Karen's Crossings~~~~~ A Matter of Perspective

Talking the other day with my mother-in-law about the news I got from the doctor she immediately jumped in and said, “Wow that is great news!” Great news, what was seeing we weren’t? After talking to her it was obvious to see what she was observing verses what we focused on. To her, she saw my tumor markers going down. To me, I was seeing them not quite back to normal yet. To her, she saw my medicine was working. To me, all I could see was the fact that I just learned I was going to have to be on them for life.

If you think about it we all have our own perspective of things. Some see things differently than we do and it can be helpful to get that fresh look. Personally it felt good to see it all from her eyes, the eyes of a breast cancer survivor herself. After all our focus was slightly blurred due to all the events that were happening lately.

Honestly whether we want to admit it or not it would be terrible if people encouraged us along the line of our current thinking especially when we are feeling down? For example, at the time I was feeling like a sitting duck. If my mother-in-law would have taken it from there and encouraged me in my own perspective or frame of mind it would have sounded something like this, “Oh Karen, sit still. Let life hit you. Remember you’re the sitting duck you have no hope, it’s just a matter of time so get over it. Let the situation pluck your feathers one by one.”


Praise the Lord her encouragement and the encouragement of many others have not been that way. I’m glad there are people around me that give me good encouragement who don’t build off my own frustrations. Encouraging people is what it’s all about. As stubborn as we would like to be it helps to have someone clear our vision for us to show us a better perspective of what we are looking at.


Currently I have a co-worker who is going through the cancer travel course herself with her husband. Because I am one step ahead of her in the game it’s been helpful for her to sit down and chat about things that are going on. God himself told us that we need to encourage others with the same encouragement we got ourselves.


People who encourage others are the cheerleaders along life’s road needed to give confidence to a weary soul. They have the ability to pick up and carry an exhausted passenger traveling down a road too long and hard for them to handle at the time. They often can serve as the rest stop needed to get a refreshing start to finish life’s journey. They are not there to take over and do our journey for us but they certainly help along the way.

It’s one thing to give encouragement and another to be able to take it. The last thing we need to do is stubbornly hold on to our first perspective of things when life hits us hard while we shut out anything others may have to say including God. Doing that only makes our journey longer and less fruitful in the end. The only person who can make me the “sitting duck” I thought I was in my first perspective is me if I decide to stay there in my thinking.

God hasn’t let me down. He’s lifting me up drawing me closer to Him day by day. That’s one perspective in my life that will never change. Oh, I’m being stubborn? No, I’m being truthful. Oh what a mighty God we serve.