Be Patient, Be Kind

I have a lot on my mind and I’m not quite sure how all of this will flow together, so we’ll just see where the Lord leads.

On the health front, my doctors decided to “watch and wait”...very closely. They will be doing my “restaging” on July 7-8 when they will do another round of extensive labs and a bone marrow biopsy. Before then, the Ortho team will be taking images of my knees and doing a re-evaluation of my joint problems. The T-Cells did a number on my joints!

They have also prescribed aquatic therapy with the hope that it will help me regain not only some strength, comfort, and range of motion in my joints but also regain strength and stamina overall. I am actually looking forward to it! We continue to covet your prayers.

During the last couple of months, we have been to three weddings, had a new grandbaby, and have mourned the loss of several …mostly parents of friends, and one husband of a lifelong friend. The weddings were filled with joy, family and friends, and lots of remembering and stories. The birth of our newest grandson was as well. As I attended the memorial services that I could, I found much of the same thing. While there were tears at all three, for different reasons, there was joy, family and friends, and stories.

There was something else that I found in common. Every one of these had a deep, lifelong, multi-generational relationship with the Lord. It wasn’t a relationship of lip service only. It was one of truth and commitment, grace and forgiveness. It was there to provide peace at a home-going, confidence in marriage, a full heart at the birth of a child.

I watched yesterday as some of my dearest friends made their final tributes to their mother and grandmother. I listened to how her sweet husband loved her as Christ loved the Church, sacrificially, with patient care and kindness, all the days of her life. What a precious testimony.

I was then reminded of my own sweet husband and his tender, kind care, his patient ways, his complete commitment to protect and provide, and my heart begged for many more years to grow old together.

At my appointment earlier in the week, I told my doctor that while I don’t struggle with the fact that I still have cancer, the lack of stamina is what makes me sad or frustrated. I spent my whole life going at a break-neck pace, and now…well let’s just say I take things quite a bit slower. She just smiled and said that it took them a while to get me this way (with all the chemo, cells, drugs, etc…not to mention the disease itself), it’s going to take a while to get better. “Be patient, be kind to yourself.”

That was probably the best advice I’ve gotten in a long time. And if you think about it, it’s really good advice for just about anyone. It can also be turned around. Simply be patient, be kind. My, that would cover quite a lot!

As I again think of Mr. Martin and the years that he loved and cared for Paddy, his patient loving kindness stands out for not only his family but all who knew them to follow.

Be patient, be kind.


“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other,
just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”
Ephesians 4:32

“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you, But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”
Micah 6:8

“With all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love”
Ephesians 4:2

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant”
1 Corinthians 13:4

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23