Bearing afflictions well

Today is the first official day of autumn. It is everywhere: the asters are blooming, the trees are changing, the breeze if fresh and cool, the vegetable garden is drying up, the roses are in their last glory. The summer of my treatment is behind me.

Today I got the thumbs up from the surgeon: my incisions are all healing well, and I don't have to return to him until next May for my one-year check-up. He did say i would need a mammogram soon, and i asked if the 20 or so I had in the spring couldn't last at least a few more months. He laughed and said my oncologist could plan those.

I did blood work last week, and will do a PET/CT scan next week, and follow-up on my adrenal adenoma and my unpleasant test (the one that was canceled- see here)sometime later in the month, and then back to the endocrinologist at the end of October, and I think maybe I'll actually get a little time off then, Lord willing!

My radiation area is peeling and red, but not as tender as it was. And I am beginning to notice a slight lessening of weariness and fatigue-- probably just enough to start over-doing it! Physically, everything is coming along well.

Emotionally, I am still recovering. I was explaining to someone at church yesterday that I feel as if I have little emotional reserve...that my raw emotions are only a quarter-inch deep, and if you scratch me just a little, it all comes bursting out. Dave overheard this, and added, "She's exaggerating. It's only an eighth of an inch deep!"

The old Puritan, Henry Scudder, in his amazing book, The Christian's Daily Walk, discusses, among many other things, the way to bear afflictions well. He says,

...(W)hether your crosses and afflictions be imaginary only, or real; whether from God immediately, or from man, whether light or heavy, follow these directions:
1. Be not transported with passion and anger, like proud Lamech, and froward Jonah.
2. Be not overwhelmed, or sullen with grief, like covetous Ahab and foolish Nabal.
3. But, bear them cheerfully and thankfully.
4. Bear them fruitfully.
~H. Scudder, The Christian's Daily Walk, pp.136-137

It sounds so easy when it's in a neat little list like that! But it's so hard to live it out in the day-by-day.

So, here are some praise reports and some prayer requests that I covet you to make on my behalf. Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for me!

Praise God for:
*Increasing strength and stamina
*Decreasing tenderness
*Mild side-effects over all
*A sweet husband with a great sense of humor
*The great time I enjoyed with my kids and family at the wedding in MI

And please petition God for:
*Excellent results from my tests in October and no new issues or malignancies to deal with
*Rest and continued recuperation, stamina and strength
*The ability to pick up my teaching duties near the beginning of October, and the ability to communicate Christ to my students
*That I would learn the important lesson of dying to self and serving others, like Christ did, instead of feeling sorry for myself, as I often do.
*That I would bear my afflictions cheerfully, thankfully, and fruitfully.