Pink pushes it way among vibrant golds, rusts, and red of
our October landscape. Breast cancer survivor stories and fundraisers abound. It
is good.
My young friend, Kara, continues to do battle with breast
cancer; her stage 4 disease has found its way to her blood, her bones, her
brain. She confronts the reality of her days numbered and lives in the beauty of this day.
courtesy of Jen Lints Photography |
I love this dear woman.
I hurt for her.
I hurt with her family.
And with the many I pray big, bold prayers.
I do my bit. Scripture love flies through cyberspace. I stop at the grocery store, bring flowers and other small gifts, and sometimes prepare a meal. Like lots and lots and lots of her friends do.
Others have loved in their ways. Texting wisdom, speaking
truth, ironing, babysitting and much much more.
As I’ve watched Kara’s hard story unfold, as I’ve watched how
she lives it, and as I’ve watched the love of her community, three lessons
emerge.
First about Kara. Kara lives authentically. She is not afraid to be
human. She invites Jesus to speak into her reality. She knows his presence and
allows his peace.
She lives out-loud. Through her blog, Mundane Faithfulness,
and her best-selling book, The HardestPeace she welcomes us to journey with her. As my friend Trisha said, “I
love her book. I feel like she has invited me into her living room and we’re
having a chat”. And indeed through her words, she has.
Her cancer story fuels her writing, but her writing is not
all about cancer … and it is not all about Kara. It is about Jesus and how he
meets her on her worst day, at the edges, and in the impossible. And in her
writing she is sharing grace and is discipling her readers. My picture of Jesus
is bigger because Kara doesn’t keep her story to herself. Thank you, my friend.
Secondly, my 30-something friend has lots of other
30-something friends. They love her up-close. The massage her feet, they drive
her to treatments and stay with her. Literally they climb in bed with her and
talk, and laugh, and listen to music, and scheme like mommas do. And sometimes
they just listen to the soft breath of her sleeping form.
I’ve learned that sometimes it’s a good thing to be brave
enough to crawl into bed with your friend who has cancer.
Lastly, it’s also okay to sit on the edge of her bed, to love
from a bit of a distance. It’s okay to love in the way God created you to love.
Indeed, it is good.
Kara loves all of us well who are following her story. And
we get to love her well too in multitudes of ways, up close or from a distance—what
a gift.
“Greater love has no
one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”. John 15:13
Hi Sue, Thank you for introducing me to Miss Kara. She has quickly become such a dear friend, who I love, and I haven't even met her. I bought her book and read it in a day. I just couldn't end our "chat". I look forward to her blog posts and am so looking forward to taking my daughter to hear her speak in IN later in November.
ReplyDeleteThank you for dropping by FarmGirlMom! May your date with Kara be above and beyond! Bless you.
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