Unexpected

Seven years ago... that holy number... we learned that my husband had cancer. It resulted in the loss of his right eye as well as the surrounding orbit. For five years after, we faithfully went through all the stuff that has to happen with this type of diagnosis: six weeks of radiation, quarterly visits and testing, annual visits, and the final visit two years ago. We truly believed we were done with this stuff. Two days ago we learned that we are not finished. A lump of scar tissue right below the eye socket had some tiny cells behind it that were declared to be adenocarcinoma. I hate that word. And so we begin again - a PET scan should happen soon with surgery later this month.


My husband's father had a phrase he used again and again: He knows my name. He is Jesus. My father-in-law lived in awe that God Almighty knew his name. This phrase is something that sticks with us all yet today, six years after his death.  We are so important to the Lord that He knows each of us individually. Tommy Walker's song says it well:


I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands

I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call

So we rest in the knowledge that God knows; He loves us and he will never leave us. And we begin to walk the path that He has placed before us, trusting him to carry us when we cannot move. We don't know the path ahead but He does. We've got our walking sticks for the hike. Here we go....