I was worried when I hit “send” on September’s Inside Renewal. I bled onto the page in that issue. I wondered how it would affect folks. So I smiled and thanked Jesus when I got the following responses:

How is it that I smile, even as tears fill my eyes and ache stops my heart, as I read the words of your brokenness? Like smiling through our groanings for redemption, as we wait with patience for deliverance. Yes, like laughing through chemo, the FEC and the Taxol. You have slowed me down and sharpened my focus. I am sorry for your pain, but better for your sharing it.

Your words, your transparency, your pain never fail to touch me to my very core. I see how much the Lord uses you through it all, and it encourages me more than you can imagine.

Thank you so much for your honesty and integrity in your writing. I needed to hear what you had to say. Hope is such a fickle thing when it’s not grounded in Jesus, isn’t it? I’m finding that only when I focus on Him and when I force myself to put everything (life, family, work, writing . . . cancer) into perspective and realize it’s all in Jesus’ hands do I truly feel hopeful. That’s when hope is real.

I just read your ezine. Beautiful and deep. Thank you for being brave and being real. Your words mirrored my own heart and the things I’ve heard other dear sisters say who are willing to go deep with the Lord and receive the calling He gives to service.

Thanks so much for this edition of Inside Renewal. So much of it spoke to me while I am in the midst of chemotherapy. It’s been harder than I imagined.

If you’d like to be a monthly subscriber, simply go here. In the upper right hand corner of my website is a sign up form. If you’d like a copy of this month’s ezine, email me at maryedemuth at sbcglobal dot net, and I’ll send it to you.