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"For you have been called to live in freedom. Use your freedom to serve one another in love." - Galatians 5:13
With love and hope,
Shawn
Living Out Love
🎉Yesterday we celebrated our 15 year anniversary🎉
Since we started dating, over 20 years ago, the best gift Stephen has given me is loving me for me.
From the day we met, I never felt I needed to be anyone but myself with him...and he still liked me!
Stephen sees the good, bad, and ugly side of me and continues, to this day, to meet with me patience, kindness and humor. He is willing to say things I may not want to hear (but need to) and I know he has my best interest at heart.
We have ridden many waves together in our marriage, from my anxiety and depression to my cancer diagnosis, and its aftermath. He never fails to show up, listen, and hold my hand.
I share this with you today because this is love. And I haven’t always been the best giver of it to him. Ten years ago I thought about leaving for my own selfish reasons, but I chose to stay and live out love towards him too.
That choice transformed my heart and our marriage. What you see between Stephen and I today is because we have chosen to say yes to one another repeatedly on the hills, in the valleys and everywhere in between.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (below) is often read at weddings. It was read at ours. But rather than it being something simply said on our wedding day, it is now the foundation on which I choose to live out love towards my husband.
If you are in a relationship that needs renewing, I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
May we read the following words & allow them to be absorbed by our hearts. May we acknowledge there is truth in them...at the start of every relationship we live these truths out...but as time passes, we stray from them.
May we be intentional, & directional, & live these truths out to those beside us so our hearts & relationships will be transformed.
May we live out love💕🙏💕
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
With love and hope,
Shawn
Be A Part of Someone's Healing
I spent the week with this crew💝 They didn’t know it but their presence was healing.
Their joy, laughter, calm, and insights were refreshing.
They each bring so much to my life, and to one another. We aren’t a perfect family but we love each other above all else, and that is enough.
If you too have been on a wavy ride recently, I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
May we give thanks for this life we have been given, and the people we get to share it with. May we pour love their way and receive the love they pour our way. May we never take for granted the gift of time together and the unique beauty each person brings to our life. May we recognize the power of our presence in other’s lives, and be a part of each other’s healing by the love we share when we are together, or apart.
With love and hope,
Shawn
God is Good, Always
God is good.
People say this a lot when they hear good news. Yet I want to remind people that God is good even when we receive bad news.
God never changes. He never has. He is the same today as He was yesterday and will be tomorrow.
I share that with you having received news that my bloodwork was good. I am beyond relieved to hear this. Yet I say that with the knowing other people have received other results to their tests.
The only thing I have found to hold onto on this wavy ride in life we are on are God’s promises. They are the one thing I have found to hold onto that allow me to see the beautiful horizon, even in the midst of the largest storm.
I share this to remind all of us who feel like we are drowning at times in the seas of the unknown, whatever your struggle may be, I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
May we remember God is good at all times and is our ever present help in trouble. May we hold on to His promises to keep us afloat no matter the tide.
With love and hope,
Shawn
P.S. Thank you for your encouraging notes and prayers friends💕🙏💝
At the Cross
Yesterday was a joyful day but here is the truth behind the celebration...
As the years move on, with ACC, the reoccurrences are more likely. The further you move away from treatments with most cancers, you are told you are in remission. With ACC, we are never told those words. I personally say I am cancer free until I am told otherwise to soften that truth for myself, and for others too.
I don’t share this for pity but to share the truth I have to live with, and my ACC family has to live with every day.
And over the past month, having lost many people in our ACC family and many having reoccurrences, fear has been creeping back in as I wonder if it will be back, and if so, when.
I know that is not the place I want to live but it is a natural place I circle through before I put my feet back in the solid ground of my faith.
I start and end my day, and my walks, literally at the cross. Prayer is my saving grace to help me move through my days with greater peace and joy, even with the uncertainty of what tomorrow holds.
In full transparency, I have to go for more bloodwork and possibly another MRI this week due to a new symptom I am experiencing.
If I didn’t have my faith to lean into, I don’t think I’d be standing.
Joy for me is in the promise Jesus gives me. Joy is not found in my circumstances.
I share this because I am not the only one who lives in this space, looking down the trail of the unknown. For those who too are on this walk with me, I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
Although we may be uncertain of the path before us, may we be certain in this, God is with us every step of the way. He may not take away our struggles but may we trust He is using them to refine us, and others, in the process so we can live with faith, and not fear, as the foundation we walk upon each day.
