"Dearest Braden...
It sounds like you're up against it down there at Riley. It takes a great deal of courage to face everything you've been through over the last 6 weeks and before that, with your painful but undiagnosed headaches.
Writing to tell you how proud you've made me as I watch you endure so much. But more than that, to say how much I love you. I am so saddened by what this disease has taken from you and your family. But there are times in life like this. If I could lift the burden you're all facing and put it on my shoulders I would do anything to make that happen. I had hoped you'd be spared the suffering that inevitably comes with life, at least until you were older and had more life experience to fall back on. But, your time is now.
I've suffered much over the years. This is what I know: Christ makes all the difference. Those are easy words to say, and may seem somewhat empty at this point in your process. He understands that and He's OK with it. But reaching out to Him in prayer, crying out to Him in your pain, taking comfort in the Word and seeking refuge in those words and promises--will have a transformative impact on you and the way you see your pain now, and how it will grow you toward the man God has promised to make you. This disease caught us all by surprise--shocked, frightened, desperately sad. But it did not take God by surprise. He formed you in your mother's womb, He knew you then--and He saw this too. Lean hard into Him and He will sustain you...one small step at a time. You have a wonderful vision for God, a heart that has sought Him from the time you were able to conceive of Him. He is using you right now, today, to draw others to His promise and give others courage to face their own challenges, whatever they may be. His strength is being displayed in your weakness.
Faced with His imminent suffering and death Jesus cried out to the Father in prayer, 'If it be thy will Father, let this cup pass from me.' He then went on to endure suffering and death--then the resurrection.
He died on a Friday, rose on a Sunday. During this Easter season each year believers say 'It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'' to remind ourselves that 'this' is not all there is--Sunday's coming--and the confusion, pain, injustice, disease--the brokenness and sin that we see all around us--that threatens to undo us--God will make all that right in His time. In the meantime, He walks with us through the deep, deeper and deepest water, the dark valley, the 'dark night of our soul' and empowers us to endure and overcome all of it.
Don't think about what the ending of your treatment journey will be like--don't wish yourself there. Embrace this cup that God, in His wisdom and sovereign providence, has allowed life to place into your hands; take life one day, one moment at a time and rejoice in each small victory, each mundane passage--celebrate them all and watch what God does in you and through you. Embrace your life with a smile and savor each day--regardless of how unsavory it may be. Find the good and live in that place. Love your parents, your brother, your friends; be 'in the moment' and God will meet you there.
You have been blessed with amazing parents, a brother who is suffering with you, family that loves you in a profound and selfless way--and a BraveHart community (growing every day) of friends, neighbors and strangers who are investing themselves around the clock in prayer.
God has this. He has you. He has us...and He has this disease. We trust him because we can. Dear grandson, I love you and will never stop contending in prayer, through faith in God's promises, for your complete healing. He, and we, will carry you through. His mercies are new every morning--seek and you will find.
It's Friday, but Sunday's comin.'
Thank you for being you--with all my love...Grampa
bN tGit
