Two Years and Counting

On October 28th I will be celebrating two years of cancer remission! I am so grateful to be alive and so grateful to be well. In honor of my own survival, this year I've decided to embrace breast cancer awareness month and even that little pink ribbon that I've avoided.

The month of October has been a little overwhelming to me. It seemed everywhere I went I saw something related to the big BC - and even though that ribbon was supposed to encourage me, I found it a reminder of the mark of disease. Sometimes I just tried to ignore it and sometimes it made me mad. I never wore the ribbon because I didn't want to identify myself with cancer.

This year I've made a turn in my thinking. I'm not only embracing the month of October as an opportunity to share anywhere and everywhere I can about the importance of early detection as a life saving measure, but I'm wearing my pink ribbon with pride. I have decided that ribbon is a statement of my victory and not an indication of my weakness.

I am taking back some of the joy that I first experienced on the day I heard my scans were clear. Here's what I had to say on that day.

October 28, 2009:

So thrilled to update you on my doctor visit this morning. My PET scan is totally clear showing no evidence of disease! When my doctor shared, I simply jumped out of my chair and started leaping in the air. I think I almost hit him! He told me to stop it so I wouldn't break my hip. Big tears and big smiles all around. Mark was with me and I just sat down in his lap and gave him a big hug.

Relief is so sweet! How I wish each of you could experience the release that I experienced this morning. Waiting on the Lord and believing for a natural manifestation of what you know in your spirit has been a stretch of my faith as never before. I have had to believe more deeply, declare more loudly and stand more firmly. Even now I sense again that standing is still required! Each of us must take our spiritual position, lift our sword and shield and stand until the natural aligns with His Word and His promise.

Today I am saying "I am a cancer survivor and I am proud to be so very pink."

Beyond the Shock

I am a breast cancer survivor.

Wow! I still get a thrill in my spirit when I say it!

Throughout my journey from diagnosis to remission, I have freely shared my testimony and tried to encourage others to navigate with faith in difficult times. I believe that healing is an important part of the benefits of our salvation, and I long to minister truth, hope and healing to others.

I've recently been given an opportunity to do just a little of that.

In early 2011, I became a part of a project for the National Breast Cancer Foundation called Beyond The Shock. I (along with several other ladies) am featured as a documentary participant, sharing my insights and perspectives as a cancer survivor for the purpose of offering hope and encouragement to others who have been recently diagnosed. (Click here to view my testimony.)



The National Breast Cancer Foundation's mission is to save lives by increasing awareness of breast cancer through education and by providing mammograms for those in need. Beyond the Shock is a new initiative of the organization that is designed to provide a broad range of resources and encouragement for breast cancer patients and their families.

Would you help me spread the news about this helpful project? If you know someone who needs some encouragement in this area, please direct them to the web site. You can use the bar at the bottom of this post to tweet, facebook or email this post. We can learn more about the disease, ask questions and get answers, and hear real stories from real people.

Love,
Jan

Super Vitamin D

Recently my article entitled Super Vitamin D was published in the latest edition of Studio G - Gateway's magazine for women.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

More and more studies are revealing the benefits of having plenty of vitamin D and the dangers of having too little. For years, doctors have advocated the intake of vitamin D as a partner to calcium and magnesium, because it helps our bones absorb these essential elements and assists in the prevention of osteoporosis. But a recent flood of new research is revealing that vitamin D does much more.

A lot more, in fact.

Click here to read the rest of the article. I hope you'll take a moment to check out the entire new edition and if you haven't done so before, please subscribe.

Drink your milk. Get a little sunshine. Be healthy!


Jan
xoxo

PS - Since you are already stopping by Studio G, why not take a moment and get to know my boss? The feature story is about Debbie Morris, Her Heart, Her Passion, Her Life. Click here for this article. Happy reading!

Thinking of You

I am so excited - still!

Pink Impact 2011 is finished! We did everything we planned to do and a few things we didn't plan. We praised, preached, prayed and prophesied. We ate, shared, danced, talked, laughed, and cried. We got saved, healed, set free, equipped, empowered, and yes - even released for service!

As I sit on my front porch this afternoon reflecting on my personal "Pink Impact Experience", I can't help but thank God for you. This verse says it all:

You need to know, friends, that thanking God over and over for you is not only a pleasure; it's a must. We have to do it. Your faith is growing phenomenally; your love for each other is developing wonderfully. Why, it's only right that we give thanks. We're so proud of you; you're so steady and determined in your faith despite all the hard times that have come down on you. We tell everyone we meet in the churches all about you. I Thes. 1:3-4 (The Message)

Your faith is growing phenomenally.

Your love is developing wonderfully.

You are so steady and determined in your faith.

Just like you, I'll be processing the personal things of Pink Impact for weeks to come. But today - right now - I'm just giving thanks for the beautiful, maturing, faithful gathering of women that make up Gateway Pink. It's not only a pleasure, it's a MUST! We are so proud of you! Telling everyone I meet about how amazing you are!

Love,
Jan


Did you hear the good news?

Beth Moore is joining us for Pink Impact 2012. We sold over 1500 tickets for next year at the 2011 conference, so don't wait! Registration is available right now. Click on the title of this link and reserve your spot today. Only 4,000 seats and we will not live broadcast! Can't wait to see you there!

Hottest Before the Breakthrough

Sometimes the battle is the hottest right before the breakthrough.

I'm wondering this morning how Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego must have felt as they drew near to the furnace. Surely it was threatening and the heat on their face so scorching. Yet somehow they found the strength to trust and proceed.

I find myself at a bit of a furnace moment. It seems that Pink Impact always brings a certain purifying of my soul. Just as we are ready to launch, I find the warfare so intense. I feel the threats and I experience the heat.

Maybe you feel the same way.

Let's choose to take it as a sign of encouragement. So much assault must be an indication that we are on the edge of a breakthrough - on the verge of taking the territory that God has assigned to us - about to be met by a fourth man who will walk with us in the fire.

King Nebuchadnezzar said: "Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. (Daniel 3:25 NKJ)

If we remain steadfast, He will join us and we will come through not even smelling of smoke, for the fire of the enemy has no power.

"...the king's counselors gathered together, and they saw those men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them." (Daniel 3:28)

Not only that, but as soon as those three young men stepped forth from the furnace, they were promoted. They became the chief governors of the area reporting directly to Daniel and to the king. In a pagan kingdom, God's people ruled.

Will you join with me as I take my eyes off the furnace and put them firmly on His faithfulness? Let's believe the victory, breakthrough and promotion are right in front of us.

Stepping through!

PS - Click on the title of this blog to read the entire story of the three men in the furnace!