Dear Mark,
My name is Nadine Wall, and I was the one who ran down with
my Alana to meet you at the end of the service. About four months ago I was
diagnosed with stage 4 advanced breast cancer. I started chemo and within 12
weeks, my cancer was virtually gone. Forty percent of my liver was covered, I
had it in my abdomen, spine, spleen, and brain. During that time we found out I
also had it in my spinal fluid, giving me 3-4 months to live. In October, we
started a chemo that would be given intrathecally by port directly into my
brain. It worked for 6 weeks and the tumors were gone!! The next 6 weeks, the
cancer resisited and January 4, we found out now instead of two tumors, we had
around 12-15 lining the meninges of the brain. We were devastated and began our
hunt for doctors around the country. We have settled in on a few other
possibilities of treatment and keep hope and faith daily.
Our trip to Washington DC was something me and my older
daughter always talked about doing. So when the weather finally seemed to work,
we went for it. We had an amazing time! I had done the circle maker study
during my first bout of cancer in 2013, and remembered your church being here,
and I really was excited to visit. When I began searching, I couldn’t find it
and a friend called later saying I should go! So I go ton facebook, found
community church, and had a chat with someone on the messanger. I’ve had to
watch a TON of streamed services and really wanted live and they gave us two
options. The 10:30 at Lincoln Theatre stuck out to me so we could get breakfast
and take our time. The volunteer were amazing and the facility was beautiful. I
was in awe from the moment I stepped in.
We sat up in the balcony and as the music began to play I
realized that was the song played when I was saved around 20 years ago. I
couldn’t stop smiling. The next song started with “standing on this mountain
top…” and the tears began flowing. When I was diagnosed Skip and I said we
would climb the highest mountain and scream praise to God if he would just have
mercy and heal me. This Christmas, we screamed it from the top of Fort Mountain
in Atlanta, and have on many mountains since. I cannot put my worship
experience into words, but I have heard those songs many times and have never
felt the presence of the Lord like I did last Sunday. It was overwhelmning.
Then I heard pastor Dave say that you were preaching and
almost fell out of my chair. Are you kidding!? What a treat. Of all the service
times, all the places, and all that I know a pastor does, I could not believe
you were going to be there.
I thoroughly enjoyed your word on “Dream within a Dream” and
the stories of your family traditions and the words from the movie Inception.
My husband and I dream all the time, especially now, since our new normal has
arrived. We do everything differently, live differently, hope more and trust
God more than ever before. One of our dreams in on a second property we own in
Ellijay. We obtained it as a foreclosure five years ago and have slowly, like
turtle slow, renovated most of it to be a place of sanctuary and something we
could share with family and friends. It sits upon gorgeous 12 acres and the
kids love free hiking it and fishing in the pond. It’s a magical place. Since I
was diagnosed, we had a dream of it being the Hills of Hope where we could put
2 or 3 mini cabins throughout the property for people with cancer to be able to
camp with their family for the weekend. I’m sure we would have friends and
family use as well, but I would love to just meet someone and offer it as a
place to find hope. All my life, being in nature always put all distractions
aside and I would feel so close to God. He would give me mini sermons about
mountain biking and the trails that I knew without a doubt were his words, never
mine. I don’t think like that.
I just wanted to share my story and my dream with you. On
the way home to Atlanta I signed up for a couples group and burst out with a
laugh when I saw what book it was. Grave Robber, by Mark Batterson. Of course
it was! I mentioned before I did the Circle Maker with some amazing ladies and
I will be honest I hated it. It took me two years to get over the answers that
came to light, but in the end, they were answers I personally needed and grew
from.
In August, I decided I should do Circle Maker again but was
quickly rediagnosed and was unable to attend. I feel like that it is okay now,
and look forward to seeing what God has planned for me, my husband and family.
I’ll never forget him saying the first week I was in the hospital, “I’ve prayed
more in the last 5 days than I have in 5 years.” I could tell you story upon
story of people sharing their come-back-to-the-Lord stories, but it would take
a while. It’s been so humbling to watch and hear as that was never my plan. I
jut write. I write from the heart and hope that through my suffering, my
journey, others are encouraged and come to trust and know God like I do. There
are miracles all around us every day just so many are missed with the grind of
life.
Just wanted to say thank you for the hug and I hope you
don’t mind being a part of team Nadine. All of National Community Church! We
have prayer warriors around the world hoping to see a true miracle. I’m not
supposed to survive this, it’s terminal, but something I’ve learned to accept
that gives me great peace is that we are ALL terminal, I just get to live life
a little differently, and compared to the rest of my life, its awesome.
Much hugs and prayers, thank you for all you do. Can’t wait
to catch your online services. Best service I’ve ever experienced.
Blessing to you all.
Nadine Wall
No comments:
Post a Comment