https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrBMEZHTWsQ
When my sisters and I were kids the cartoon characters of Alvin and the Chipmunks had an awesome Christmas movie that I looked forward to every year. We might even have had the record copy of the movie, I'm not sure. I just know that it was funny, and Alvin was sneaky and always in trouble but his heart was in the right place. In the Christmas movie Alvin gives his brand new 'golden harmonica' to a sick little boy...and then needs that harmonica for a special Christmas concert he is to play in at Carnegie Hall. Of course Alvin now has to scramble (including dressing up as Santa to sell photos) to earn some money to buy a new 'golden harmonica' before his Dad, Dave, finds out! Ah, the silly fun and antics of those little chipmunks living in a big human world... loved it! The touching moment of the movie is that the little boy, Timmy, is so sick that he might die... but then the genersouity of Alvin's gift warms the little boys heart and buoys his spirit to the point of full recovery and even playing a duet at Carnegie Hall with Alvin! The way Alvin receives his replacement harmonica is due to the kindness of a stranger (who looks a lot like Mrs. Claus, if you ask me!). Timmy is recovered, Alvin plays Carnegie Hall and doesn't get in trouble... It's a Christmas miracle!!! Ahhh, warms the heart just remembering all the love and kindnesses packed into that one little movie, and Timmy's recovery gets me choked up every time.
For the last many weeks I have wanted to post a thank you... but my heart has just been too overwhelmed by kindnesses to get the words out. I lay in bed (at my usual 4am awake time...today it's 5am so that's better!) and in my mind write blog posts to you as a group, note cards to you individually, and I make phone calls (even though I have no idea who many of you are...in my mind I use my super librarian researching skills and somehow get my gratitude to you!).
To every one of you who has sent love, who has been praying (either once or without ceasing and every quantity of prayer in between), who has sent meals or gift cards, who has sent mail by post or be email or by Facebook message or by word-of-mouth through my extended family... to the lady who stopped by my table at the foodcourt yesterday when I was at the mall with my sisters to tell us that you were praying for me... wow. wow. wow. Happy tears are welling up.
I am just so very deeply touched. I cannot fully fathom how much love your actions and thoughts would all add up to. Love for me. For my family. For peace and for healing and for victory over this cancer and the fears. Each one of you, whether you let me know it or not...I feel your love, I know you are praying, my heart holds that love and those prayers lift me up, dance around me... I feel God's faithfulness in answering your prayers... I am just so incredibly grateful. I wonder even if my gratefulness will ever be deep enough to cover the magnitude of love I know you all are sending? I am humbled. Your kindnesses are a 'golden harmonica' blessing to me, my husband, our four children, my sisters, my parents, my in-laws, my brother-in-law and his fiance, our closest friends, the other readers of this blog and my Facebook wall, the prayer chains praying, the readers from as far from Canada as Iraq and Guatemala and Finland and Mexico and Japan and Luxembourg... connected.
We are connected by the kindnesses and love and prayers that we share. I am just so good-overwhelmed that you are sharing so much of that with me. I truly value it as the best medicine. I truly am greedy that you don't stop. I am just happily-mind-boggled and bamboozled...gobsmacked, even...that you have all come around me to share the burden of this cancer diagnosis. I pray that God will bless you, that He will keep you, that He will bring you extra measures of His perfect Joy this holiday season and throughout the year. I am a hugger... I love to hug. This shoulder pain and mobility issue has made hugging a difficulty over the past few months but I have adjusted to being a pretty good one-arm hugger...
I am sending you each my very best hug... my heart swelling with gratitude, my mind just happily unable to grasp the grandness of your love towards me. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Sincerely, and Merry Christmas!!!
Kristin
Ephesians 3:14-19
ReplyDeleteI pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Good Morning Kristen, I was awake very early this morning thinking and praying about/for you and your family. I was thinking how God uses His Children to spread joy, encouragement, empathy, love, and so much more to meet others in their time of need. You are His Vessel to do this right now. We often think "Why Me??" when something happens in our lives that we really do not want or like. I can really see and feel through your words, God's Love! You have such an amazing gift of "words" and these "words" are an encouragement to so many (including me). When I read your "words" I feel your pain, your fears, your highlights when something is better than you thought, your utmost love and concern for your wonderful family and your thankfulness to all those around you helping you in any way they can. I am so glad that you will not start your treatment till after Christmas, so you can enjoy this special time in a "some-what" better physical condition. I will continue to pray for you and your family for your needs.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless you Kristen!!
Reading your prayer requests, I wanted to tell you that my dad just went through six rounds of R-CHOP chemo with virtually no side effects through excellent nutrition, Bing Han Ginseng, the Budwig Protocol (google it), and of course prayer and faith. On days he did feel a bit ill, he used an ionic foot bath I had bought off ebay and immediately felt better. There is some debate about whether they do anything at all, but my dad definitely felt a difference. I just wanted you to know that there are natural ways to maximize your health and minimize side effects, that doctors know nothing about. My dad's doctors think he's weird and told him nutrition makes no difference. But that is absurd -- of course what you put in your body makes a difference. It makes you sick in the first place and it can make you well. So please look into it for yourself! There are many foods with powerful anticancer properties, hemp for example. I pray God blesses you and your family and that you make it through healthy, strong and secure in your place in Christ.
ReplyDeleteSince October 29th when the troops started to rally around our family I began saying Thank you but Thank you just never seems enough. I just love the analogy of the golden harmonica. I remember listening to the record over and over on our fox and the hound record player as kids and just like you becoming very emotional by Timmy's healing. Such a heartwarming story. Now here you are being gifted with love from all over the world and it's overwhelming, amazing!!
ReplyDeleteThank-you to every single person who is following Kristin's story and sharing it with others. The human spirit is amazing! Our entire family appreciates your prayers and even though we don't know you all by name we are lifting you up in our prayers as well!
I've learned that we are all going through something. Share your story, allow someone to pray with you, cry with you, love you and bless you!