Last week I told you we had no idea God would use a change in our walking route to bring a new neighbor into our lives. Even though Joyce lives just a short distance from our house, I don’t think we’d ever crossed paths. We met her maybe two or three weeks ago as she’s been putting a hedge of small plants around a portion of the home she and her daughter bought two and a half years ago. They moved here from California.

When I asked how she was dealing with the change of weather from California to Pennsylvania, she said, “Oh, I like the cold weather! I’m from England!”

I explained that we’d had a next-door-neighbor in Sandy Lake who was from England, and I thought I’d recognized the accent. She was concerned about whether or not we could understand her, but I assured her that we could.

Every night as Donn and I took our walk, no matter what time, she was out planting her hedge. As she neared the end of her task, I was sad that we might lose this new connection. But after she finished planting, somehow or other, she still managed to be outside when we walked by.

One evening she asked how we were doing. It was the first question of that sort that she’d asked us. I felt prompted to tell her that I was nearing the end of my chemo that had followed some surgery. When she asked what kind of surgery, I explained, and she told me she’d had breast cancer twice. Again I was amazed that God was connecting me to another woman in my same club.

Joyce began to share her experiences–how angry she’d been at “Him,” I knew she was talking about God. During her first bout with breast cancer, she’d had small children. I explained that I’d had “scares” years earlier also when I was a basket case. But this time I’d decided I wasn’t going there but was going to trust God–and God had honored that.

Eventually we realized that she had been going through her first round of breast cancer at the about the same time I’d been prepping to have a hysterectomy at the age of 29. I told her I hadn’t been too happy about that either until God had shown me that He had something for me to do at the hospital. In a heartbeat, I knew I was to tell her about my experience with Lucille that I shared in my blog, “My Body, A Living Sacrifice,” on February 16, 2023.

I told Joyce how God had taken me to the hospital for my hysterectomy and put me in a room with an elderly woman in a coma who was dying of cancer. Her brother and his wife had come to visit her that night and told me they couldn’t understand why she lingered since she had no husband and children. I told Joyce how God had shown me Lucille was afraid to die because she didn’t know her sins were forgiven. He needed me to assure her of that and brought her brother to the room I’d been transferred to after my surgery the next morning to tell me that Lucille had died at 7:00 a.m.

Joyce listened attentively and then said she didn’t want to go to heaven when she died. I was startled. “Where do you want to go?” I asked.

She said she wants to float around on earth sprinkling ashes on people and helping them. I asked if she meant she wanted to be an angel. She assured me that isn’t what she meant, but before we could discuss it more, she heard her dogs and said she needed to go.

As we walked home in the gathering dusk, our solar-lit lighthouse in our front yard reminded me of our reason for putting it there—our desire to be a light in our neighborhood. I thanked God for yet another opportunity to have a meaningful conversation with a neighbor. Please pray with us that we’d have more opportunities to talk with Joyce about her spiritual beliefs.

August 30, 2023 Life had fallen into a rather pleasant pattern, but on August 23, suddenly I was overwhelmed by fatigue. I didn’t know if it was because my red blood cell count was low or because I’m taking less steroids.

God’s grace was there to get Sarah from the school bus and bring her to our house for overnight on Friday, August 25, and then to take her and her Mama to a Back to School Bash on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, I slept for two and a half hours, and three hours later, I could hardly keep my eyes open for the rest of the evening. Monday I got my work done and then could hardly keep my eyes open the rest of the day.  

My knee was bothering me a bit, so we didn’t walk much and saw Joyce only once since our previous discussion. She was outside talking to a friend to whom she introduced us by name. I was amazed that she remembered our names since she’d heard them only once.

On Tuesday I was awake bright and early for Chemo Day. As we walked down the hall to Annie’s POD, I heard behind us, “Daisy, I’m so glad to see you!”

It was Eileen, our Christian friend who had surgery on August 22. I didn’t know if we’d see her again after surgery, but she‘ll be coming back to HCC for treatment every three weeks also. Eileen introduced us to her sister, and they both told me how much they had enjoyed my Sarah’s Legacy series. They’d purchased the books online and had just finished reading them.

Eileen’s sister said, “We’d finish one book and then couldn’t wait to get into the next one.” I was so pleased that they’d enjoyed the series. It was such a blessing to see Eileen and meet her sister.

There wasn’t a lot of conversation with other patients as they came into Annie’s POD that day, but quite a bit of conversation with the volunteer who had been a missionary to China. She’s such a blessing.

Then as a couple who had been seated near us were leaving, the woman shared that she hadn’t been able to have chemo that day because her white blood cell count had been extremely low. Since mine had been very low at one point, I was able to share my experience of discovering that the WBC count could be affected if one was deficient in zinc. I had started taking zinc tablets and watched my WBC count climb to a normal range again.

The woman’s face brightened. She said she had taken zinc before but had stopped for some reason and would begin again. When I asked her name and said we would pray for her, they talked about their church and about prayer, and I felt like we’d brought some light into their day. We are praying for Jean who I’d heard tell Annie earlier that she was depressed.

After my four-and-a-half-hour treatment, God’s grace was with me to have energy to go to Costco to get lasagna for a family dinner we’re having on Friday night and also for a trip to Walmart. His grace is sufficient for me. His strength is made perfect in my weakness (II Corinthians 12:8).

Heavenly Father, help us to trust you for grace to do or leave undone whatever is according to your plans for a given day. Help us to trust that your grace IS sufficient for us. Amen

 Health Update

My labs were apparently within the levels my oncologist requires so I was able to have chemo on Tuesday. I was so thankful to finish treatment ten of the twelve treatments in this initial round. I’ve worn my wig a few times as my hair is thinning more and more. The first time I wore it, Donn didn’t even notice, nor did the health professional I was seeing that day, so I guess that’s a good thing!

Chemo day will be Wednesday, September 6, next week because of Labor Day. Then on Thursday, September 7, I am scheduled for an Echocardiogram which I’d been told me would be done every three months during chemo. (My first one done at the beginning of chemo was within normal range.) Please pray for a good outcome for this test so that I can finish with my last chemo treatment and proceed on to the targeted treatments which will be every three weeks until probably May or June. Thank you so much for your prayers.