An Anchor in Glory

Dear Friends and Family,
I am filled to overflowing with gratefulness for all of you.  Your kindness and faithful encouragement has been precious to me the last 3 ½ months.  Your generosity and love…now the tears are flowing…  They are thankful tears and overcome tears, awed with God’s goodness and your kindness.  Thank you for your prayers, notes, emails, phone calls, delicious meals, picking up groceries and bringing them to church every week, cleaning our tubs, taking the boys waterskiing, vacuuming, bringing me to the wig shop the first day and helping me pick out a wig, tears, reminders of Job and Jonah, smiles, the great smelling hand sanitizer and new pajamas, squeezes, funny wig quips, the little bedside light and devotionals, the socks and big brimmed hat waiting at chemo, the DVD’s you sent, cutting and stacking logs, giving us wood, spending time with Craig or the one of the kids and really listening, pedicures, laughing us through the first Paclitaxel treatment, weeding the garden, encouraging words, gifts, the box of scarves, love, laughing over lunch with the boys, traveling over a 100 miles every week to work at the Farmer’s Market with the girls, taking me on a challenging walk, fixing the faucet and listening about side effects.   Praying for all of you has been a beautiful gift as well.  Thank you for sharing your challenges and allowing us to give to you as well.  Some of you were scared, I know.  Your experiences with cancer have been painful, but you still called or came and held my hand.  Thank You.
We are filled daily; Jesus supplies us every day with strength and hope.  His gifts are generous and faithful.  One of the greatest gifts of this small suffering is the knowledge, that, if anyone I dearly love was called to suffer, Jesus will certainly carry them as He has faithfully carried me.  He has never left us alone; we are surrounded and overwhelmed by love, help, encouragement and faithful people.  Families; husbands and wives, moms and dads have gone before us and honored God in their suffering.  They are an ever present reminder to my heart, always available and surprising us by meeting our need, because they know.   I have to mention two ladies, young mommies, cancer survivors and faithful women, whom God in his sovereignty introduced me to within the last 18 months.  He foreknew our circumstances and provided before we had an opportunity to ask or even want for anything.  For anyone who has read Pilgrims Progress, these precious ladies are my “Hopefuls”, they honored God in their suffering and now they are cancer free, living productive beautiful lives before my eyes, with beautiful full heads of hair.  J  And they are willing to talk to me about the suffering…they will go back and give to me, telling me “it is a long tunnel” but it won’t last forever.  Repeating it many times, so I don’t forget.   There are many more priceless examples of “Hopeful”; over comers and survivors and you know who you are.  Thank you for giving and encouraging.   Another I must mention is my own mom.  Many of you know Mom and her smile and giving spirit.  Having lived thirty-five years plus in a wheel chair, she overcomes and gives and loves and laughs.  How can I not be thankful and filled with courage?
My words are feeble, but I know Jesus will reward each one with gifts I can’t imagine.  I can’t wait!
May He Richly Bless you all and yours,
Standing on THE Promises,
Karen