It is rare for a writer to move me to tears while challenging and inspiring me at the same time.   Kristy pointed me in the direction of Amy’s journal and it’s been "with me" ever since I read it. 

As stated on her home page, "Amy was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia July 2, 2006. This
blog is to keep you, [her] family and friends, up-to-date on her progress
as we travel this cancer journey, with the Lord as our Guide."


It got my attention initially, I suppose, because this is what my dear friend, Anne, had. I k n o w what AML can "do".  I began by reading an entry of Amy’s, then another post, then another, and I couldn’t stop; I finally began at the beginning of her "story" and read all the way through (her blog doesn’t have that many posts).  Her faith is unwavering, but she tells it  r e a l.  In the midst of almost certain death, her frailty is under girded with a certain strength that is not her own; very real fears are combated with courage; her response is one I’d like to think I’d have given similar circumstances, but I wonder if I’d have the grace to do so….   

(from her 2/21/07 post) We are heartbroken. This is not the news we wanted to hear. We wanted
to raise our son, to grow old together, but God has different plans for
our family. And as much as we don’t understand them right now, we know
that He is sovereign over this as well. Please pray for us, and for my
family especially. My part in all of this is rather easy. I get to die
and be with my Savior in glory. I get to miss out on all the suffering
this world holds. It is my family who bear the grief and the pain day
in and day out. It is for them that my heart breaks.

Hold your
loved ones a little closer for me today. Live life a little more —
wear your dressy clothes around the house just because life is really
short and stains don’t really matter. Don’t get impatient about the
little things.

Someday we’ll understand why.

Two days later she was given 2-3 months to live. 


Her responses are amazing.  On one hand I want to stop reading now because we know where this is headed; on the other, her telling is simple, beautiful, and somehow important.  She doesn’t leave you with sadness, but with great hope for a life without end; she’s living out this journey set before her with dignity and grace, testifying to this plan by God for her life instead of shaking her fist at him and screaming, "WHY ME?!". 

Please–Read her story.  Pray for her.  Be changed as a result. 

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