Your Story Matters

9 to 5:

I returned to work on March 25.  It was such a great day and a very exhausting one.  There were days as I laid in a hospital bed that I longed for “normalcy,” or whatever that is; being able to go to work, the grocery store, and chauffeur my girls to their activities.  I remembered how tiring all those things are, but wasn’t prepared for how exhausting they would be now.  Going from only walking paths around my house or the oncology floor at Baptist to pulling 16-hour days again has been tiring to say the least.  However, thank you God that I GET to do these things!

As I started my 45-minute commute to work, I began praying and praising God that He brought me through the storm to this point- the point where I was deemed “well enough” to return to work.  Many tears were shed on the way to work that day- overwhelmed, grateful tears.  I am thankful for the people I work for and those I work with.  So many stopped by my office to welcome me back, tell me how hard they prayed for me, and that they were glad I was back.  I received more hugs in one day than I had in a long time.  Yay for even being able to hug others!

The last two weeks have reminded me why I said yes to God when He asked me to go back to school and get a degree in School Counseling.  It didn’t take long for students to hear that I was back and for them to start to trickle in to see me for help.  This past week was emotionally and mentally draining as I dealt with several students in mental health crisis.  High school students, well students in general, come to school with an invisible backpack full of things that are so heavy.  Their home life is chaotic and doesn’t allow them to be as successful as they have potential to be because they can’t concentrate on learning when their life is in such turmoil.  It is heartbreaking.  While I cannot pray with my students due to my public school setting, I sure can pray FOR them, and pray for them I did!

My girls bus to my school in the afternoon and it is such a joy to see their smiling faces and get to hear how their day went.  It is also a blessing to be able to drop them off in the morning and tell them that I love them and hope they have a great day.  Makaila loves to come so she can raid my candy jar and Ava loves it because she can sit on her phone for 30 minutes without me fussing at her to get off.

 

I Want to go to Church

Craig and I go to Westside Baptist and we absolutely love our church.  Our Connection Group is one of our most favorite times of the week with some of our favorite people.  I was able to watch live stream every week of our worship service.  I have never been more thankful for technology that could make that possible.  It was food for my soul.  However, it is nothing like being there in person.  There is no live stream for Connection Group.  Since I was given the green light by the doctor to resume life, I was finally able to return to church.  I cried so many times that day- I tried to reign in the ugly cry, but at times, it got the best of me.  To finally be able to be back among so many that pleaded with Jesus on my behalf, to hug them and thank them in person, was more than I can put into words.  After Connection Group, our leader asked us to stay behind for a few minutes because he wanted to talk to us.  He asked us if we would share in our group what God has done in our life over the last 6 months.  We told him we would.  Craig and I prayed during all of this that God would use it; that my pain, our pain, would serve a greater purpose.  My heart resonates with what David says to God in Psalms 30:10-12,” Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me; Lord, be my helper! You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.” We told God that anytime someone asked, our answer would always be yes.

 

Test to Testimony

Someone once said that your ministry is found where you have been broken and your testimony is found where you have been restored.  God is a God of restoration.  I am so thankful for that!  He is restoring me.  There is a new song on KLOVE that I love and is my new jam.  It is Resurrecting by Elevation Worship.  There is a line that gives me God-pimples every time I hear it and I have to sing it loudly (well, as much as I can because singing still hurts my lung pretty badly).  The song states:

By Your spirit I will rise
From the ashes of defeat
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
In Your name I come alive
To declare Your victory
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me

 

Craig and I immediately felt like God was going to ask us to speak to the Young Adult department.  Not long after Jody asked us to speak, did we receive a text message from Ryan, our Young Adult minister asking us if we would be willing to speak at our Young Adult Family Breakfast (where all of our Young Adult Connection Groups come together) on April 7^th.  The cherry on top was that it was going to be filmed so that our other Connection Group leaders could watch it- that made me so nervous, to know it was going to be videoed.  For those of you who know my husband, he is very reserved and doesn’t like public speaking.  He is a man of few words and only likes talking in small groups.  I have seen God take this man and mold him and give him a boldness to talk to others about what God has done.  I am more of the chatty one who is out-going and loves talking to others.  After having brain surgery and aggressive chemo that crossed the brain barrier, I resonated with Moses and how he felt about his speaking abilities.  I was terrified that I would get up there and stutter and be searching for words that were just beyond my grasp.  I was a nervous-wreck about speaking about what God has done for us.  I knew it was going to take God’s strength to get through all of it without completely breaking down.  Most of the time when I am writing blog posts, I have tears constantly streaming down my face.  We should have bought stock in Kleenex for as many as I have used in the last 6 months.  Craig and I prayed about what God would have us say and sat down to write it all out lest we get in front of everyone and freeze and fail to say what God wanted us to say.

