Hope Abounds Collective

Author: Sharon

  • Seeing Stars

    Seeing Stars

    When is the last time you sat under a night sky filled with stars?

    There are many times from years past I remember with clarity and gratitude. And maybe a bit of homesickness.

    Sitting beside a bonfire under a clear night sky with my brothers and sister. Those bonfires gave our neighbor Mr. K. high indigestion. We built them in the sandbox smack in the middle of our yard.

    Moonlit horseback rides as a teen on my trusty buckskin friend.

    Walking beside the ocean on vacation with my husband watching moon beams plot a path to the horizon.

    I always recall something my mom would say about the stars when I would look up into a night sky.

    “You see those stars, Sissy?” Yes, mom, I see those stars. “God has given each one of them a name, and He knows your name, too.”

    My teenage daughters knew the routine. If we climbed out of the car on a clear night, I would look up and say, “Do you see all of those stars up in that sky, girls?”

    “Yes, mom – we know! God has given each of them a name, and He knows our names!”

    They would laugh and roll their eyes as they paused, looked up, and listened. They heard my heart. I hoped they would hear some of God’s heart, too. Especially when we went through my cancer journey. If stars couldn’t go missing under the loving watch of the Creator, then perhaps I, and they, wouldn’t go missing from the reach of His care and kindness.

    When I thought of mom’s words about the stars, they removed any mystery about how God saw me. I was His child the moment I asked Christ to forgive my sins. The massive universe above was interpreted through the loving words of my mom. God saw me, knew me, and invited me to better know Him. He still does. Every day.

    He invites you, too. Are you seeing the stars tonight? You are seen, and known, and yes, God’s great power and mighty strength will hold you, too, safely in place. Have you trusted him through Jesus to lead you safely home?

    “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
        Who created all these?
    He who brings out the starry host one by one
        and calls forth each of them by name.
    Because of his great power and mighty strength,
        not one of them is missing.”

    Isaiah 40:26

    Sharon O’Connor is a two-time colon cancer survivor (NED since 2013). Illness, decisions, treatment, and recovery convinced Sharon the only thing stronger than fear is hope. She shares encouraging thoughts and experiences from her personal healing journey. Sharon continues following Hope, and looking up to find stars at night, gratefully.

  • “Do You Want to Live?”

    “Do You Want to Live?”

    The second time cancer came around, I read a question in a cancer support group and it was this.

    “Do you want to live?”

    At first glance it sounded almost offensive. What do you mean, do I want to live?

    And then you drill down and let the introduction question settle a bit.

    Yes. I wanted to live. Moving past the irritation of the obvious, the point was, to heal, you needed to make a choice about that question. Because it was the foundation for every decision I would make going forward. Fearful? Yep. Feeling alone in the choices because others wouldn’t understand (especially my medical providers)? Yes. Overwhelmed about what to do next? For sure. It was hard. And worth everything for my personal journey.

    It gave me hope.

    One day at a time. One choice, prayer, decision, action at a time. What to accept medically and what to embrace naturally. I began making choices because I wanted to live. Information landed in my hands (literally) when I needed direction. God heard my cries for help about how to live, whether I found physical healing on this earth, or he took me home. Which he will, someday.

    To put it another way, I was the person who had to live with the choices I made.

    For me it was the trauma of the return of aggressive cancer that drove the question home.

    What might it be for you?

    Eventually the question turns into our worldview about eternity.

    Do you want to live for eternity in heaven with the God who loves you? The question was the foundation for the choice I made around seven years of age to ask God to “forgive me, a sinner”. Just like someone handed me books with information to make a different healing choice thirteen years ago, when I was little someone opened a book and shared God’s Word with me about spiritual life and spiritual death.

    In both cases I had to embrace the question, apply information in the book, and make a personal choice.

    “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22

    So, friend, today, do you want to live? How does the way you answer that question shape your worldview and actions today? May the question perhaps point you and others towards a healthier life while you journey through this world, and vibrant life in Christ for eternity.

