Well, my surgery is finally here! If all goes as planned, I’ll have most of this tumor out of my head by Thursday afternoon. But there will be more treatment in the weeks and months after the surgery, so we are in this for the long haul.
People ask me all the time how I am doing. Here is the honest answer … I feel so good that I’m concerned people won’t believe me. Sometimes I feel like people may expect me to be scared and sad deep down inside. Sometimes I feel like people may think I am hiding my true feelings, that I am denying how this is really affecting me. I am not. There are times when I feel sad or down; and when that happens, I let myself feel it. But the fact of the matter is that most of the time I’m not only not sad, I am enjoying this journey!
God has given me an ability to be truly thankful in this journey, and that thankfulness has translated into an experience of joy and peace. I’m having fun, and I am confident that God will enable us to continue a life of joy no matter what the outcome of this surgery may be. The chorus to one my family’s favorite songs goes like this:
So don’t fear anything,
Cuz I’m here,
And I can bring you joy,
Even here I’ll bring you joy.
And that has been my family’s experience … joy even here. Believe me when I tell you that I would not trade this experience. The Lord has taught me so much and given me so much through it.
I have so much to be thankful for at this moment. I am thankful for a wife and kiddos that have joined me wholeheartedly on this journey. And my family and I have been surrounded by so much love. Our birth families are incredible, and God’s family has blessed us so immensely. I’m thankful for the green on the trees, and for how I can see the grass blow like waves in the sea. I am thankful for the opportunity to live out my calling and how a brain tumor has enriched that experience. I’m thankful for each word of encouragement spoken in love. I’m thankful for my bicycle that was given to me when we moved here … never knowing how much I would need it now. I’m thankful for people who have taken Eli to and from school. I’m thankful for the bluebonnets and the regular course of nature that brings them back every year. I’m thankful for our chickens. I’m thankful for my ability to walk. I’m thankful for dad jokes.
I could go on, but you get the point … there is so much to enjoy … so much gratitude to feel. It truly is a beautiful life God has given us! So that’s how I’m feeling today.
– Deryk Pritchard, Preacher