Every student has one subject that’s always a struggle. For me, it’s math. Rarely would a math lesson go by that I didn’t need help, but asking for help is not easy. Before I am willing to ask a teacher for help, I ask myself these three questions:

Part of stress management is recognizing that sometimes it’s not a bear. It’s a hamster, but you’re reacting like it’s a bear.

That dog would chase cars all afternoon, leaving him exhausted and standing in the exact same place he started. It frightens me how much I’m like Poochie. My tendency is to live my life like a dog chasing cars.

Our family plays in creeks. Other families have leisure pastimes like biking or camping or playing softball. My kids have grown up playing in creeks, I played in creeks and even my dad played in creeks. We have a creek-playing season, and we even have creek shoes. You can’t go out and buy creek shoes; they have to be the too-small pair of tennis shoes from last summer with your toe poking out of the top to really qualify.

Heavenly Father, Fill my days with more Christmas and less cancer. May the joys of the season bring me a new hope that is so strong the clouds of cancer in my thoughts disappear.

Join Rachel Zink and Jenny Ritzert as they discuss Jenny’s unique journey with Cancer Companions and how her Cancer Companions support group helped keep her calm through her husband’s cancer journey.

Listen to Building 429’s song We Won’t be Shaken.

Listen to Michael W. Smith and Carrie Underwood’s song All is Well.

Listen to I have This Hope by Tenth Avenue North.

Listen to Still by Hillary Scott and the Scott Family.

Pastor Andrew Kasper leads us in prayer for those working in hospice and palliative care.

“You find joy. Who doesn’t want to feel joyful? Who doesn’t want to feel hope? Who doesn’t want to feel connected? Cancer Companions gives you that.”

Clinically significant depression and anxiety have been shown to negatively impact cancer treatment tolerance, quality of life, and overall survivorship. Conversely, scientific literature has demonstrated the stress-buffering effects of religion and spirituality on physiological processes such as reduced cardiovascular reactivity, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation, and inflammation.

Join Steve Gruenwald, Director of Work and Wellness at Concordia Plans, as he prays for those dealing with anxiety on their cancer journey.

You are not to be anxious about anything. Why? Because God is with you through everything! So ask God for anything, but do it while thanking Him for your blessings.

A cancer walk is the type of struggle that can reveal new things about Jesus you’d never seen before. On the day before cancer came into your life, you probably understood that Jesus was your Savior, your Protector and your Comforter. Yet, sometimes your faith can jump from understanding who Jesus is to knowing who Jesus is.

Let’s say you had a concern. You saw your doctor and he said, “It’s not anything to worry about.” But you still worry. Getting a second opinion is good, but at some point you either have an action to take, or you do not. Everybody worries. The question is, does focusing on negative things that might happen draw us closer to Christ, or farther away?