Every day is a gift from God so be sure to unwrap it with joy, embrace it with love and share it with the One who gave it to you.
He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." (Mark 5:34)
Wrapped In His Arms
You quickly learn that when you are the last one waiting in a mammography office the news is not going to be good. Patients came and left but I was still waiting. Later, it was said to me that they wait until all patients have been seen so they don’t tell you the bad news and then rush you out to see the next patient. You have more time to ask questions and try to swallow this bad pill if you’re last. It was on February 25, 2005. Of course, this day fell on a Friday and we had to wait out the weekend to find out the stage of the cancer. In the end, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Cancer has four stages so this was not the best diagnosis. The tumor was fairly large and the cancer had spread to some lymph nodes and the outer skin of the breast.
After being diagnosed on a Friday, we went to church on Sunday. The sermon that day was on being anointed with oil as chronicled in the book of James. My husband and I went down to be anointed with oil as the elders put their hands on us and prayed. From that day forwarded, I knew Christ was beside me through the whole ordeal. A friend of mine came to our house and asked if she could pray for me. As she was praying, she became very emotional and speechless. She lost her concentration. I asked her, “What is wrong? Are you okay?” She replied: “I see a vision of Christ behind you. He has His arms wrapped around you.” Now my friend has since told me that she has only seen a vision twice in her life during prayer and this was one of them. The very next day in the mail someone had sent a card from NC. This person knew nothing about the prayer. The inscription on the card read: “What you’re going through is important to me and the Lord-That is why I have asked Him to wrap his arms around you.” Can you believe it? It was a confirmation of my friend’s vision.
With new strength and a positive attitude, we began to fight this disease. Instead of waiting for chemo to make all my hair fall out, we decided to have a hair-cutting party. My husband and two young sons, three and seven years old at the time, took turns doing their scissor snips of Mommy’s hair. Mark, my husband, performed the final head shaving. We thought if our children could participate in this task it would make it a little easier for them to understand why their mother’s hair was gone. We explained to them that the medicine was going to make it fall out anyway. We’re just going to stay a step ahead of fighting this disease.
We fought every obstacle with prayer chains and Scripture. On top of this routine, I practiced laugh therapy, music therapy, visual therapy, positive thinking therapy and don’t forget to eat right. It was important to exercise. My sons coached me in exercises to strengthen my wounded arm weakened by the removal of lymph nodes. Walk your arm up the wall! I walked the wall and I walked the floor many nights due to a steroid-induced restlessness. In cancer boot camp I persevered to triumph through the muck of malignancy.
I use to pray to Christ to help me get through just the next five minutes or the next hour while battling this disease. You start embracing little pockets of time. He guided me through every dark tunnel and delivered a new sunrise every morning. Sometimes we get caught up in the rat race of busy schedules or the distraction of high-tech devices. Take time to notice his magnificent creation-the lines in a bark of tree, the intricate veins in a fall leaf, the markings on a bird’s feather, the dance of tulips bending in the wind, the ridges on a seashell, or the symphony of a thunderstorm. What a mosaic of Majestic beauty that surrounds us daily! All of these things are in the palm of His hands. He created them. We too are created in his image and if He knows the meticulous details of all these creations how could he not know every cancer cell going through our veins, every hair on our head or not on our head and every beat of a survivor’s heart?
About Stephanie Stanland: She is a native North Carolinian and a four-year cancer survivor who is active in fundraising for cancer organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. She has served as Chair for the Thursday Group, a breast cancer support group in Lexington, KY for the past two years. Currently, she is busy performing her one-woman comedic act as Miss Petunia for a variety of audiences to encourage and lift the spirits of cancer patients. Stephanie has received various awards for her cancer volunteer work, the most recent being a Hero of Hope for the American Cancer Society. Her former profession was a college level French instructor. She is married and has two sons, seven and eleven years of age. They reside in Lexington, KY. This writer is a full-time wife, mom, and cancer volunteer. She enjoys singing in the church choir and photography. She can be contacted at
bonjour@insightbb.com
