When we put this truth into practice it will transform our hearts, our homes, our schools, our communities, our nations and our world 🌎
Let’s be the change we need to see in the world💕🙏💕
With love and hope,
Shawn
"You cannot serve God and money." - Matthew 6:24
A truth about cancer is that just when you think you’re fine, it reminds you that it’s effect can linger.
Last Friday we had the dodgeball tournament and this was me the next day, while my daughter and a couple friends went shopping.
The old me could be on my feet for 7 hours dodging balls no problem, the healing me ended up in leg spasms all night. I had promised my daughter I’d do this the following day (her bday!) and there was no way I was backing out.
So I modified. I walked around (far behind them🤓) and then sat outside the stores and read. I gave thanks for the stores with chairs outside of them and for the others, I simply sat on the ground, like this.
Thankfully, now a week later, my legs are finally feeling well again💝
I share this for all of us healing from cancer - or other illnesses. Though we may be doing well overall, if/when there is a set back, may we not allow it to stop us from still living this beautiful life we have been given but instead may we choose to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
And receive wisdom on how we can continue to move forward, imperfectly, in spite of our set back.
And may we always remember that cancer may have impacted our bodies but may we not allow it to touch our Spirit.
With love and hope,
Shawn
Today is the anniversary of my maxillectomy surgery.
Reflecting back to that morning, the fear that gripped my heart was palpable. I was up before dawn, and with tear stained eyes I made a video for my children saying hello, that I love them and that I'd see them soon.
The truth behind the video was that I feared not being there for them in the future. With my earbuds in, we drove over to Mass Eye and Ear where I just sat praying and listening to my calming music with songs like Trust in You by Lauren Daigle.
Once I was called in, I told Stephen to mark down every person who helped us. From the nurse who walked us back, Kathy O'Brien who hung my fluids bag before surgery, etc. Every person that crossed our path I watched how their part, though not as big as my surgeons, was needed for my surgery to be a success.
I watched and witnessed trying to focus on the good happening around me until my anesthesiologist gave me a pill that made me feel a little drowsy. I held Stephen's hand tight until I had to go. As I was wheeled away from my guy, I prayed my heart out into that surgery room. As I lay there I asked if everyone could come around me so I could give thanks for them before the surgery.
The medicine kicked in more and more and I have no idea if I ended up saying anything. What I do know is that in my ear, a beautiful voice whispered, God loves you. Jesus loves you. God is with you. Jesus is with you.
And I drifted off to sleep to the sound of her calming, reassuring voice and truth being spoken into my heart.
I share this with you because God showed me on that challenging day that He was with me. He placed a resident from Europe in my surgery room that day to whisper those words into my ear as I drifted off to sleep.
I share this with you because I know God is with you today beside you on your path too. In that surgery room, God spoke into my heart truth in a language that resonated with me. I wholeheartedly believe He too has placed people beside you on your path, to calm and encourage you. The words they speak I believe will be ones that resonate with your heart.
I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
I am not unique. God is speaking into our hearts everyday. Yours included. Some circumstances, like laying on a hospital bed waiting for surgery, may open our ears a little more. Yet I know sitting here in my den this morning He seeks to speak into my heart too.
I offer to you to consider wherever you are today, and wherever you go, consider that God is placing people beside you to speak truth and love into your heart, to calm and encourage you for your journey, to let you know you are not alone.
There is no greater comfort I receive than knowing God is beside me on this journey in life and is placing people along my path to remind me of that. And I wholeheartedly believe, He is with you, and doing the same for you too.
With love and hope
Shawn
"Do not fear for I am with you, I will strengthen you and help you." - Isaiah 41:10
One of my goals this year is to take the lemons from last year and turn them into lemonade - aka taking my cancer anniversaries and turning them into something good that can bless someone else.
On January 25, my cancer diagnosis date, I created 'My Cancer Walk' (in pictures) on my website to be a visual, and an encouragement, to someone who is on their journey or has a loved one who is walking with cancer.
March 15th marks the date of my surgery when I had my palate, three upper back teeth and their gums removed. This year I created a Dodgeball FUNdrasier for our community the week of this anniversary to raise awareness and funds for ACCRF, Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation - and make good of a day that last year was not so good.
Our community came together, had fun and made a HUGE difference for ACC community! With their generosity, as of today, our community raised over $10,000 for ACCRF (with a few more donations on their way!). Isn't that amazing?!?! 100% of the money raised goes to ACCRF and 100% of the funds they receive will be used to for research.
