Inspiring Quote from a Mother of a Child with Leukemia

I came across a blog by the mother and father of a 19 year old boy who was diagnosed with leukemia (AML) at 16.  After 8 months in remission, he relapsed and had to have a bone marrow transplant.  He endured excruciating pain, nausea, vomiting, fevers, countless viruses, graft vs. host disease...but almost a year after his transplant he is still fighting and leukemia-free. 


 I am inspired by this boy and his parents who have been through so much and yet continue to stay strong and to hold on tightly to their faith in God.  I only hope that we can be as strong  for Everett and for each other.  Everett has done so well in his first month after diagnosis, but each day is still hard, and I worry that if a time comes that his health deteriorates or the side effects of treatment are severe I'll falter in my strength and resolve.


This is a quote written by the mother of the teenager with AML:

          "I praise God for He is still holding me in His arms and carrying me through so many days that my human body would rather cry out in agony at the pain I carry in my heart for having to watch my child be so sick when he did nothing in his short life to deserve it.

 I praise Him for continuing to give me just one more day with my son.

I praise Him for pushing me, testing me, and making me stronger when I want to collapse in a heap on the floor and never get up again , because it would be so easy.

But he pries my heart open many times daily and reminds me that He has never left, and that if I ever feel abandoned, it is because it is I who have left Him.

I pray that each time I feel weak, each time I am angry, each time I am tempted to doubt, that He will squeeze me harder until I accept His loving embrace.

I pray I will seek His guidance in the Word He has given me and that it becomes emblazoned on my soul for me to live out. "

I cried when I read this...tears of sadness over what this family has had to endure, and tears of hope and inspiration at this mother's continued faith and love for God and at God's continuing presence in all our lives, bringing us strength when we need it most.