Praises in Adversities: Happy Birthday Mom

Today we celebrate the birthday of Mom. I use the term “celebrate” loosely. Dad and I are here in Florida with my wife and children. My brother David and his family are in California. My sister Deborah is in Tennessee with her husband. Meanwhile, Mom continues her treatment in Houston at MD Anderson.

While she doesn’t have immediate family, Mom does have good support. She’s with two of her sisters – Connie and Betty. There’s also good support coming from her brother-in-law, Cesar, and two nieces, Adrienne and Roan.

Still, I wish she could celebrate with at least some immediate family nearby.

Even in her third year battling cancer, Mom tries to bite off more than she can chew – perhaps to her detriment.

Biting Off More Than We Can Chew

Over the holidays, Deborah and her husband flew in from Tennessee. David and Beverly flew from California with his three girls. Seizing upon the moment, Mom wanted to put together a family music program for the church. If you know my Mom, you understand that she also has to bring food to this event. We also decided to do a baby dedication for the morning church service. Furthermore, prior to the weekend, we had booked an Airbnb in Saint Augustine, Florida where we could have our family reunion after attending a New Year’s Party. While we were going through all this, Mom had almost completely recovered from a bout of gastroenteritis that had her down for an entire week.

So within five days we planned on doing all of the following: A New Year’s Party, a 3-day trip to Saint Augustine, a baby dedication, a family music program for the church, and food for 300 church members after the program. I can’t believe that during this time we were thinking about how we could even throw a baby shower in the mix.

If your thinking, that’s way too much for your mom to handle, then you would be absolutely correct. Mom went to the New Year’s party. The following day we left for Saint Augustine. The day after she spiked a fever of 101. She had to drive 3 hours back to our home town with Dad, Deborah and Stephen to be hospitalized. She would miss out on the baby dedication, the music program, and the food.

But not even a hospitalization holds Mom back. Instead of canceling food for 300 people, she continued to coordinate the event from her hospital bed. She was able to see the baby dedication and music program streaming live. Furthermore, she shared her testimony on video from her hospital bed so this could be broadcasted to the church. In it she said that even with her struggles she continues to have a deep abiding trust in her Heavenly Father Yahweh. There wasn’t a dry eye in the church afterward.

 

How Mom Is Doing Now

I see this in Mom and I see it elsewhere, too – an ability to maintain optimism for the future, to still praise God in the middle of adversity. It seems to me a thing of divine origin. And it’s something Mom will continue to need.

Mom flew back to MD Anderson last week. During that time she began to experience right-sided chest wall pain. It was a sharp severe pain made worse whenever she would lie down or get up or even breathe. She was evaluated by her oncologist and admitted to the hospital that same day. The tumor in her chest involving her sternum had grown. It was now 2.9 inches x 2.5 inches x 2.4 inches and even extending into the space in front of her heart. She would receive high dose chemotherapy and radiation in an attempt to shrink the tumor.

Blessings in Adversities

And yet through all this we see blessings. Providentially during this time, her close friend Shirley Habaradas was visiting for the week. She has been by Mom’s side while in the hospital.  I still get to call Mom on the phone and pray. Every time, she expresses thanks for life and praises our Heavenly Father’s goodness. I’ve never seen my Mom’s faith as strong as it has been during the last two and half years of battling cancer.

Perhaps that’s the point of our adversities. All of us will experience adversities and all of us will eventually die. The issue seems to be how we respond. Because our response will either give glory to God or diminish him. It will either inspire faith or merely bring about pity.

A church member, Sister Mavis, asked me about how Mom was doing. I told her she has her struggles but that I get to pray with her regularly and her faith is strong. She quipped, “If we all had faith like that woman, we’d be in heaven by now.”

Happy Birthday, Mom. I know you’re reading this. Continue steadfast in your faith. I love you.