With love and hope,
Shawn
Shine Bright
Happy summer friends☀️
On my walk today with Georgia the bugs were everywhere. As I swatted them away I started to laugh. I have been so ready for summer but with it comes bugs. I know it sounds silly but what I am getting at is every season has something we could complain about.
The winter is too cold.
The spring too rainy.
The summer too buggy.
The fall too short.
The same is true for the seasons of life, right?
I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
May we enter this new season with new eyes. Rather than seeing what is wrong, may we seek all there is to be grateful for. Yes, there will always be something to complain about but our time and energy are better spent on seeing the good in the season we are in. I know it is easy to get tangled in the webs of complaining, I do it myself. But it gets me wrapped up and weighed down where there is no forward momentum.
Complaining keeps me stuck.
In gratitude there is freedom.
So may we move forward in this day and season without complaining. Instead, may we seek what is good so the darkness grows small and the light shines brighter, and brighter ☀️🙏💕
With love and hope,
Shawn
Forever Grateful
I remember a couple of years ago being on a walk with my family and watching Stephen walk beside our children. In that moment I had such peace in my heart knowing that our kids would be okay, no matter the outcome of my walk with cancer, because they had him by their side in life. It is a moment I will never forget.
I will never be able to express how much Stephen means to me, and to our kids. I am forever grateful for how he walks beside them, and me, every day, in every way.
Happy Fathers Day to Stephen and to all the Dads out there💕🙏💕
With love and appreciation,
Shawn
Rest In Peace Friends
This morning I walked in memory of Vickey and Gabriele. These two women were the first ones I connected with when I was diagnosed with ACC.
Last month we lost Vickey and yesterday Gabe passed away.
They were both initially diagnosed over 10 years ago, yet both experienced reoccurrences with ACC which caused their passing.
Gabe and Vickey inspired many, including me. They lived and loved fully and deeply knowing that tomorrow isn’t promised. They did what they could do with the day before them to make the most of their time here beside their loved ones. They both were brave and hopeful and were active in raising awareness and funds for ACC even in the midst of their battle.
My heart is sad for their families and friends, and for our ACC family. We have lost two amazing women, and we still have so many fighters in the ring with ACC😔 I hope we someday are able to find a cure for ACC. (If you would like to donate to Gabe’s nonprofit, please visit Brave Like Gabe).
Vickey and Gabe, may you Rest In Peace in God’s warm embrace. Thank you for being a radiant light of love in my life and many others. I will always remember you💕🙏💕
With gratitude and love,
Shawn
Let Them Step Up
🎉Yesterday Gavin turned 12🎉
Watching our kids grow is beautiful...and hard. I love watching them step more into who God made them to be but to do so I am seeing that I need to start stepping to the side.
For example, Gav got this pitchback for his birthday and started setting it up himself. I wanted so badly to step in to help him yet, in spite of my strong desire to go close, I knew it was best for him for me to say, “You got this. Reach out if you need a hand.”
So I said that and stepped aside. Although my outside was calm and confident, internally I was aching to lend him a hand and be doing the project with him.
Yet he patiently persevered and put it together himself, step by step. He had to undo and redo things a couple of times, but rather than stepping in to fix it for him, I watched him from afar work it out in his own. At one point he did reach out for a hand when an extra one was needed and I was grateful that he asked, and that I was able to lend a hand.
I won’t pretend I do this perfectly all the time but my hope is that I give our children space to rise up, and mess up, and rise up again so they can nourish life skills they will need as future adults.
I share this because I know I am not the only parent who struggles stepping aside to help our kids grow. If you can relate, I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
May we recognize that sometimes helping our children means stepping to the side. Doing so won’t always feel right in the moment, but may we trust it’s the right thing in the long term. May we walk beside them as they grow and do what is ours to do to help them grow into their best self, which sometimes means not doing anything at all but being a supportive fan from the sidelines.
With love and hope,
Shawn
Treasure What You Have While It's Here
Today was a gift as my parents are back in town visiting and we were able to celebrate my Dad’s birthday with him🎉🙏💝
The little moments together, like this one, are ones I took for granted when they lived close by. Now that they live in NC, I am recognizing that every bit of time I get with my parents, and being able to celebrate birthdays beside them, is truly a gift🎁
I share this with you today in case you too have taken a relationship, and/or time with a loved one for granted. I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
Whether we are near or far, may we treasure the gift of time we have together. May we be present for the moments we get and celebrate one another, on birthdays - or on any day for that matter!
As always, it’s easier said than done. Yet the saying is true, “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” May we realize what we have while we have it. And even when we don’t get the quantity of time we desire, may we make up for it in the quality of our time together💗
With gratitude and hope,
Shawn