Sickness

We all have experienced sickness in our lives....some as minor as allergies or a cold, others a little worse with flu or pneumonia, but then there are the more severe illnesses that when diagnosed, it knocks the breathe out of us.  We pinch ourselves thinking that we are dreaming...that if we could just wake up, this nightmare would be over.  Then the reality sets in and we realize this is happening, that we are not invincible. While an author can write in an illness and either cure the character or not, we do not have the same power or control in the real world.  This is reality....we can either fight or lay down and give up.  You hear of others that are given this type of news and think, I would never be able to be so positive...so strong.

I have a friend that has just been diagnosed with stage 4 acute myeloid leukemia and as devastated as I am that my wonderful friend (a loving and caring mother....a wife....a nurse practitioner....a positive role model in the community) has this horrible cancer, I know my devastation is nothing in comparison to what she and her family are experiencing.  It's not unusual to think "why her?" or "she's too young!"  It's hard to make sense of anything as horrible as this.  After the initial shock of the news, the thought goes through your mind "thank goodness it's not me" which then leads to a heavy heart and massive guilt that you even thought it, not that you wish that on anyone else, but because you know you're not strong enough to fight something like that. Ultimately you find yourself where you should have been once the news hit.....on your hands and knees praying....almost begging God to cure her since he is the one in control.

Life is full of ups and downs....happiness and sadness....joy and sorrow, but we must learn to have faith, to not let the devil come into our lives and tear us apart.  We have to overcome the darkness we all have...that darkness we fight hard to keep pushed down - the jealousy, the hatred, the bitterness, the resentment. Satan sees when we are filled with light - our happiness, joy, love, contentment, caring heart, willingness to help others and he is sickened.  He weaves the thick web of hatred and deceit, jealousy and heartaches and watches as we squirm.  It is only through faith that we can overcome this, that we can push these things aside and remain positive and full of life.

If you are an avid or occasional reader, you can see in each book there is darkness and light - a character that is the villain and another that is always fighting against the villain.  As I was writing the other day, I began to think about the characters in my book and how each character displays a part of me - the romantic, the friend, the athlete, the mother, the sister, the daughter.  They each exhibit love and happiness, pain and panic, bitterness and regret - regardless of the character, I can see a part of myself demonstrated just based on what I have been through in my life.  It shows the thin line between walking in the light or letting darkness overtake us.  We each fight that battle on a daily basis just in how we handle ourselves based on the obstacles faced.  We can either think positive or dwell in negativity.

All-in-all we must learn faith, love, joy, peace, forgiveness, contentment.....
for faith can move mountains...
love can warm a heart.....
joy can be contagious....
peace allows calmness - the ability to see through clear vision...
forgiveness leads to a happy heart not tainted by hatred.....
contentment shows that even in the worst of times, we realize that money is not everything....material things are not everything...but love and family and friends help sustain us in this evil world as we await our eternal life.

It's easy to just give up, but fighting shows that we have hope in us...that we have faith in us and that faith can inspire others....faith gets us to the eternal life where there is no sickness...no sorrow...no pain.  We must face hardships in life.  I consider these tests of our faith....our way of proving that we will not allow the devil to rip us away from our heavenly father.  We want the eternal life in heaven, not life in hell where the devil gets his thrills off hurting us in comparison to being loved in heaven by God.

I see the obstacle my friend is facing as a test of her strength...of her willingness to fight or give up and as I have always known....she is a fighter.  She has so much to live for....she has her family....she has her friends....she has herself....but most of all....she has her faith, faith in a better tomorrow....faith in God and ultimately understands he is in control.