Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles. ~Alex Karras
Yesterday I watched dozens of young boys, brimming with excitement, dash onto the football field ready to earn a victory. It was a beautiful fall day, cool breeze, bright warm sun, the buzz of families and friends visiting about everything from their kids, to college football rankings to.....cancer.
Acknowledging October as Breast Cancer Awareness month, the YMCA encouraged the little players to show their support by adding something pink to their uniform, and so many of them did. As bright pink socks and wristbands flashed across the field, lighting up the event like fireflies in July, I wondered how many of those little athletes were wearing pink in honor, or in memory of someone they know, someone they love.
As you read this you can probably think of one or a few persons in your life who have battled breast cancer. Cancer, just saying it feels so heavy, the weight of it's meaning indescribable. It has crept into our vocabulary and become as fluid in conversation as the weather and politics.
When a loved one announces that they have cancer, it has a way of stopping you in your tracks, the force compressing your chest. The word echos through your soul like thunder, the silence after the storm frightening. Slowly you absorb the news, what breath is left inside is exhaled in compassion, in fear, and in hope. And, that is the story of every breath you breathe each and every day as you wait for the one you love to be healed.
If you are reading this and know of someone who is bravely fighting breast cancer, will you join me in prayer for them, for all of them? Today, may the pink we see around us serve as a reminder for us to wrap each woman in arms of affectionate prayer, with the hope that tomorrow pink will be the color of victory. A battle hard fought and courageously won.
Father, for the strength you have given me I thank you.
For the health you have blessed me with, I thank you.
For the women who are going through breast cancer and their families
I ask you to strengthen and to heal as you see fit.
Lord we know you want us to be in good health and to prosper.
Lord use us to do the work you have for us to do.
For we know time is getting short on this earth.
Lord be with every woman who is sick
and encourage them as only you can.
I know how faithful you are.
You have shown yourself to be everything
you say you are in your Holy Word.
I praise you for you made this body
and you can heal this body.
In Jesus Name I pray.
Amen.
(This prayer was found online at a breast cancer support page.)
