Keeps on Giving

I went to Happy Hour with two dear friends last night. The three of us used to work together and because of the things we went through (personal and professional) while at that Vietnam of offices, we have a tight bond. One of them has a six-year-old daughter who has just reached the big five-year mark--five years ago she beat cancer and she’s now in remission. And you do the math…that means she was fighting for her life at less than 12 months old, and in my opinion, that ranks up there as one of life’s worst cruelties. But she and her family fought and prayed and fought and cried and prayed some more. And for the past few years, they’ve slowly and tentatively begun to breathe in life again because they’re not working so hard at keeping it.

They were just told, however, that their daughter’s brain has been irreversibly damaged from the intense chemo she underwent to beat the cancer. The four-letter words I want to scream on their behalf are endless. It’s too much. This girl should be receiving all the best life has to offer. After all, she’s paid more than her fair share of dues and then some! And yet now she’s been hit with yet another cruelty.

My friend’s husband sarcastically said, “you know, cancer is just the gift that keeps on giving.” So true, their horror just never seems to end. And yet, as I thought about it last night, there’s something else that keeps on giving in this situation. While her daughter was fighting cancer, life pummeled her and her family with other horrendous circumstances and yet God’s light just emanated from her through it all. Not to say she didn’t cry. And not to say she never got angry. She did. But there was always hope, always humor. When I'd contemplate what she's been through I'd think why, why, why?! That is until one day recently when I was questioning her about the suffering she’s been through (some friend I am, huh?), she told me, “We searched for answers, questioning the hospital chaplain, our friends, our parents. No one had the answers. And it wasn’t until we stopped asking the question, 'Why' and asked, 'How should we respond to this?' that we began to move forward. We wouldn’t find the answers, and we were using up so much energy being mad. We just finally gave in, and began depending on God for His strength, minute by minute and He taught us how to respond.”

So last night over a Stoli Doli, an Amstel light and a Summit, she told us about her daughter and how sad she is and how unfair it is. But she concluded with, “we’ll get through it.” And its the message of hope and faith in those words that just keeps on giving.