One year ago...

About one year ago I was sitting in a Doctor's surgery receiving the news that there was a cancerous tumour in my bowel, on the 15th April 2016 the tumour was removed.

In June last year, I started chemotherapy. That round of chemo was finished in November. Following the discovery of new tumours in my post chemo scan I restarted chemo. These tumours have been responding well to treatment to date.

But that isn't the whole story, on New Year's Eve 2015, I looked at the past year and said, Everything's going to better in 2016, but clearly that wasn't the case. 2016 was an incredibly tough year. I learnt a lot about myself, and not all of it was pleasant, I learnt about our church's almost limitless capacity to love and give, I also learnt that while everything won't necessarily be better next year, it will provide opportunities to love, give and share from my experience.

On New Year's Eve 2016, the song that was running around my head was Gratitude. The song by Nichole Nordeman has challenged me (watch the song and read the lyrics here). Gratitude has become my word for 2017. It's the word governing how I approach life.

The challenge to me is to be grateful for everything I am dealt this year. Life will be up and life will be down, but no matter what life throws at me, I can choose how I respond. I want to be grateful for each and every day; grateful for the challenges and opportunities they bring. Grateful, for the journey I am on, and what I can give from where I am, thinking 'why not me?' not why me?.

I don't know what the next years will hold. But I do know I can chose how to respond to it, I can chose to be defeated, or chose to make the most of the days the Lord has given me. God is still my strength, my song and my salvation.