Breast Cancer Awareness Month

"The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the work of Your hands." Psalm 138:8

It was one year today that I found a lump in my breast. My life hasn't been the same since. It wasn't until a couple weeks into October last year that everything started getting crazy, yet I think the moment I found the lump I knew it wasn't going to be good. I wanted to think differently, but deep down in my gut I knew my life was going to be heading down a path I didn't want to travel.

The only reason I checked a year ago was because of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I hadn't checked very many times before. We will never know, but I wonder if I hadn't checked when I did, with as aggressive as my cancer was, who knows if I would be alive typing this moment.
I'm asking, well maybe begging, for you to do a self-examination AND schedule a mammogram. For the men who read this blog encourage the women you love. Don't hesitate. Just because we don't want to have cancer shouldn't give us the reason not to be proactive in our health. The earlier they can find an abnormality the better. We thought I had found mine early, but it wasn't early enough.

I named this blog "In His Hands" because I believe with all of my mind, soul, and heart that I'm in God's hands in the midst of this storm. It has been one of the darkest times of my life. The hardest part is knowing that this storm is not over yet. I remember my surgeon telling me that once I had my mastectomy I would live a hell for a year in which I had never experienced before (her words - not mine).

My journey has been difficult, harder than I expected, yet I believe in the verse I wrote in the intro that God will perfect all that has affected me. He will not forsake the work He began as my cancer crossed the palm of His hands. Knowing this, is what gets me through the very difficult days

Pink is not my favorite color. Now though, every time I see a pink ribbon I feel as if it is wrapped around my heart. I want others as they see a pink ribbon to either respond for themselves or for one they love. Don't allow this month to go by without doing something that can benefit a woman who is fighting the fight now, or who might in the future. We can't win this battle without each other.