Easter joy & celebration

"Hill of Calvary" from the Chow family

My friend Sandie shared from Kathleen Norris' "God For Us":

"We thank & praise you Lord, for the gift of your victory over death, for the gift of holy awe that comes upon us as we enter into our Easter joy. Christ has passed from death to life, may we always know you as our way through the desert, our food & drink as we thirst. You are our safe passage through treacherous waters & the home that awaits us at the end of all our journeys. In our doubts & in the pressures of our busy lives, we seem to lose you. Help us remember that you are always with us & that your way is always before us; we have only to pay attention to hear you call us by name. Teach us to recognize you in one another and with deep gratitude continue to bear witness to the life & hope with which you sustain the world. Amen." 

What a meaningful prayer to reflect on over the Easter weekend!

I thank our Lord for being our safe passage through the treacherous waters. For being our calm, our peace and our home. For strengthening and sustaining us as the fear of failed treatments, death and loss stared back at us. For his perfect timing. And for illuminating the past year as something to be thankful for - in those moments where we were tempted to ask where God was in our pain, we now see His overarching goodness and faithfulness.

And I thank God for all the amazing people in town who prayed for us, drove us to appointments, cooked for us, etc. We celebrated "no more chemo" and our  community with a brunch this past Saturday . It was really special to celebrate hope, good health, and awesome family and friends during a holiday that signified the ultimate love, hope and good-conquering-evil.

While not everyone could make it, we still had over 100 people come through our home over a span of 4 hours. We have been so blessed by amazing loving people. We prepared:

Driz, my pancake flipper extraordinaire

The very patient Alicia, who scrambled all the eggs with a tiny pan!

10 dozen eggs

10 kg of sausages

180 pancakes

7 lbs of pulled pork

A cauldron of fruit salad

20 lbs of berries

3 "maui loaves"

80 palmiers

10 L of lilikoi juice

6 L of Kona coffee

88 bars of handmade soap

140 cookies from Honolulu Cookie Co.

And while we were braced for utter chaos, and introverted Jer was half-joking that he's end up in the fetal position in our bedroom, it was a good and blessed time. We got to catch up a little with all these people whose generosity has blessed us in our time of need.

It looked like Spring had exploded in our home, despite the dreary rain outside!

At the end of

the anguish, pain and darkness of Good Friday

and the darkness of an imperfect and fallen world

comes the rejoicing of Easter Sunday...

the risen Lord and the God who meets us in our pain

and reminds us that we do not need to struggle through alone.

He is risen. He is risen indeed.

Psalm 23

Psalm 23, one of the most well known passages from the bible, has provided comfort for thousands of years in times where one is afraid or worried or bewildered by life.

There are many versions / translations of the bible which try to capture the rich meaning behind the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. They all bring out something different in this passage. The Message, translated into the modern vernacular, doesn't have the beauty of the more classic versions, but it did bring out the imagery of reviving my drooping head, which gave me so much strength when I was feeling beat down.

God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feel secure. You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing. Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life. (Psalm 23:1-6 MSG)

In this journey through loss, grief, infertility, cancer and joy, it has been a constant I come back to. I've quoted it many times in this blog. I've whispered it as my needle phobia kicks in each time I am poked. I've prayed it with my eyes squeezed shut as I get a CT scan.

When we were in Hawaii, one Sunday we decided to do family worship in our hotel. We sang a few songs of worship, then I read Psalm 23 and tried to explain it in a way that N could understand. I then shared about how comforting it was to have The Lord as our shepherd through the intense hardship of this past year.

One of the things that haunted me when we discovered the cancer was thoughts of all the ways N would be traumatized by this experience. He can be a bit of a worrier and I was worried about how this would affect him. I remember asking people to pray for him, pray that his heart would be protected and he wouldn't be fearful. I prayed that God would be faithful to our family whatever the outcome.

Noley, bless his sweet heart, innocently asked: "what was so hard about this past year?"

Evidently all our prayers were answered as my son (even after we reminded him of all that happened this year) is not riddled with fear about cancer or death. His faith in a God who cares for us is unshaken.

So, to my God who made sure we didn't need a thing, who led us beside quiet waters to rest and provided all we needed spiritually, emotionally and physically - thank you. And to our family and friends who prayed for us, cared for us - thank you. 

If you are in Vancouver and are free this Saturday, we will have an open house style (drop in) thank you brunch between 10am and 1pm. It will be chaotic, but we are so thankful to all of you for being our community and we want to celebrate with you and give you a big thank you hug :) (well I do, Jer's not much of a hugger ;))

My hair and eyebrows are coming back!