A Letter

College Place, WA
October 24, 1978

My Dear Friend:

Thanksgiving has come to our house a little early this year and we want to share it with you—our dearest friends. Forgive a mimeographed letter—but there’s no other way.

When you are told you have cancer you realize that you have turned a corner. You’ve exchanged a straight, long road for a winding one where you can’t see very far ahead.

When my doctor called saying that one of the breast lumps he had biopsied the day before was malignant, God handed me, along with the news, a gift of strength. I’ve 42 years of happiness and to now have some trouble seemed not surprising. Perhaps I was numb but I remember worrying about the people for whom the news would be hard—and being keenly aware of the turned corner.

But change is hard for all of us and it seemed important as soon as I could to focus on that which would not change—so I continued reading in the Psalms where I had left off the day before. Psalm 32:10 said it all, “Unfailing love enfolds him who trusts in the Lord” (NEB).

To be surrounded, hugged, enfolded in love that would never fail is more than enough for any road!

The next two days we met fear—in the eyes and voices of our friends, and sometimes in our own hearts as we tried to look at all the possibilities on this new road. The fact that I have been more sick than well since a virus last winter made it easy to imagine that the cancer might be already quite advanced. It was a very beautiful thing for our family to
experience in a new and deeper way what may be the most conclusive evidence of God—His ability to replace fear—with peace.

I never knew Psalm 41:2 and 3 was in the Bible and I still marvel at Jesus giving it to me on surgery day! “The Lord protects him and gives him life, making him secure in the land; the Lord never leaves him. . . He nurses him on his sick bed; he turns his bed when he is ill.”

“WOW, Lord! You give me all the big things—peace, security, life (never­ending), unfailing love—and you’ll be my nurse too?” He really was! Those hospital days are actually a precious memory—because I was constantly made comfortable, soothed, protected, inspired by the beautiful closeness of Jesus. He made everything easy.

The surgery was a week ago today. I had a modified radical mastectomy (chest and arm muscle are not taken—much less disfiguring and easier recovery). The pathology report showed the cancer apparently incapsulated, no lymph node or tissue involvement. Pain was minimal, recovery “remarkable” (according to nurses) and I came home yesterday.

My sister came for ten days, we are being showered with flowers, food and love—and the sun is shining.

So—our hearts are singing because of our good news for now, but even more (much more) because of the beauty of our Lord who is everything we need for every day—for every road.

Have a good Thanksgiving,
Linda