Happy Anniversary?

Anniversary's are a day that mark an occasion.

Some are happy like the anniversary of the day you married your soul mate, or the anniversary of the day you first opened your own business.

Some are solemn like the anniversary of the day you lost your child to an illness, or the day our nation remembers a tragedy.   

I'm not real sure how to describe this anniversary.

January 20, 2011 started as a normal day for the Brown family.
And as I try to do each morning, I spent time in reading God's Word and prayer.
And just like each morning in prayer with my Father; I prayed for Him to make me know His ways, to teach me His paths, and to lead me in His truth (Psalm 25:4,5).

Within just a few hours of that prayer, my life was remarkably different than anything I could have imagined.   It has been a long year.

When I prayed that prayer - did I mean it?

I had a car wreck on a  bad winter day.  The wreck was pretty forceful and there wasn't much left of my car but I didn't have a single scratch.  Not a single scratch.  What I did have was a mass that had never been seen before.  It has been a long year.

That led to scans and tests and tests and scans.  Those led to biopsies and hospitals and hospitals and biopsies.  It has been a long year.

I've become an expert at searching the internet for medical terms, patient blogs, and diagnosis.  It has been a long year.

There have been IV's, prescriptions, consults, insurance papers, hospital gowns, amazing doctors, vital signs, wheelchairs, excellent nurses, bandages, tubes, waiting rooms, questionnaires, machines, hospital food, and many many prayers, cards, visits, hugs, kisses, tears, and incredible friends.  It has been a long year.
 
It's not cancer.  It's a rare disease (so rare that less than 200 people per year are diagnosed) called Castleman's Disease.  There are 2 kinds of the disease and I have the better one.   There are 2 variations of this kind and yes, I have the better one of it as well.

So now exactly one year later on the anniversary of the wreck, we met with a surgeon and made plans for the removal.   It won't be a simple surgery but it's an answer.   Its been a long year.

"We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken."       2 Corinthians 4:8-9 MSG

It's been a long year.  It has been a GREAT year!


This past year has been a year that gave me more time alone with my Father, a chance to sit up close to Him and to hear His voice, to see His people at work in the way they ministered to me, to feel Him holding me when I was my weakest and to see over and over that He was truly going before me throughout everyday of this past year.  I still don't know all the answers and have so much more to grow.

I prayed for Him to make me know His ways, to teach me His paths, and to lead me in His truth 

(Psalm 25: 4, 5)

There has been peace.  There has been rest.  There has been help.  There has been joy.  There has been blessing.  There has been comfort.  There has been mercy.  There has been security.   There has been power.  There has been thanksgiving.  There has been grace.  There has been strength.  There has been love.   So much love lavished on me by the Father.

It has been a great year!  
Happy Anniversary.