have had enough energy to go on walks around the neighborhood and sometimes even a small jog which is a huge step for me!) Pray that I will be able to focus on eternal things and not get caught up in my sufferings! :) 3. Pray for my emotions. From the beginning my doctors and nurses have told me that fighting cancer is also an emotional struggle and I never truly understood that until the beginning of the school year. Yes I am still recovering health wise but I am also recovering emotionally because I am having to slowly back away from my St. Jude world which has been my life for the past year. I am being put back into my world of school and friends and that is very difficult to go back to normal since I am so used to being not normal! This is all a healing process so please not only pray for my physical healing but also pray for my emotional healing. 4. Lastly pray for all of the kids at St. Jude. I think that my next post will be a huge post full of prayer requests from all of my friends at the hospital but for now pray that they will be healed and through their healing God's name will be glorified. Thank you everyone for your positive words and bottomless encouragement. Have a blessed way and don't forget to focus on eternal things! :)