Sep 24

“If I had known…”

Izzy (R), cousin Abby (center) and sister Callyn (L)

On Labor Day weekend after a fun-filled family day of kayaking, paddle boarding and picnicking at a nearby state park, our oldest granddaughter started complaining about stomach pain. Just a few days shy of her 12th birthday, Izzy couldn’t sleep that Saturday night and kept waking her parents seeking pain-relief.

No fever, no other symptoms. Did she “drink” too much lake water as she lay on the paddle board and the refreshing waves splashed her face? Had she eaten something at our BBQ that didn’t agree with her?

On Sunday morning she threw up and pleaded to go to urgent care where mom Bethany quickly took her (I know vomit is the proper word, but it gives me the heebie-jeebies).

Nothing showed during the exam at urgent care, but the doc recommended they go to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia urgent care center in nearby King of Prussia to get an ultrasound and rule out appendicitis.

A few long hours later, Izzy was scheduled for admittance at CHOP so she could have her appendix removed in the morning.

“I was very nervous because I never had surgery before,” Izzy admits. “Everyone kept saying it would be OK, but I didn’t know that for sure and I was worried.”

And then what happened next really surprised her.

Post-surgery FaceTime

“My room was really cool and they wrote on a whiteboard ‘WELCOME IZZY!’,” she recalls. “There was a snack room and the nurses gave me chocolate ice cream. And there was a playroom and my Daddy and I played Rummikub, and if you took a paperback book to read, you could keep it!

“My Daddy stayed until I fell asleep and then Mommy came back,” Izzy adds. “The nurses were really nice and they checked on me all night.”

Shortly after her successful one-hour laparoscopic surgery, we FaceTimed with Izzy and she made this observation: “If I had known how great it was going to be, I never would have been afraid.”

That comment started me thinking about fear of the unknown, which led to pondering my eventual journey to Heaven (which, for all of us gets closer every day!) I turned 71 yesterday and if I’m truly honest, I have some apprehension, some concern…dare I say, a little  fear about some of the unknowns?

What will my earthly passing be like? How does it feel to be transported out of this body? What will Heaven REALLY be like?

“I imagine our first glimpse of Heaven will cause us to…gasp in amazement and delight,” writes Randy Alcorn in his book Heaven. “That first gasp will likely be followed by many more as we continually encounter new sights in that endlessly wonderful place.”

Maybe there will be a white board inscribed ‘WELCOME LYNN!” And I’m sure there will be really good snacks and really nice people.

Alcorn goes on to describe our first moments in Heaven like this:
“Now you see someone coming toward you. It’s Jesus, with a big smile on His face. You fall to your knees in worship. He pulls you up and embraces you. At last you are with the person you were made for, in the place you were made to be.”

And like my wise granddaughter, I imagine I will say “If I had known how great this was  going to be, I never would have been afraid!”

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. 
1 Corinthians 2:9

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Please open in browser to hear the music video “I Can Only Imagine” ©Mercy Me.

Sep 10

Wrapping People in God’s Love

Kelley & Rick with Connie’s quilt

When her best friend was diagnosed with cancer,  Kelley Carson stitched a lap quilt so Connie could be “wrapped in my love and the love of Jesus.”

But neither woman ever imagined that 20 years later nearly 9,000 more cancer patients also would be wrapped in that love.

“We started giving away a few quilts to people getting chemo with Connie,” Kelley recalls. “And then it just took off from there.”

Connie passed away in 2007, but in 2004 the two women formed Cozy Quilters Ministries https://www.facebook.com/cozyquilts2017/ at their small, country church in western New York state.

A few church ladies prayerfully stitched the quilts, which along with a note of encouragement and a copy of my first book, When GOD & Cancer Meet, were placed in a matching tote bag.

“Once word got out about what we were doing, the names starting streaming in,” Kelley says.  “And they still do. As long as we have a name and an address, we will send a quilt.”

The CQ volunteers even have sent quilts to celebrities facing cancer including former Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, singer Olivia Newton John, and actor Beau Bridges –all of whom responded with thank-you notes.

The quilters didn’t hear back from former Buffalo Bills’ quarterback Jim Kelly, but did see him in a TV interview sitting with his red, white and blue Cozy Quilt draped behind him on his recliner.

“We vowed that if we heard of a person with cancer and had a way to get a quilt to them, we would,” Kelley explains. “We want to wrap the arms of Christ around everyone that we can.”

Today there are seven CQ chapters in western New York and one in northern Pennsylvania. At the 20th anniversary celebration last month, the groups announced they had given away a total of 8,871 quilts! (No wonder When GOD & Cancer Meet just had its 20th printing!)

Quilts have gone out to all 50 states and 18 foreign countries. There is no charge to the recipient or the person requesting the quilt as all costs for fabric, postage and my books are covered by donations.

Earlier this year a quilt was called for, but Kelley didn’t need the recipient’s address.

