An Ugly Word

It's a strange thing, but I still have a hard time saying the word CANCER. I can say acute leukemia, but for some reason the word cancer is a hard word to say.

When my husband and I got married, we decided we would never say the word divorce. If we never said it, we would never think about it and it would never happen.  We should have banned the word CANCER from our vocabulary, maybe it would never have  happened.

I've noticed that even our doctors never use the word Cancer. I think because it's such a scary word. A couple weeks after Jerry was first diagnosed with AML and before we started the treatment, I was helping our son, Neal, in Junior Church and a little girl asked me "Does Dr. Rice have cancer?". I think I stood there in shock for a few seconds.  I think for the first time I realized that ugly word was now part of our vocabulary.  No matter how many times I want it not to be true, it's a real word. Never a day goes by without us thinking about it or the effects of it and how our lives have been changed by that word CANCER. We know there are so many other people whose lives have been changed by that word.

Through this the Lord has made us more mindful to pray for people more and to be more thoughtful of others that are going through trials.

Pray that our faith can withstand this trial in our lives. That we can be a good testimony even when our hearts are heavy and we don't understand all that God has for us. We're so thankful that we have family and friends that love us and that are there for us. We seem so undeserving of God's love, but He's always there. We see His love, mercy, and grace every day in answered prayers and blessings.

We love you........