I still remember where I was when I got the call. It was January of 2016, and my husband and I were sitting in a Virginia airport after meeting our new grandbaby for the very first time. I knew my mom had not been feeling well, but none of us were ready for the news. My dad called to tell us that she had just been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, and doctors were giving her one year to live. Little did the doctors know, however, that my mom was a fighter. She was NOT going to take the news lying down. After many rounds of chemo, radiation, and two different research trials, she lost her battle with cancer but won an eternal reward. Almost seven years after that difficult phone call, my mom went to be with the Lord on October 17, 2022.
Don’t get me wrong. I miss her terribly. The grief is still raw and fresh, but I can’t help but to be eternally grateful for the bonus time God gave us all with her. A cancer diagnosis did NOT stop my mom from living life to the fullest. Her and my dad travelled back and forth enjoying their time between their Kentucky and Florida homes for over six more years, not really skipping a beat up until this past summer. God blessed my parents with 58 years together as husband and wife and the Lord blessed them both with three healthy children and eight adorable grandchildren. My mom was able to not only meet her oldest great granddaughter born the week she was diagnosed but four other precious great grandchildren as well.
I can’t help but think of Psalm 127 when I think about how she lived her life. It wasn’t about making money or a fancy name for herself. My mom always prioritized her faith and her family. She knew, in the end, nothing else mattered. She wasn’t taking anything with her. When she took her last breath, my mom knew she was loved by an army of family and friends.
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
What if you were given one year to live or even worse, one day? If this was my last day on earth, would the Lord say I lived a life of eternal gratefulness and faithful obedience to Him? Or would He see my life as nothing but selfish ambition and vain conceit? (Phil 2:3)
Am I allowing the Lord to build my house and watch over my life? Or am I so “busy” that I don’t focus on the things that are most important? Do I try to control and handle things on my own, or do I surrender and submit to God’s ways? My mom’s life and her battle with cancer was a wake up call for me that none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. I want to live a life TODAY and all the days I have left that honor and glorify the Lord. I am eternally grateful for the Lord and how He loves me even when I am unlovable. How about you? Are you living a life of gratitude, humility, and obedience? God’s promises and blessings are available to us all. I am eternally grateful for a mom who loved, guided, and cared for me the same way God does. I am so thankful for an earthly father and a Heavenly Father who do the same. My life is so rich and full with the things that matter most because of God and the people He has put in my life, and for that, I am eternally grateful.
For more on this subject,
Click HERE to check out our podcast, Rock Solid Radio Episode 209, Living a Life of No Regrets on YouTube. OR Click HERE to check out Episode 209 of Rock Solid Radio on audio.
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15