My prayer over all of this is that someday when someone hears they have ACC, they will also hear how they will be cured and the possibility of a reoccurrence will be something of the past.
Cancer was never something that was on my radar, but now it is part of my past and it's memory is something I will always carry with me. (Taking my obturator out morning and night and my scans every few months for life will not allow me to forget.) Yet I am choosing to not let this be something that I will put on my shoulders and weigh me down in life. Instead I am choosing to place cancer beneath me as a stepping stone to rise up on. I pray to live more authentically and purposefully with each step I take and in each day I am blessed to live this life I have been given.
I continuously give thanks for my journey with cancer as it has, and continues to, teach me that life is meant to be lived by coming beside others, loving them and helping them rise up too. When we do this, we rise up ourselves, maybe not in society standards but in our hearts, living more connected to the person we were made to be.
Cancer. Yes, it's a lemon. Yet it can be turned into lemonade when we take it and realize it wasn't a purposeless event in our lives, but one that was given to us to live more purposefully.
Maybe your lemon is cancer, or maybe it is something else. I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
Whatever our struggles may be, may we trust that it isn't a purposeless event or one that was made to weigh us down in life. May we trust that it happened so we may see life through a new lens, one with clarity, purpose and direction so we may live with purpose each day and help others rise up along the way.
With gratitude, love and hope,
Shawn
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28
Having cancer was not something I ever would have wanted yet there is a beauty in the connections I have made with others because of it.
When I meet other survivors, or family members of those with cancer, we skip the surface talk and get right to the heart of life.
These friendships are a gift and something good that cancer brought into my life that I am forever grateful for.
I share this with you because we all have had our share of struggles in life. I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
And If you haven’t already, I invite you to consider connecting with others with a similar struggle. There is a beauty in those connections, a freedom that comes with it, and a safe place where you can speak for hours or sit in silence and your heart is understood.
With gratitude and hope,
Shawn
"Thanks be to God, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." - 2 Corinthians 1:4
❄️Today we had another snow day which gave us some time to bake up some loaves of my Great-Great Grandmother’s 🍀Irish soda bread🍀
Last year I was a little preoccupied with my upcoming surgery to bake and I am thankful to be carrying on this tradition again this year💝
Gratitude and joy~ They are found in the little things😊
With love,
Shawn
This morning I had a moment of clarity as to the core of my struggle on this side of cancer.
I came out of treatment ready to take on life...and that's just what I did.
I went after life as a wife, mom, writer, etc.
I took God from the driver seat, where I placed him during my journey with cancer, and I placed him in the passenger seat.
I have been waking up and spending time with God every day, yet I have been at the one driving us through our days, with God as my co-pilot.
This morning I am choosing to get out of the driver seat, and place God back behind the wheel and slide my way into the passenger seat again.
Why?
Because I have been unsettled within and I have been uncertain why. This morning when I realized that I had subconsciously taken the steering wheel back from God, I just knew that was it.
I need to speak less and listen more.
I need to not be so tied to my plans, I don't pay attention to the steps He is asking me to take.
For example, when I sat down to write this morning, a friend called. Yesterday, I would have sent that call to voicemail and continued doing what I had planned, write. Yet today instead, I...
Paused. Breathed. Prayed.
And I let go of my plan and picked up the phone. My friend and I had a lovely conversation and I made dinner while we spoke. When I hung up the phone I thanked God for showing me that there are times I have been avoiding a gift He has placed in my path because I was too narrowed sighted and focused on doing what I wanted to do.
I know there will be many times I will subconsciously hop back in the drivers seat in life but I am hopeful, with the awareness I received today, that I will remember that the peace I experienced through my journey with cancer was not because I was the driver on the journey. It was because I moved over and said, "God, I trust you with this journey, and with the outcome. You lead the way."
That same truth is true with day to day life, as a wife, mom and writer.
So I transparently come before you today to say, "I trust you God with my journey in life on this side of cancer. You will give me enough time to do what you need me to do while I am blessed to be here to do it. Instead of gripping the wheel, I am going to slide over and give it to you again. I will look out the window and enjoy the view of this beautiful world and the amazing people in it. May with you at the wheel I receive more joy and peace along this journey."
Have you considered asking yourself...
Who is driving your life?
If you too find that you have put God in the passenger seat - or maybe He's not even in the car - I invite you to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
And consider inviting Him into the car and/or into the driver's seat and sliding over into the passengers seat. I wholeheartedly believe this choice will transform our days, and life.
