Early Thursday morning, September 3, 2009, Lana had her devotions and prayed, “Lord direct my day, and show me what to do.”
Lana and I have been close friends for many years, and we had been trying to get together. She wanted to come over for a visit and to see our new laminate floors that our son Chris had laid. But Lana and I kept playing phone tag and hadn’t gotten together yet.
What she didn’t know is that I was super sick. The week before, I discovered that I had a breast infection with a lump and a large area that was fiery red. Every bone in my body ached, and I was scared.
I went to the doctor and she ruled out a spider bite or boil but the worst words out of her mouth was the “C” word. I had had cancer in the right breast a few years ago and had surgery to remove the cancer. The inflammation was in the exact same area but in the left breast. I had kept current on my mammograms, but it had been a year since the last one. I had been cancer-free, but the possibility of it returning had continued to concern me.
I made an appointment to have a mammogram, but I could not get in until a week, which was too long to wait. I was scared because I was so sick and the antibiotics weren’t touching the infection or easing the pain in my bones. I felt sorry for myself and fell into depression. The doctor told me adamantly, “You need to start taking care of yourself, or you won’t live to take care of your family.”
My doctor also sent me to the Senior Connection, a nonprofit organization, to see a counselor for help. The senior’s counselor was immensely helpful and said, “Sixty-five percent of caretakers die before the person they are taking care of does.”
I take care of Ron, and our three granddaughters. Delaney and Sadie are four years old, and Sierra just turned seven. We love them dearly, and they are a joy, but I am nearly 71 and my steam spews out of the pot super quickly. Those girls never run out of steam; their pots are full of boiling energy.
Wednesday, the day before the mammogram I was thinking about what I needed to do if I did have cancer, especially if it had spread throughout my body. With Ron being blind, how would we manage? I was exhausted, sick, overwhelmed, and felt deeply sorry for myself, and didn’t want to face the mammogram alone, but I am not one to call friends to ask them to go along with me.
That same day, Dixie, a friend of ours, felt impressed to email me and ask how I was doing, not knowing about the infection or the cancer scare. I emailed her back and told her. Ron attends a men’s Bible study her husband Greg leads in their garage and has been a caring pastor to us. Greg has called on us many times and prayed with us, especially during the long hard years our son and his wife were waiting to see if they could adopt Sadie and Sierra.
Thursday morning, at 7:15 a.m., Greg called. Dixie had told him about my need, and he wanted to pray with me before the test, and as he prayed for my healing, he quoted Isaiah 65:24, (NKJV), “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”
I was so thankful for his call and his prayers. I took Sierra to school at 8:00 a.m., and later Sadie to kindergarten at 10 a.m. Though the mammogram was scheduled at 11:00 a.m., I went to the fabric store to get the rest of the yardage I needed for Sierra’s birthday quilt. (She turned seven yesterday.) When I walked into the fabric section, there was my friend Lana. She was thinking about making a quilt, but she didn’t have anything definite in mind.
I was so thrilled to see her, and we chatted for a few minutes to catch up, and I told her about what was going on. I finished buying my fabric, and she walked me to the car. As I started to drive away, she ran back to the car and asked me, “Would you like me to go with you to your mammogram?”
I started to say, no, but then I blurted, “I would love to have you come with me.”
What a comfort. I did not have to be alone as I waited for the test and was so relieved. Though I had not asked God to send a friend to go with me, he had heard my heart cries.
After the technician called me in for the test and it was done, I felt apprehensive as I waited, scared and anxious for the doctor to read the mammogram and give me the results.
When the doctor came in the room and started to speak, I couldn’t take it all in and went into shock, and so he had to tell me twice, “You do not have cancer. Your breasts are completely clear. There is hardly any sign of an infection. Come back for your next mammogram in a year.”
I was overjoyed and thrilled. No sign of cancer! God had answered before we called on him and healed me. We don’t know what caused the infection, but it is healing.
Lana and I went out to lunch together to celebrate the good news. God knew she was the one to send to the fabric store for a divine appointment. She was just the dear friend I needed to be with me. We were able to catch up on our lives and the many ways we could see God working. We also shared our concerns and supported one another; just what good friends need to do.
Another amazing part of this story is that Lana lives in Nipomo a town north of Santa Maria that has a wonderful fabric store, and she later said that she considered going to that store or the other stores north of her, especially one that has excellent discounts on fabric. But that morning she felt impressed to drive south to Santa Maria, which really made no sense at all since she had better stores closer by. Here in Santa Maria, there are two fabric stores next door to each other; one is huge, and the other one is a craft store with a small fabric section. She went to the store with the small section right where God wanted her to be.
Lana and I were astounded by this divine appointment. God works in wondrous ways. Prayer is a full circle of communication even when we don’t realize it. Lana casually prayed for direction that morning, something she normally does. God spoke to her heart to go to that very fabric store not even in her own town. He impressed me to go to the same store before my test instead of afterward. God directed us to go to the same store at the same time because I needed a friend that day, and He wanted to show us both how much He cares for us and guides our lives.
(Ladies please get those mammograms, Sheila Cragg, copyright, 2009, all rights reserved.)
