Tonight I joined brother elders in praying for a pilgrim headed home. Lacy appears to be nearing the final stretches of a long battle with cancer. She asked us to come to her home and pray and anoint her with oil.
I was honored to do so as she was part of a group of women who had come around Nancy once she was diagnosed with cancer. Now it was time to acknowledge the strange and special partnership that suffering yields.
Yes, it was challenging to walk into the valley once more. Watching Lacy squirm in pain brought me back to places of pain I would rather avoid. This is not what HE intended when HE spoke creation. I shouldn't have to watch this again. No one should have to experience this again.
Still, you go because there was never a place so dark that HE avoided. But there is more than stoic endurance to be found here. Somehow when HE shows up among suffering HIS peace flows over the pain. A mysterious "healing" happens. And there is fierce joy in the expectation that another weary traveller is about to find her race completed.
And you hear the crowded stadium resound again with cheers: "C'mon sister stay the course. You are almost there!!!"
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Lacy was Rebekah's 1st teacher at NLNS. She is such a sweet lady - we will be praying for her and her family. Thanks for being willing to walk in these hard places.
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