We were both pretty nervous about speaking.  I was more nervous about it than he was believe it or not.  Craig and I couldn’t even eat anything at the breakfast due to nerves (well and my gluten allergy).  We prayed before we went up to speak and before long, Ryan was calling our names to come up and take over the microphone.  It was hard to not cry the entire time, and there were times when the tears got the best of me, but no ugly crying from this girl!  God is so good and gracious!  Despite how difficult it may be to share your story, your story matters!  What God does in your life will end with you if you don’t share it.  God knows who needs you to share to help them along in their journey through life.  So, your story matters- share it.

I will link the video at the bottom of this blog post for those of you who have been asking and would like to view it.  The lighting was bad, so our Young Adult pastor changed it to black and white.  We are definitely not cool enough to have done that ourselves let alone have thought of that, lol.   To be honest, Craig nor I have viewed it, so fingers-crossed it works and you can understand what we are trying to convey.  You’ll need around 40 minutes to watch it from start to finish.

 

It’s My Birthday and I Can Cry If I want To:

How sweet it is to turn 36!  As an adult, your birthday is just another day most of the time.  You have dinner and a piece of cake and that is that.  You don’t put much thought into turning another year older.  To be honest, most of the time we are in denial of turning another year older.  Hello, how many of us are perpetually 29 years old?  Am I right?

However, after having walked through the darkest, most difficult storm of my life thus far, I am forever grateful for another day, for another birthday.  This is probably the sweetest one yet; pardon me while I wipe the tears of gratitude off of my face!  Proverbs 9:11 states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.  For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.”  I am praying for my days to be multiplied and for years to be here with my family and to minister to those God directs in my path.  May I, in my 36^th year, be found faithful to the calling that God has placed on my life and to proclaim the miracles He has worked in my life to all those around me in hopes that He will use it to draw others near to Him.  Thank you Jesus for another birthday and for being a merciful, loving, faithful, and healing God.  I am blessed beyond measure.

 

3 Month Mark

I can hardly believe that it has been three months since my last chemo treatment.  When you are not sick and fighting cancer, laid up in bed or in the hospital, or recovering from surgeries, times moves more quickly.  It has been a whirlwind getting back to church, work, softball mom life, and dance mom life.  It has been weird and difficult at times to get back involved in those things.  Life is different for us now.  Things that we thought mattered or were important, just aren’t.  Life has taken on a different meaning…

 

When the doctor told me that I would be having scans every 3 months that seemed like such a long time in between.  However, when you reenter the 90-to-nothing, fast-paced world we live in, 3 months can pass very quickly.  So, tomorrow at 3:00 pm I will have my first post-treatment PET scan and on Friday I will have a contrast brain MRI at 11:30, followed by appointments with my doctors at MD Anderson to find out results.  If I am being transparent, I am nervous.  I am trying hard not to be and it has been a daily, sometimes moment-by-moment battle.  I am standing in faith that the scans will be clear and remain cancer-free.  I have spent time recently tracing God’s hand throughout this journey.  I am pleading with Him that He will do it again- work another miracle on my behalf and that these scans will once again show that He has spoken over this cancer and has banished it from my body and life.  Would you join me in praying for that as well?

 

Would you continue to pray for me?

• Please pray for me tomorrow and Friday- my first set of follow-up scans followed by appointments with my brain doctors and oncologist.  Please pray that they are completely, 100% clear of cancer.
• Please pray that my immune system is working its way back up to normal and that my energy levels will continue to get better.
• Please pray for my cousin as she is going through chemo right now and the difficulties that ensues because of it.
• Please pray for the following people who are in cancer battles:
  • Nicole
  • Tiffany
  • Mr. M
  • Katie
  • Maggie
  • Jeff
  • Kathy
• Please pray for my friend Kristy as she had her final surgery as a part of her breast cancer journey today- pray for quick and complete healing!

Thank you so much for your prayers for me and my family!  They mean so much to us.  We couldn’t walk this journey without you and your willingness to carry us to Jesus through prayer!  We love you guys and would love to pray for you in return.  Please let us know if there is something we can bring to Jesus for you.

 

Your Story Matters- Testimony by Craig and Kristen Fry