Nov. 6, 2004 Summer happenings
Since it's Nov. I thought I should finish writing about last summer before it all escapes me. As always, relationships are what stand out the most. We went back to Texas knowing one of our friends, Shayne, had cancer. I didn't know when I went to visit my next door neighbor that she would tell me she had cancer as well. Shayne was healed, Gloria died. Maybe she was healed too, in God's perfect way. I can't say I was close to Gloria. She was a retired school teacher from Conroe but God brought our families closer together when she opened her home to her niece, Jackie and her two young daughters, Chelsea and Haley. They became fast friends with Langston during our year before going to Qatar. I admired Gloria for her willingness to let family come and live with her when she could have sat back and relaxed during retirement.
I can't say I was close to Gloria. She was a retired school teacher from Conroe but God brought our families closer together when she opened her home to her niece, Jackie and her two young daughters, Chelsea and Haley. They became fast friends with Langston during our year before going to Qatar. I admired Gloria for her willingness to let family come and live with her when she could have sat back and relaxed during retirement.
She gave me her difficult news when I went to ask when the girls could play. (Jackie and the girls had moved back home at the end of the school year, before Gloria's ailing health. ) She had been diagnosed just weeks before with liver cancer, I believe. I was shocked of course. I prayed with her. She expressed her faith in God. As Jon said later, he hoped she had the right faith. She was to begin her chemo that next week. We went on our family trip to Branson. As we pulled back into our drive a week later at 10 p.m. an ambulance with lights flashing was in front of Gloria's house. Surely she just needed a little extra assistance. There were several cars around so we didn't go over. It was the next day I learned she had died early that Sunday morning. Doctors had given her another year to live but it wasn't to be. I was able to meet Gloria's brother. I was able to go to the funeral and learn more about her life. The disturbing thing for me, besides her untimely death was that she had tried to call me while we were out of town. It's a strange feeling to realize you can't call a person back. What did she want to talk about? Was she in pain? Did she want me to pray for her? There's nothing to do but leave all those questions in the hands of the Lord. The verse "Teach us to number our days" rang loud and clear in my mind during that time. I hope I can somehow reach Chelsea and Haley to give them a word of hope. Gloria was like a mother to them while they lived with her. Gloria was 54 when she died.
On a happier note, it was such a blessing to be in our home church when our friend Shayne gave the news that the doctors had given her a clean bill of health, those wonderful words "cancer free" that all cancer patients hope to hear. We had learned of her cancer last spring. She had lots of chemo in the interim. She said the turning point was when a lady in Wal-Mart stopped and asked if she could pray with her. I guess she could tell Shayne had cancer by her head scarf, I don't know. But the lady prayed for her healing right there on an aisle in Wal-Mart while the kids pushed the shopping cart up and down the aisle.
Shayne continued her treatments and had a big series of scans. It was at the consultation with her favorite doctor that the doctor said she was cancer frree! I got to be one of the first to hear the great news. Shayne came by the parsonage and told Ruby and me. She called first saying she wanted to come by. Somehow I'd forgotten about her big appointment. I thought she wanted to bring a meal over to the Suels since she does that sort of thing. (Sometimes my brain is somewhere else! ) It was just wonderful to get to hear that and pray with her and look at her in awe! God had really chosen to heal her and she and Gerald would continue to praise HIm even as they had in the midst of the struggle. What a special Sunday service we had that next week as they testified to what God had done in their lives. Amen!
Posted by nellie at November 6, 2004 08:32 AM