Her husband of 38 years was diagnosed with colon cancer, so Kelley made 6′ 4′ Rick (whose nickname is “Animal”) a Sasquatch (Big Foot) patterned quilt. In May, the 63-year old retired union laborer had robotic surgery at Roswell Cancer Center in Buffalo to remove the tumor and resection his colon.

Rick with his Big Foot quilt!

“Doctors tell me that basically I’m cured,” says Rick, who especially is thankful to have been able to walk his only daughter down the aisle last month.

But even before he got word that the cancer was completely contained and removed, Rick says he “felt at peace.”

“I just felt there was no reason to worry about it because it was out of my control,” he explains.

Kelley describes Cozy Quilt Ministries “as an evangelism ministry that just happens to use quilts” and vows that “as long as God continues to provide what we need to do this, I will keep doing it.”

“None of us are in control of this ministry,” she adds. “The Holy Spirit goes with each of these quilts and touches people at just the right time. I never could have imagined what God would do.”

P.S. (For info on making a donation or starting a CQ group, email cozyquiltministries@gmail.com)
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Open in your browser to hear “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” with Reawaken Hymns.

Aug 27

Navigating the Storms of Life

Photos NOT from the fateful voyage!

Many years ago my husband  and I had plans with my then-boss, Dr. Marc Hirsh and his wife Elizabeth to cruise to a marina on Maryland’s eastern shore for our annual Labor Day weekend getaway on their 32-two-foot Bayliner.

The weather looked rather foul, but Elizabeth had checked with her brother who lives right on the Gunpowder River leading into the Chesapeake Bay, and he assured us the reports didn’t look that bad despite a hurricane that was heading northward up the coast. (We later learned he had accidentally listened to the wrong forecast!)

Even though Marc and Elizabeth were seasoned boaters,  the whitecaps on the usually calm river should have been our first clue it wasn’t a good idea to head out. We had a short two-hour cruise ahead of us, but it wasn’t long before the white caps turned into three-foot waves. The wind whipped up, and then the thunder, lightning, and rain came. At first we all laughed and enjoyed the warm rain soaking us as the boat pounded through the waves.

But then I stopped laughing and my stomach started rebelling. Elizabeth handed me a supply of Ziploc bags, which I started filling.

The waves were now five feet high and crashing clear over the top of the boat’s windshield, drenching us. It was nearly impossible for Marc to see out the rain-splattered windshield, and my husband and Elizabeth were trying to read the navigational charts and look for the numbered buoys, which would keep us in the correct channel away from large shipping vessels, shallow water, and crab pots.

We were too far out to turn back toward home, yet not sure we could make it to our planned destination.

And then it got really bad.

Marc announced that according to the boat’s compass we were headed in exactly the wrong direction: south when we should have been heading north.

We all were sure we hadn’t turned around—Elizabeth was especially positive that she would have noticed if the boat had made an about-face. From past experience I knew she usually was right whenever the two of them had a boating disagreement.

The three of us looked at Marc, waiting to see what he would do. (Well, I didn’t look long because I was busy praying there were enough Ziploc bags.)

After a long pause, Marc posed his now-famous question: “Should I trust my wife . . . or the magnetic poles of the earth?”

It wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d gone with Elizabeth’s feelings because she was so adamant about them, but his scientific brain won out and Marc turned the boat 180 degrees.

Within a few moments, buoys were sighted which confirmed that we, indeed, had been going in the wrong direction despite all of us “feeling” otherwise.

The storm raging around us had distorted reality and our feelings had fallen fickle.

The same thing can happen in the storms of life. We can feel as if we’re unable to cope or that we have no hope. In those times we need a compass—something that always will steer us in the right direction.

A magnetic compass always will point you to the North Pole, and God’s Word always will point you to His unchanging truths and promises.

“The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”  Isaiah 40:8

Like Marc as he captained our boat that stormy trip, it’s your choice–and mine–whether or not to trust the magnetic poles of the earth. Life’s trials may distort reality, but there is a deeper spiritual reality that always an be trusted.

Excerpted from When God & Grief Meet. Copyright © 2009 by Lynn Eib. All rights reserved.
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Aug 13

How Anger Evolved into Peace

The early days of the pandemic were pretty tough on everybody, especially those–like my friend Erin–dealing with serious health issues.

“After months of doctors dismissing my symptoms, they worsened in April 2020,” recalls Erin, who was 42 and experiencing abdominal pain with occasional fevers. “I had a few Zoom visits–because of COVID, I couldn’t get anyone to see me. They kept saying the symptoms were from COVID, which I didn’t think they were, but no one would listen.”

Finally on Aug. 21, 2020–her 43rd birthday–surgery was scheduled at Johns Hopkins, near her Maryland home.  CT scans had revealed an infection and doctors expected to treat a diverticulitis abscess.

“But I woke up from surgery to hear they found a tumor in my sigmoid colon and a hysterectomy was needed because of widespread infection inflammation,” Erin says. “I was a very healthy woman who had taken good care of myself, but I became a crumbled, devastated mess.”

Erin, a wife and mother of three–aged 10, 13, and 15 at the time– says she was “terrified” when she heard the news, including the fact cancer had spread to three lymph nodes and she would need six months of weekly chemo.

