This is a posting of the the Top 10 things I learned from the ten years after cancer. The first post is entitled TEN Years. Enjoy!

During the storm, it was God and I on this journey. And yes, there were so many others too, but God was primary in this storm. It was as if everything else faded away, went into the distance, and it was the two of us. I knew God was so closely and intimately walking me through this journey. He was so present in ways I had not experienced before in my life. Yes, He is always present, but waiting on the sidelines was life and the distractions in life. All the distractions were gone in the storm because in a way, life was gone. Not gone in the sense of disappearing, but in the sense of its importance. Nothing mattered aside from God.

I remember praying during my storm that I so wanted to live this moment, just God and I, for the rest of life. I didn’t want to move on, though I knew in my heart life, with all that it was, would return. In many respects, that is exactly as it is supposed to be. Life is not just the difficulties of this world, but it's the goodness of hanging out with friends, laughing over little things (and big things too), and yes, life is about work too. 

I could say, life as it was returned, but that would be an absolute lie. As the storm calmed, I learned that I was starting a “new normal.” It was a new life ahead, with the goodness of God’s presence in each and every moment. Ten years later I still long for the time of just God and I, and I know that day is coming when I’ll take my last breath on this earth and my first breath in Heaven, where I will embrace an absolutely new life as it should be, present with God!