How Do We Feel God's Love?

God’s Love Shown through Friends
a testimony of God’s love

Last November, as many of you know, Bob and I received our flu shots from the local hospital. We were planning to be chaplains there this year. Within a week, his left arm swelled and we assumed it was a reaction to the injection. A couple of weeks went by and still the swelling persisted. Finally we decided he had better see the doctor. She felt it was an infection and began treating it with antibiotics. Following three weeks of antibiotic treatment, each prescription stronger then the last, and there was no response, she decided he should have an ultrasound, an x-ray and a CT scan. .That series of tests showed a dramatically enlarged lymph node. She then had him scheduled for a biopsy. After examining his tests the surgeon was hesitant to do the biopsy because he would have had to cut deep into the armpit to reach the enlarged lymph node. Bob was diabetic and the doctor said it would be slow to heal.

Bob felt it must not be too serious if the doctor did not encourage him to have the biopsy, so his doctor recommended a nurse practitioner who was trained in lymph edema massage and began treatment for a month. It did not respond to that treatment ether.

Next we went to his regular dermatologist appointment in a larger community. After bringing his medical records up to date with that doctor, the doctor gave him the name of a physician who would do an ultrasound and a needle biopsy. That radiologist immediately recognized it as a form of cancer but would not be able to tell us what type until the biopsy came back.

In the meantime, we saw an oncologist who ordered a PET scan and radiation treatments for the swollen arm.

We had planned a birthday celebration for his 80th birthday. I invited all our friends to surprise him with birthday cards. We received 140 birthday cards.

Following the PET scan and three radiation treatments, he fell in the night and was unable to get up. The next day, the same day of the PET scan results, the doctor ordered hospice care.

He lasted eight days and died the day before his birthday. It was an extremely aggressive form of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung that had spread into the lymph system. During those eight days, all three of our children came home to be with him. During that week, we cooked no meals. Our friends brought in food to keep us all fed. And they came to visit.

Following Bob’s death, almost every day, friends called to check on us. After the children went home, several friends asked me to dinner. I was inundated with 149 cards and letters. Two weeks later, when we held his Celebration of Life, 130 persons packed into our small sanctuary to help us celebrate his life. The outpouring of love has not abated.

How do we feel God’s love? We feel it as we are made aware of God’s loving presence right next to us in the best of our times and the worst of our times. And we feel it through the love of friends who express it to us in the best of times and the worst of times. God never leaves us alone.