Erin’s family 2020

“Everything was spiraling out of control and it all felt very unfair.”

Having a life-threatening illness was especially traumatic because her only sibling–younger brother Dominic–died in 2004 from a drug overdose at age 23.

“I was worried about my kids, my husband and my parents,” she explains. “I’ve already lost my brother; they’ve already lost their son. Hasn’t our family had enough tragedy?”

Erin and my paths first crossed in November 2020 when she messaged me on Facebook, thanking me for how helpful 50 Days of Hope had been. Shortly after that, she joined my Moms’ Cancer Prayer Support Group  on Zoom and garnered a bit of relief for the isolation she felt.

However, chemo was tough for Erin–her fingers peeled so much she couldn’t open her cell phone by touch, and she lost all her hair–despite the nurses’ assurance that never happened with her treatment regimen!

Then 22 months after her diagnosis, a blood test revealed abnormalities. Follow-up scans showed an 8mm (pea-size) tumor on her liver.

Erin, a businesswoman https://www.erinpelicano.com with an engineering degree, found the new diagnosis “more devastating” than the first one.

“I have a brain for numbers and everything added up to stage 4 disease that I probably  wouldn’t survive,” she recalls.

In July 2022 she had surgery to remove the small spot, followed by complementary treatments intended to boost her immune system.

When I asked her how this roller coaster ride has affected her spiritual faith, she says it has “evolved.”

“At first I was incredibly angry with God because we had lost my brother and I had tried to be a good person and do the right thing. And I kept looking for someone to give me the reassurance that I was going to be alright, but no one would.

“Eventually I realized I had to lean on God and prayer to provide me peace in my day,” she explains. “I didn’t want to die young, but I came to a sense of peace after so much anger.”

And that peace came even before she sent me this text last month.

Erin says she continues to encourage others not to ignore their symptoms because “you know your body.”

“I knew something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t get doctors to listen to me. I think God can speak through our instincts,” she adds. “Don’t doubt yourself–fight for answers!”

Erin is committed to hearing truth everyday, so at 10 AM her favorite Bible verse pops up on her cell with some very wise words for the weary:

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Open in your browser to hear “In the Valley” by CityAlight and featuring Sandra McCracken.

Jun 18

Good news (and some not-so-good): My oncologist has cancer Part 12

For those of us who know and care about Dr. Marc Hirsh, we can exhale once more.

His 9-month check up last week at Hershey Medical was good news again! Blood work and a CT scan confirmed that the very rare neuroendocrine tumor of thymine origin has not changed. The 5X3 cm mass still is in front of Marc’s heart and there are cardiac issues from the high-dose radiation, but four years after multiple doctors gave him only a few weeks to live, he is alive, well, and enjoying life.

“When I was diagnosed, I figured I could only have a few weeks left–I was very short of breath and a had a lot of symptoms,” he recalled. “This cancer is normally aggressive and the prognosis from all the experts was not good.

“But I no longer expect it has to come back, and now that it’s four years, I’m actually entertaining the possibility I may be cured.”

Meanwhile, Marc is thoroughly enjoying re-learning the classical piano music he played proficiently in elementary school and “finds music very spiritually uplifting.”

And now that he is retired, Marc has found more time to read in areas of interest such as theology, philosophy and science.

“Science is just learning about God’s creation,” he noted. “And I definitely have been feeling very good about life: relationships, family, opportunities to help people.”

Pink Out cancer patient fundraiser!

But even in the midst of good news, Marc and Elizabeth have experienced a new challenge, as she recently was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

“It’s the first time in my life someone has told me that I have something that I can’t get over,” Elizabeth says. “That’s the hard part.”

Parkinson’s is a chronic disorder of the central nervous system that affects a person’s movements.

Not surprisingly, Elizabeth, my dear friend and prayer-partner for 30+ years is undaunted.

“I knew something was wrong for awhile, but all the tests eliminated everything else, so I was grateful it wasn’t more serious,” she said.

“It’s something I can live with,” she added, noting that she’s ” still functioning at a pretty high level and enjoying life” despite her non-dominant side being affected with weakness and tremors. Her regular self-care routine includes walking, swimming, stretching, good nutrition and small weights for strengthening.

And how has this chronic illness  affected Elizabeth’s faith?

“I like to be in touch with the Lord all the time, but especially during a trial of any kind, I always feel closer to Him,”  she says. “I realize He’s right there with me and it brings a smile and a peace.”

Elizabeth also adds that Marc–her husband of 44 years–“has been very good to me” assisting with activities that normally need two steady hands.

Marc’s perspective on the subject is this: “Maybe God’s keeping me alive to take care of Elizabeth.”

Whatever the reason, Marc, we rejoice in your healing, and in God’s faithfulness to you both.

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Open in your browser to hear the  inspiring song “Bound to Come Some Trouble” by Rich Mullins, Marc and Elizabeth’s favorite Christian artist. I think it perfectly sums up their faith, and I pray it encourages you today.