Hope is in the Air

Posted: 06 Dec 2017 03:30 AM PST By Rebecca Ruiz   IgnatianSpirituality.com ® is a service of Loyola Press, a Jesuit ministry. Full article Hope Opens New Horizons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just last week I was reading the daily posts sent out by Loyola Press when the one noted above came into my inbox and shook me down to my foundation!  What a beautiful way to describe the recent experience of being healed in spirit.  In the three weeks since coming home from KGH my heart and mind have remained open and joyful.  While the person perched on the rock in the picture cannot see the horizon clearly, they appear open and ready for whatever may come their way. It's very much how I feel now,  welcoming each new day with no idea of what surprises might be in store.  Somehow, in some way, I've been rescued from the dark and often gloomy, slides down rabbit holes since we started these Adventures in Prayer & Medicine in 2012. It's hard to imagine, in August 2017, we crossed the five year mark down this path.   Had I taken the prognosis of at least one physicians seriously, I'd be long dead by now.  After all on June 25, 2013, a mere two weeks after major spinal surgery, I found a note in my medical file which read something like 'patient advised of metastases to liver, resulting in shortened life span, likely less than a year.'  Can you imagine if I'd allowed that to take over what life I had left?  As it was, it took several months to pry loose the armour of fear, regret, sadness and any other 'poor me' emotions you can think of.  Fortunately for me, buried deep down inside there has always been a spark of hope telling me 'You're a survivor'.  Here we are, still beating the odds, and if Pope Francis' words ring true, who knows what developments may come along in the treatment of this disease while I'm busy living the life I was meant to enjoy. On reflection, it took this latest fall down a rabbit hole to finally shake loose the helmet of a lifetime of memories and experiences which allowed the enemy to worm its way into my psyche.  While on the surface I remained cheerful, it was the deep down feelings that could rain on any party I might be enjoying.  Unless you've had such experiences these comments may not resonate with you.  Somehow though, I think each of us has those pesky intruders buzzing around inside of us.  Suffice it to say, this face to face experience, staring cancer right in the eye of its wickedness, God has answered my prayer of not being defined nor identified by the illness.  He seems to have also blessed me with a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card to wipe out any past blemishes and hurts of the past and look forward with hope, regardless of what the future may hold. Another perk which comes with giving it all up to God are the God Winks sprinkled along my path on almost a daily basis.  I've written before about this little book from several years ago called 'When God Winks' by SQuire Rushnell (yes the Q is capitalized), former head of ABC broadcasting.  He writes with the premise there are no coincidences, only God's affirmation we are on the right path.  He encourages us all to keep a 'coincidence journal' and use it as a way to look back on how events unfold from some seemingly fleeting experience.   One such experience comes from a couple of weeks ago when I had been sharing with someone about a local physician/historian who proved the miracle for the first Canadian born saint.  She's from Kingston, yup right here in town.  As we were leaving KGH one day recently, as we passed through a door, a poster on it jumped out at me almost singing about this same physician giving a talk on the same topic the following day!  Oh my, I had chemo scheduled the following day.  Well the next day it felt like we were rushing even if getting chemo is not something one can 'rush' and I made it in time for the talk over at Queen's.  This was through the generosity of our neighbour Hank, since Mike was busy, finally getting to live a little more of his own life since my hospitalization.  So there I was, taped up from chemo, waiting like an anxious child for some superhero to enter the room.  Best ever was being able to get her book autographed (I had actually thought to bring it with me).  No, best ever was getting permission to contact her!  I have a vision of recruiting others to organize a talk for people looking for hope.  Make sense?  I thought so too. There are many, many more such examples but if I took the time to share them in this post, it would be time to write the next one.  At this point I'm not sure where it's going to lead but I know God validated my idea and now I just have to wait to have it present more information about the logistics.  I'm excited beyond measure of the possibilities which exist.  They exist in large part because my brain isn't being drained of energy by ruminating about the dark side of things.  It's really hard to explain, but it's true. Last Saturday set the stage for the season as Matt, Jaclyn, Ella and I attended a Christmas concert put on by Michelle Kasaboski and organized by her (identical) twin sister Paige!  I have listened to this songbird (as the real ones flit by my window this morning) since she was eight years old.  She is now 26 and decided to focus on music as her passion and work.  I've long said when someone has the music in them, they have the music in them and they must find a way to share it with others.  This is definitely one such case.  I was moved to tears when just before the break, Michelle and her musical friend Roy, dedicated the Prayer Song by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli to, of all the people in the audience, to me!  As the tears rolled down my face, little Ella reached out, put her hand on arm to comfort me, understanding they were 'happy tears'.  By the end of the performance, Ella herself, snuggled in Daddy's arms was crying a river of 'happy tears', she was so taken by the music.  Don't hesitate to Google Michelle Kasaboski, she will be easily found. We're only a week away from Christmas and somehow I thought I had another week as well so now am wondering what to do with the shortened time line.  If ever there was a year to shift our traditions, this might be it given having lost two full weeks to my hospital stay.  Hmmm, perhaps something to pray about rather than fuss about and let things happen as they may.  After all, of late I've also been letting go of attending functions I previously would have thought imperative for me to attend.  Well the sun still comes up, time still marches on despite me not attending a few events.  I'm sort of surprised how much fun it is to give up doing things which, while fun, may have seemed somehow obligatory, thereby taking the fun out of it. Only being a week away from Christmas has not removed my joy of sending Christmas cards which have to be out early this week so I will sign off by wishing you a very Merry Christmas. A Happy and Healthy New Year and a sack full of thank yous for your support, prayers and kind thoughts. By the time I write again we will either be ringing in, or have just rang in the start of 2018.  Enjoy time with family and friends, take care and God Bless. Hugs, Liz dobbsjones@gmail.com "Prayers wrapped in faith and sent with love are the greatest gifts we can receive."