Remember
Memorial day is a day set aside annually for us to remember those we’ve lost and to remember our fallen heroes. Memorial day is set in a season of many reasons to remember for me. On Memorial day I remember my own fallen hero. My mom, who lived life so selflessly as a single parent, always sacrificing to give her children the best life possible. She celebrated her last birthday turning 41on May 24 and lost her heroic battle with cancer on June 1. I remember the gift of her and I remember the grief God has healed. It was also this same time of year that I got the news I had been praying months for during my own surgeries, chemo and radiation treatments. My cancer was gone. It no longer dwelled in my body. I received the merciful gift of healing. God encourages us throughout the Bible to remember in the Old Testament they build altars of stones to remember what God had done in a place. In the New Testament we practice communion “in remembrance” of the sacrifice Christ made to be our fallen hero to bear the grief of our sin and suffering. It is in our act of remembering that thanksgiving flows.
"I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders."Ps 77:11
Our seasons of grief, loss and trials have been painful and often times we don’t want to remember. We don’t want to drum up those memories that produce pain. The memories are tender and we don’t want to poke at them. After my battle with cancer I tried to move on without the stigma of having been sick. I wanted to move forward strong and whole. Yet it is our trials that have formed us into who we are and when we remember them, we are filled with thanksgiving over the strength we were given to walk through our trials and the healing and the restoration that has taken place.
After our trials whether the battle of cancer or the loss of a loved one, we must go through a season of restoration. Restoration can take time. Even though I wanted to be fully restored as soon as my cancer battle was over. It took two years to have my energy back. It took 7 years before I was able to find a doctor that specialized in helping breast cancer survivors like me that after having radiation immediately following a double mastectomy and who have too much damage to do traditional reconstruction. Sometimes it takes remembering the pain of our grief or our trail to see that restoration has taken place. God promises to bring good out of our trials and through the process of remembering where we’ve been, our eyes are opened to the “good” things God worked in us through our trial. When I was in the midst of the pain, fear and exhaustion of my treatments with 3 little kids, or in the pain of the intense grief of the death of such an important person to my everyday life, I would look for someone who had made it through to the other side of the pain and was walking changed but restored. I am now one of those people. I am on the other side of the pain. And I want to stand waving my white victory flag across the chasm of pain and struggle cancer and loss creates in case anyone else out there is looking for someone that’s been there to give them the hope that restoration does happen. It just takes time. I can still remember my pain and when I do I am thankful to be restored! (to read more on restoration click here http://deeperstill.net/2015/10/20/restoration/)
2016/05/31 at 5:39 pm