With love and hope,
Shawn
"He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me along the right paths." - Psalm 23:2-3
I love to write and share the messages on my heart. Yet there is nothing better than when I come out from behind the computer and share my stories with others in person.
Yesterday I had a wonderful morning at Storytellers Cottage reading A Place for Sam to a number of children. Their interest and engagement warmed my heart as they listened to Sam’s message. A couple decided to hop on my lap as I read💝
Yesterday confirmed something that has been on my heart for a while.
There is no substitute for human connection.
As much as I write and connect with people online, connecting with people in person is fuel for the soul. Whether it’s a tea date or walk with a friend or I am sharing the messages on my heart at events like yesterday, I need to get out and connect.
The same is true for our children AND for us as adults. We need to connect with others in person, not just through screens. Whether it's at home, school or at work, let’s get up and connect with one another. Yes it may not be convenient but it may actually fuel your soul - and which is more important in the long run? Convenience or real connection?
I share this with you today from my own place of needing to make the time for connecting with others in person.
Maybe you can relate?
I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
And let’s choose real connection over convenience. For at the end of the day, and our lives, it won’t be a screen we want to have beside us.
With love and hope,
Shawn
What wisdom there is in this way of living.
Our children have been born into a 'selfie' generation, by no fault of their own. We are turning the lens at ourselves more and more these days, and less often turning the lens to look at others.
What's so wrong about that?
Nothing is wrong when it is done to simply capture the moment, yet when it becomes our way of living, focusing only on ourself with disregard to how it may impact others, is where things begin to shift in a negative direction.
The choices we make impact others, from those beside us today to future generations. Yes, I believe in being in the moment, yet I also believe that the choices we make in the moment are to be thoughtful and considerate of those around us now, and those who will be coming behind us.
I invite you all to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
And choose to live out this wisdom in our lives. May we make choices in our lives, both small and large, that will positively impact others. May the decisions we make today be a worthy legacy to leave to the generations to come.
With love and hope,
Shawn
"The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who come after them." - Proverbs 20:7
Yesterday I woke up excited to wish my family Happy Valentine's Day and then last night I tucked my children in holding on to them a little longer. My heart breaks with the parents who will not have that moment again with their child, or the child with their parent.
I simply can't believe another school shooting happened - again.
There are so many layers to these tragedy's. And what all these layers reveal to me is that the way we are doing things is backwards.
We put money over people.
We put words over action.
We put tests over character.
We put shame over compassion.
We put selfishness over selflessness.
Our world is upside down and living from the outside in. Things need to change, from within the walls of our homes to our government's laws and policies.
The questions this leaves me with are...
What is mine to do?
What can I DO today that can be a part of the changes that are needed?
I wish I had clearly defined answers, for both of us. If you have ideas, please share them with me.
As I brainstorm, here are some action steps...
- We need to make time to connect with our loved ones consistently in person and let them know that they matter.
- We need to invite others into our homes that need connection too.
- We need to be an example to our children with our words and actions that violence is NOT an option to resolve conflict.
- We need to step in and stand up for what is right, even when it is hard.
- We need to listen to our children when they speak. Their truth may seem insignificant to our troubles but it is significant to them and their hearts and voices need a safe place to be heard.
-We need to break free from our comfortable circles and extend the hand of friendship to people different than ourselves.
- We need to judge less and love more.
- We need to demonstrate to our children how to build strong relationships with others - and if we don't know how, we need to humble ourselves and learn for their sake.
- We need to acknowledge our teachers are spread very thin and what is expected of them is superhuman.
- We need to put teaching the whole child at the center of education.
- We need to get programs established in schools (such as the Positivity Project and Growing Leaders) that connect with children, from the ones who are smiling with depressed hearts to the ones who are given in-school suspension or are expelled, and equip them with life skills that can help transform their life.
- We need our children to know we care more about their hearts and minds than about their test scores.
- We need to reach out to our lawmakers and demand they make decisions that are in the best interest of the children of our country (not based on who they are funded by) because that is a legacy that is worth leaving behind.
- We need lawmakers who will put people over money, who will stand up for what's right, even if they are standing alone, and who are compassionate and humble enough to see they are part of the problem - and the solution.
- We all need to choose to serve one another above ourselves.
These are some thoughts yet there are so many layers. I'd love to hear your constructive thoughts.
My hope is that we all take a moment to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
May we wrap these families and communities with our love and prayers and then go do what is ours to do, even if it feels like nothing. As Confucius said, "the man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."
Let's move one stone at a time and together we will move this mountain so no parent will have to lose their child, or child a parent, this way again.
With love, prayers and hope,
Shawn
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