Life happens in stages. We know that to well. Each season prepares us for the next one or should anyway. Humans go from conception to birth to infancy to childhood, to youth to young adult to full fledge grown-up, then middle age hits, followed by the long-awaited twilight years that welcome us, but not always with open arms. I don’t have a favorite time. Every stage of my life was challenging. That I managed to move from one stage to the next was nothing but God’s grace. I would not want to relive or change any part of it. I have no idea the kind of woman I would have become had my life gone off in a different direction. 

I am reminded of a movie Failure to Launch, a 2006 movie, with Sarah Jessica Parker. Her character is hired by parents whose adult son has yet to move out on his own. In his mid-thirties, this grown man shows no interest in moving out. He has it made. Why would he want to disrupt his cozy life? I can admit, the only men I knew still living at home had taken on the task of caring for an aging parent. They moved from one stage to one they probably were not expecting. I moved from being married to being divorced and a single parent. I was not expecting that turnabout of events.

So to everything, I have accepted, there is a season and a purpose under God’s direction. What that is, well…

I am persuaded that God directs our steps. And that they do not always lead where we want them go. The lessons inevitably await us.

I started feeling ill late last week. I have a lot of GI issues. When my stomach aches I have a routine that resolves the pain. I did not want to alarm my husband, but this time around, the pain felt different. It was more intense. Not eating for a day calmed my ache for a bit, but on Sunday, yesterday, the pain was back. My husband asked how I was feeling. I finally told him I should go to urgent care to make sure the pain was not something more serious, like with my kidneys. So, we went. Being Sunday morning, I did not have to wait. I saw the doc and explained my pain and such. When she examined me, she was like, “You are tender all over.” I had to agree. I was in pain. So, she ran some tests, blood, urine, x-rays and an ultrasound. Well, she asked if I was going to wait for the results. I was in pain so yes. We waited for the results.

Well. This took most of the morning. When the results came back the doc calls me back. She sits next to me and says, “You have a lot going on.” I was like, “Oh no.” As it turned out my pain was indeed different. First, the x-ray showed I had a kidney stone. The blood work showed my pancreas was irritated. The ultrasound showed stones in my kidneys. And my liver has signs of hardening. The liver info, I did not quite understand. She explained a bit and said it was probably a fatty liver, but she was referring me to a liver specialist for further evaluation. Well. I shared the results with my husband. And he was surprised by the results but also thankful that I had decided to go the urgent care clinic.

Hearing the results did not shake me as much as when I was diagnosed with cancer in the palate in 2023. I was shocked by that diagnosis. I did not even know you could get cancer in the palate – but you can. The following year my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. That same year my brother was diagnosed with skin cancer. On Saturday, I was at a church function and met a woman there who had undergone chemo therapy for stomach cancer. She actually had to have her stomach removed. This woman shared part of her testimony with us. And her story was all too familiar, one of survival of childhood trauma and cancer to boot. As she shared her story, I thought about a close relative who had experienced a very similar childhood. And I thought. Gosh, I think most of us have more stories of survival, and redemption than we care to admit, or even recall. Too often, an illness brings up many of these memories.

Our shared experiences make us human. These experiences connect us in ways that sometimes, we can’t even explain. Sometimes, hearing others share their stories remind us of our own, or someone else’s. At least, it does for me. Through it all, I see the Lord working in us, through our experiences, to get us to a place where we consider the human experience. There is a purpose. We are not just born into a world where we live and die unto ourselves. We touch the life of others. They may be in our orbit, maybe not. But in some fashion, at some point we do touch the life of another. Maybe not everyone is touched by my lived experiences, but my experiences are not anymore or any less consequential in the eyes of a holy God.

This world is passing away. As fellow believers how we live out our lives matters. We never know when our lives are going to touch another life. Our stories of survival and redemption are for a season, for a purpose under heaven orchestrated by a holy God. I rarely talk about my palate cancer. But, I have seen many people share their cancer journey on social media. In that instance, my experience does not compare. Cancer is an experience I would rather not share, but…

But there is purpose to everything the Lord had created.

Be blessed.