As I pulled into a parking spot of Piggly Wiggly, a purple car pulled up next to me. A woman with a lavender knit cap on and a purple fleece jacket smiled at me. It is in the low 60s and I was wondering why this woman had such a warm hat on.
At first I didn’t recognize her. As she began rolling down the window of her car, I then realized it was someone I had worked with at a local resort years ago.
Jeanne has always had the most beautiful smile. We walked together to the front of the grocery store, standing outside and catching up.
In 2011 she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She was a smoker. The cancer moved to her brain. She had screws and plates put in her head and has had a lot of radiation.
She told me the fact she is still alive today is because of so many people all over the world praying for her. She calls her doctor, who told her it’s not if the tumors will come back in her brain, but a matter of when, Dr. Doom and Gloom. She tries to not take him too seriously.
I sat in awe of this amazing spirit of Jeanne standing in front of me as she told me how grateful she is to still be here. And that she knows where she is going someday and isn’t afraid.
She shared with me some sadness she experienced, of which she really has never experienced much sadness. And yes, from what I knew of her from working with her, she was always happy and laughing. She still is. I believe that is the reason she still is here – because of her positive attitude.
But her sadness one day, while she wasn’t sure what it was at first, finally came to her. She was sad for her two children – still in their teenage years. She felt guilty for being sick and that they have to endure this. She’d do anything to not have them feel the pain of this.
She called her pastor’s wife and shared with her how she was feeling. As she was telling me this, I wondered what on earth the pastor’s wife could possibly say to help Jeanne through this and make her feel better.
She said, “Jeanne, who do those children belong to?”
Jeanne knew right away and said, “God.”
And with all the compassion in the world the pastor’s wife said, “That’s right. And don’t you think God will take care of them for you?”
I was moved to tears. Not only because I believe this to be true, but also the profound strength and courage that Jeanne is. Though she is very humble and wants none of the credit for that. She told me it is God. Not her.
She sees Him as using her to be this vessel of inspiration that she is to many, including me.
I drove home feeling as if I had just encountered a part of God myself. And I did, really. He put Jeanne in my path to put life all back into perspective again.
She told me she knows her days are numbered – but we both agreed – do we really even know that? We don’t.
I have a feeling ten years from now I’ll be running into her at the grocery store again.
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