    Are you unsure how to find peace with God today? How to know you are forgiven from sin and will live for eternity with God and not without Him? A great resource is available at www.peacewithGod.net. Check it out!

    Sharon O’Connor is a two-time colon cancer survivor (NED since 2013). Illness, decisions, treatment, and recovery convinced Sharon the only thing stronger than fear is hope. She shares encouraging thoughts and experiences from her personal healing journey. Sharon continues following Hope, gratefully.

  • See You at Sunrise

    See You at Sunrise

    “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” I Peter 1:3

    Years ago our little church family would gather on Easter mornings at sunrise to remember Jesus’ resurrection. We watched, prayed, and sang a few hymns near the old sheep barn on my brother-in-law and sister’s farm.

    Sheep gathered together near sheep; both waiting on a shepherd.

    The sun crept over the horizon.

    “He is risen!”

    “He is risen indeed!”

    We would wind our way back down the long road to church in the valley. Yummy pancakes were served followed by sweet fellowship and Easter church services.

    Wouldn’t Easter morning be the perfect time for Jesus to return?

    If I’m honest, I’ve quietly asked him to please return, and soon. We don’t know the day of his return, but my heart does know this world is not my home.

    Someday, perhaps soon, we will say, “He has returned!” “He has returned, indeed!”

    I hope you experienced the joy of Easter. We have a Great Shepherd who willingly gave his life for me and for you. The cost to enter his pasture? Simply accept the free gift of salvation from the eternal penalty of sin offered to us through Jesus Christ. He is the “Great Shepherd of the Sheep”. Won’t you enter his pasture?

    Who knows; maybe next year I’ll see you at sunrise.

    Sharon O’Connor is a two-time colon cancer survivor (NED since 2013). Illness, decisions, treatment, and recovery convinced Sharon the only thing stronger than fear is hope. She shares encouraging thoughts and experiences from her personal healing journey. Sharon continues following Hope. And watching the horizon on Resurrection Sunday.

  • Falling Flat

    Falling Flat

    Early last Sunday morning I was walking to church. Fresh snow covered the ground after a brief thaw the previous day. Snow boots on, a familiar path on the grass to avoid ice, and a few moments of quiet to prepare my heart for worship team.

    “Lord, thank you for this new day. Thank you for the quiet, for allowing me to serve you at all in any capacity, please bless the ministry this morning, and….”

    BAM.

    Flat on my back. Assessing possible damage after my neck snapped like a good visit to my chiropractor. I slowly got up. Realization hit. All of those reels on social media showing older women they need to practice how to get up from the ground if they fall? Actually created with me walking to church in mind.

    Astonished, stunned, and nothing more than my pride wounded.

    “Thank you, Lord, really.”

    Sure enough, a frozen ice patch had been disguised under fresh snow. I cautiously stepped away and humbly strategized the remaining steps to church.

    Three thoughts came to mind about falling flat last Sunday morning:

    1. I may need studs on my winter boots like the ones on our car tires.
    2. Nothing reminds you of your frail humanity like being slammed to the ground and looking up into the vast sky.
    3. Falling down is a part of life. Getting back up with God’s kind help to recover, move, and keep going? That’s living. (Quote source unknown, other than a concept I liked from Pinterest – Click for Link)

    Have you fallen? Take a moment. Cry out, get your bearings, and give the situation to God. He is for you. Psalm 46:1 assures us that, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

    Are you trying to get back up? It takes strength that maybe you never knew you had; it may be clumsy, it may take a try or two, you may even lose your footing on that tricky “ice” again, but keep climbing back up.

    Have you succeeded in finding your way “back”? That’s a joy that must be given to God in praise, and then used to help others making their way up behind you.

    What is one way God has helped you when you’ve fallen flat?

    When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
        your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.

    Psalm 94:18

    Sharon O’Connor is a two-time colon cancer survivor (NED since 2013). Illness, decisions, treatment, and recovery convinced Sharon the only thing stronger than fear is hope. She shares encouraging thoughts and experiences from her personal healing journey. Sharon continues following Hope.