God's gracious gifts

Each day this week, I have walked in the Duke Gardens...a reminder of beauty in the midst of an emotionally turbulent week.

While it is hard for anything to be more of a favorite for me than the 23rd Psalm, this week, I have been living the psalm of my life: Psalm 116:

Especially with the good news of a clean body scan today. No detectable residual cancer!

Through many delivery systems of healing grace, God has saved my life yet again.

I love the Lord because

he has heard my voice and my supplication;

because he inclined his ear to me,

therefore I will call on him

as long as I live.

The snares of death encompassed me.

I suffered distress and anguish

Then I called on the name of the Lord,

"O Lord, I pray, save my life!"

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous

Our God is merciful.

The Lord protects the simple;

When I was brought low, he saved me.

What shall I return to the Lord

for all his bounty to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation

And call on the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

I am so grateful for the good report...and, with the culmination of these tests comes a tumult of emotions: I feel both stronger and more vulnerable; jubilant and exhausted, excited and apprehensive, humbled and blessed. Being free from the very restrictive preparation diet and the good news that there is no sign of cancer feels like being let out of prison. Now, what will I do with this freedom? How do I make the most of the life that God has saved for me?

As I was leaving the hospital, the title of a book caught my eye: The Bumps Are What We Climb On. This cancer has been a big bump. But it has given me a chance to climb into God's healing grace in a new way...not only healing me, but giving me a new gift of hope to share with others.