No Escape

Sorry for the lack of posts this month! Summer so far has been wonderful, but incredibly busy. And the house that I am living in does not have any internet, so posting has become a bit more difficult. But so far the summer has been filled with so many fantastic things. My friends from Richmond came to visit this weekend, which was perfect. And I have been able to have great times with friends and fun adventures already while I've been here. And hopefully there are many more to come! But I'm sorry for the lack of posts, and will try to continue to write whenever I have the chance (and internet).
Recently I have been feeling so tired of cancer. It is funny, because I no longer feel sick, but I am daily getting frustrated that it exists at all. Sometimes I feel like I can't escape it, and like it is impossible for me to forget about it, even when I so desperately want to. My friend's dad was diagnosed with terrible cancer this past week, and it broke my heart. I also heard about a girl my age in Richmond who has cancer, and about another Furman girl whose mom passed away from cancer this week. Every time I hear bad news related to cancer, it devastates me. I hurt for these people who I don't even know, simply because we have the bond of cancer. And I can imagine so much of what they are having to go through. I can picture the diagnosis and the tears, the doctors' offices and the shots and the scans. And it breaks my heart. I just get so angry that anyone has to experience it or deal with it.
I have also recently noticed that movies and tv shows love to incorporate cancer. If they ever want a character to die, it seems like they are always using cancer (or a car accident). Maybe that just means that I need to be more careful about the things that I watch, but sometimes I don't see it coming. Even shows as fun and innocent as Modern Family will mention it, or have an episode centered around it. Cancer is just hard to escape.
It is not all bad though. Cancer has given me a new level of empathy. I am able to reach out to those who are hurting from cancer, and give them encouragement. And it pushes me to pray for those people who are affected by it. Maybe this just means that the Lord is pushing me to do something with cancer in the future, and that there is a reason that I am continually feeling angry towards this disease. I'm not sure, but this has just been on my mind a lot recently, so I felt like I should write about it.
On a completely unrelated note, my flights to France are booked!! I will be there from July 2 to July 23. I have been working on planning the trip the past few weeks, and I am SO excited. It will be such a wonderful adventure, and I cannot wait!!

"For you, O God, have tested us; You have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; You laid a crushing burden on our backs; You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water yet You have brought us out into a place of abundance." Psalm 66:10-12