A terminal diagnosis... an inoperable tumor... stage IV incurable...
Pancreatic Cancer...
Pancreatic Cancer...
Devastating words that lead to a nightmare for the living.
A journey no one wants to take.
And yet, thousands are hearing these words today...
Their foundations are shifting. Their lives changed irrevocably.
A diagnosis of any incurable disease can break the most faithful amongst us... It is the Hard Walk...
We struggle with the cancer, the hopelessness, the treatments, the fear... How exactly do we do life when all we see ahead is death?
Might you join me for a glimpse of Light? A whisper of Hope... yes, even here, even in the shadow valley...
Her name is Gayle Madden.
She lives on a mountaintop with her husband. Thrills to adventure all over the world. And marvels at God's Beauty all around. She writes with Grace. Loves generously. And she has incurable pancreatic cancer.
She writes and inspires at The Sweet Life: La Dolce Vita.
Her perspective on life with an incurable disease settles peace and hope over the heartache. She has chosen to testify that life is good. And filled with miracles.
She shares her Sweet Inspirations often... Here is but a taste...
Life: Rejoice in life
and release everyone else.
Intuition: Intuition is the door to the soul.
Learn to open it and you will be
speaking the language of the angels.
Wisdom: When you apply new wisdom
to old patterns, you get new results.
Purpose: Your purpose is to perfect
your own part for the good of the whole.
Goals: Set your sights on new, expanded goals
and the smaller ones in between will fill in faster.
Joy: You cannot plead for joy and get it.
See it in what already is.
Truth: Truth is stronger than fear,
and you seek truth no matter what the cost.
Slow Down: If you go too fast,
you forget the now.
Live Life: To enjoy life, to live life,
look into each moment
and see the bounty it holds.
Gayle has chosen to walk the Hard Road with utter abandon... she faces the truth honestly, knowing the end game is not long off, but seeking to recognize the joy in the now, the bounty of each moment given.
I love how she has embraced family and friends... graciously allowing many to minister to her along the way, giving of themselves... the sweetest expression of love this side of heaven.
Gayle shares the stories in her new book... An Imperfect Life: A Memoir about Life, Love and Laughter - But Most of All Love.
This is more than just a book about pancreatic cancer, it is a book about living... With Grace, With Hope, With Wonder, With Joy...
I can be honest and say that it took us a very long time to put mom's pancreatic cancer into such graced perspective...
When the darkness of her cancer threatened to drag us under, I can remember Mom recounting her Bucket List in Reverse... with new eyes we saw the Journey as not an ending, but a Glorious Fulfillment of a Life Lived Richly.
It reminds me how Completely our Sovereign God redeems the Brokenness of our Lives...in the midst of our deepest pain and grief, we cried out for Grace, praying that the suffering would not be wasted...
Asking with desperate hope for something Beautiful to be born from the tearing of our hearts.
Cancer is a formidable foe, but, oh, Grace conquers all.
"...the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, to announce liberty to captives, and to open the eyes of the blind. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of God's favor to them has come,
and the day of his wrath to their enemies.
To all who mourn in Israel he will give:
beauty for ashes;
joy instead of mourning;
praise instead of heaviness.
For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory."
Isaiah 61:1-3
Grace Redeems the Broken Road, Always...
No matter where you are on this life journey, May you feel His Hand sweetly guiding your path, gently mapping the road before you.
Journeying on to a Life Richly Lived in Him,
All My Love,
Jane
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