Knowledge is such a wonderful gift and I am a greedy person. I love to learn, I love to discover, and I love to dig deeper. I want to know how things work, how stuff is made, why things happen as they do, when did it start, has it always been this way? And perhaps my favorite, why we are we the way we are? This extends of course to my professional life as a marriage & family therapist and as a psychology teacher, but also in my personal life–why, what, how, when–and the list of questions just goes on and on. Having breast cancer has opened up a whole new area of discovery for me. I am getting in education in biology, oncology, pharmacology, hematology, health insurance and finance, but the most incredible lessons I have learned thus far since my diagnosis have come in the form of people. People who are bending over backwards to help me, people praying for me that I have never met, people who have no reason to support me yet are uplifting me and giving me strength. People are amazing!!
Have you ever stopped and pondered this? Why are people so amazing? What is it in the human DNA that causes someone to love and support another? I’m not sure if it is the chemo fog in my brain or just the simplicity of the answer but I believe God has a hand in it. 🙂 We are created in the image of our God and God IS love (1 John 4:8). Deep within us is the desire to love, not just love our families, our friends, and those who deserve it, but to love– period. God commands us to love and when we do, we get to experience being more like Him and more like we were created to be. Not to mention the blessing that is bestowed on the recipient of that love.
As an educator, I am always looking for more effective ways to help my students learn. I like to use hands-on experiments in the classroom, personal experience to illuminate lessons, and guest speakers to broaden the academic voice. So I see this time in my life as an incredibly effective way for me to learn more about God. I am getting hands-on experience in God’s amazing love. I am not saying God gave me cancer so I could learn, but that because God loves me so much He will use this time of struggle to help me understand and know Him in an even deeper way. I am embracing the lesson.
But I am like an olive tree
flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
for ever and ever.
For what you have done I will always praise you
in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
for your name is good. Psalm 52:7-9
ahealingpath 