My mom died of breast cancer. She was diagnosed with it in her late 40's, and was in remission for several years. When it was discovered again, it had metastasized to her bone marrow. I will never forget the words the oncologist used about what they saw in the first scan - "it [cancer] lit up the scan like a Christmas tree." This time, it was not going back into remission.
My mom had a strong faith - it was her goal to please God in everything she did. When faced with a cancer that was "treatable but not curable," it shook her - but not for long. One of the most powerful things my mom ever told me was, "Kathy, I taught you how to live, and now I will teach you how to die." And way before the song "Live Like You Were Dying," my mom modeled that for me.
She showed me the importance of relationships, of a genuine walk with God, of living a life of eternal significance - rather than the temporary. One day about a year before she died, she said, "Every day now, I want to make sure that what I am investing my time in will survive the fire of testing, and that I will have gold to lay at the feet of Jesus - not stubble and hay that will be destroyed."
This life is a vapor - the next is eternal. That isn't scary at all - it means to me that when you think from an eternal perspective, the quality of life here on earth is that much sweeter! So thankful for the legacy that my mom left - it is serving me well during this journey!
"Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value." (1 Corinthians 3:10-13 NLT)
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