The Beagley's... & our fight with cancer!: Good Friday-HopeMinute

Friday, April 6, 2012

Good Friday-HopeMinute

I absolutely love this HopeMinute I received in email. It helped remind me how much Jesus Christ did for all mankind. A great reminder to have the Friday before Easter weekend.

"Today's Good Friday HopeMinute is written by Michelle Cassens the Program Manager for HopeKids Minnesota.

Today is Good Friday. It’s such a friendly name for an event that certainly didn’t seem good at the time. It’s been nearly 2000 years since Jesus’ followers watched him suffer and die on the cross. God was also watching and agonizing as his son Jesus sacrificed his life.

HopeKids parents will say, ‘I can’t stand to see my child suffer anymore. The pain she faces hurts me so much—and I would do anything to take her place.” It’s a helpless feeling to see suffering and know the reality that you can’t take the burden away, nor can you swap places, no matter how much you want to. This response by HopeKids parents is something most parents can relate to. It seems like a normal reaction as a parent—but think of the profound implication. They are saying, “I choose to willfully suffer for my child, no matter the consequence.” It’s a statement of unconditional love.

God is the author of unconditional love. When he agonized over Jesus’ suffering, he also knew the power of Jesus’ sacrifice. God sent Jesus to the earth because of his unconditional love for us, his children. And this act of redemption had nothing to do with how deserving we are; same as a HopeKids parent would willfully swap places, even if the child happened to act naughty that day. It’s the perfect vision of love and grace, where everything is given, and nothing is expected in return.

As you head into this Easter weekend, and you’re thinking of Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s unconditional love, think also of how you understand what it would look like to give everything because of love. Imagine you could swap places with your suffering child, but he or she refused your gift. We all have done that very thing to God. Today, let him take your suffering and burden, and be his child forever.

-Michelle Cassens, HopeKids Minnesota"

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Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is cancer of the sympathetic nervous system--a network of nerves that carries messages from the brain to all parts of the body. Primary neuroblastoma is a solid, malignant tumor that usually first appears as a mass in the abdomen (most often in the adrenal gland) or near the spine.

About 650 children are diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year in the United States. Two-thirds of children diagnosed with neuroblastom are 5 years old or younger.

(Educating The Child With Cancer: A Guide for Parents and Teachers, Second Edition, 2011, Edited by Ruth I Hoffman, MPH, page 5)

The Native American Legend of the Butterfly

As a gift to His human children, the Great Spirit created butterflies. He took black from the maiden's hair, yellow from the warm sun, and blues from the lake and sky. Once he gathered the most beautiful of colors, He made them into butterflies.

If you want a special wish to come true, whispher your heart's desire to a butterfly. Since butterflies make no sound, they cannot tell the wish to anyone but Him. Being so colorful, the butterflies will easily be seen as they fly to heaven. The wish will be taken by the wings of love to heaven to be granted.