Petals of Friendship

  Your story, God’s story The past, present and future…all parts of our story. I am intrigued by history, especially my family’s history. The people, where they lived, the origins of their stories. Knowing my roots and where I came from is not only a part of their stories, but my story. God’s story. While I may not always pay attention, God has been weaving a unique story through the generations of my family. I’ve tried to capture those stories, mostly in small bits and pieces through the memories of my mother and father. The good, the bad, and the ugly parts of it have been shared. No one has a perfect story, and I think we’d rather forget about the bad and the ugly parts, but we have to wonder, why were those unwanted parts written in? We can stay stuck in those past parts, but God offers something better. Throughout the Bible, we find stories filled with the reality of hard things. Highs and lows are scattered throughout the lives of the people yet, in those stories, God shows u...

Lung cancer.  That was Tony’s diagnosis.  For Tony, this was just one small story on his journey.  He has many stories that reveal God’s faithfulness in ways impossible to explain on a human or earthly level.  On this leg of his journey, the lung cancer was just a minor detail. Tony already took action by placing his trust in God’s hands.  He had faithful believers holding him up in prayer and from one unlikely circumstance to another, the way was made for Tony to receive treatment for his cancer at Mayo Clinic.  That in itself was not too extraordinary.  What was extraordinary was how the timing of his treatment hurdled over the usual timeline for cases like his. Through this “unusual” timing, Tony was able to receive attention and care for his cancer.  Part of his treatment was a special type of radiation that made him feel quite afraid.   Even though there were doctors in the room, he felt alone.   As he lay stil...