Warriors

(Please watch movie clip above before reading. It is a clip from a movie titled "Letters to God". The main character, Tyler, has a rare form of cancer and may not live much longer. He and his best friend, Sam, are at her grandfather’s house, and her grandfather is trying to give Tyler some much needed encouragement.)

I finally mustard up the courage to watch a movie about cancer. For me, this was not an easy task. Up until now, I have avoided any book, movie or TV show that approached the subject of cancer. I had to stop watching some of my favorite TV shows like Grey's Anatomy or Brothers & Sisters because the subject matter included cancer. But I came across this movie on Netflix titled "Letters to God" and I felt compelled to watch it. Inspired by a true story, the movie is about a young boy fighting cancer who writes letters to God, touching lives in his neighborhood and community and inspiring hope in everyone he comes in contact. He learns that God can receive Glory by how he dealt with his suffering. I have been thinking a lot about this movie for quite sometime. Especially about the clip I included above. I was nearly in tears as I watched the boy being told by a neighborhood friend that he was chosen by God to receive the honor of being chosen as one of God's warriors. This boy chose to proudly accept the role as God's warrior and as a result his life's story of battling cancer he impacted many of those in his community.

I have decided that anyone faced with an illness or difficulty in life has been chosen by God to be his warrior. After being diagnosed with cancer, I have become more and more aware of how many people in this world are hurting or battling an illness. Never before have I had this awareness. I lived in a bubble and did not pay attention to the many people in my life, stranger or no stranger, that were facing cancer, health issues, financial difficulty or were part of a broken family. As I have become more and more aware of these people in my life, I am in awe of the strength, faith and positive attitudes that they demonstrate in the midst of their suffering. These people are warriors, chosen by God. Their suffering has become a testimony to me and to many others of the power of God's healing and grace. After watching the movie, I too considered myself one of God's warriors and at times felt that the reason for my cancer was to reveal God's truth and glory. I am not sure of how good of a job I did or am doing, but if I impacted at least one life through this journey, it was worth it. To this day, I am still amazed at the strength and resilience of the human spirit including my own. I continue to meet survivors, or warriors, that inspire me to have faith and ride forth victoriously in truth, humility and righteousness. From this day on, I am going to open myself to learning from other warriors and will not hesitate to offer a helping hand in any way I can.

My days are now filled with hyperbaric treatments. I wish I could say that the monotony of going to treatment every day is nice for a change. But I am already for these treatments to be done with. I have about 30 more treatments to go. The new flap that was taken from my cheek is healing really well. However, I still have the hole that doesn't seem to want to heal. My doctor still hopes that with hyperbaric treatment it will close on its own. It takes about 20 treatments before a patients starts to see results. I am happy the hole has not gotten any bigger.

Please continue to pray for healing...especially for the hole that needs to close!

Much love,
Sue