Beautiful Dedication

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." Hebrews 11:1, NLT

Tonight I was blessed to be able to witness the baptism of two guys very special in my life; my husband's cousin, Jason, who has been part of our life together since the very beginning, and Alex, Jason's daughter's boyfriend who has joined in as part of the family. There were a multitude of family members in attendance for this joyous profession of faith and that in itself is a blessing. I love baptisms and the outward sign it represents that someone is ready to live their life for the Lord. I get teary-eyed even when it's total strangers.
As the pastor was giving his sermon, it started off so close to where my heart is these days...faith. Reading the verse above, it continues to resonate in my soul. For since my journey has very first started, faith has been what it's all about for me. It's the confidence that what I hope for will happen. That God will heal me completely and that my story will be used for His glory. There are things that I pray for continuously and have for years. Prayers that would make such a difference in my life and the lives of my family. One of these specific prayers continued to shout itself out when I first found out about my cancer. I just keep thinking that if I can keep the faith and profess it every chance I get, it could make a difference and this prayer would be answered.
I have always believed in signs from God, whether it be a verse or an unexpected blessing, or anything else. There are just times when I know that God Himself brought it to my attention. Like the yellow butterflies that have always symbolized my grandfather and my brother who watch over me from Heaven...they have always been for me a sign that everything is going to be okay. I can't remember the specific verse now, but as I left my appointment the day of my biopsy, I was pretty upset and the first thing I saw was on Facebook- a message that was posted by the staff of my church and it couldn't have been more perfect. The day I was diagnosed, Greg and I opened up a devotional book we bought and the verse was "Do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." Matthew 6:34 The lesson~ The believer is not to worry about his future.~ We have been so abundantly blessed since we started this crazy life and everything has come in perfect timing, so why worry? Just HAVE FAITH!!!
I have so many people telling me how inspiring I have been and how they admire my strength and I pray that they will know that all of my strength, patience, courage, and joy comes from the Lord. It is surely Him working through me. I pray that I will feel Him every minute for the rest of my life, even after I have been healed and life gets back to normal. I actually hope life takes on a new normal. A normal where I am never anxious for anything, where I pray about everything, where I never take anything for granted.