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I’m going to write some short vignettes over the next few days on “unsung heroes” or people with extraordinary faith lived out in the crucible of real life.

The first is long-time Navigator friend Jo. Jo and Ed Newell (no relation!) serve in the Austin, Texas, area. They’re about our age and have seven children, one of whom was killed in an accident a few years ago. Very recently she has been diagnosed with “triple negative breast cancer,” a “poorly defined invasive ductal cancer,” very aggressive. The prescribed treatment is chemo to shrink the tumor and a lumpectomy in a few months. 

We’re following her via Caring Bridge and nearly daily journal entries. I could pick any sentence at random, but here are portions of a couple entries. I find them very encouraging, the fruit of a lifetime of following Jesus and a close relationship with him through daily time in the Word.

I woke up this morning from a dream about…chemo! What a surprise! I know that I was being offered a choice—either I could go into this process with tension, anxiety, and fear OR I could choose openness to and gratitude for the gifts I am being given. I can imagine the possible negative outcomes (and the doctors rightly let you know them all!) OR I can give thanks for the drugs that can save my life and for each person who cares for me along the way. Moment by moment, I choose to do the latter! A friend sent me a “Blessing for the Flow of Chemotherapy or Radiation” that I offered up as I started my treatment today:

Later she wrote: The first two days after my chemo I am not supposed to exercise, so I couldn’t do the Zumba I do most mornings. Instead, I walked for a few minutes in my neighborhood. I was reminded of one of my favorite verses:

The Lord God is my strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army. He makes me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]! (Habakkuk 3.19)

I am in a “high place” right now and may not be moving fast, but by God’s grace I am still moving forward!

We subscribed to Jo’s Caring Bridge site so that we could pray for her and write occasional notes of encouragement. Instead, we find ourselves uplifted by her contagious joy.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me. (Psalm 23.4, NKJV)