Cancer can feel like a winter that keeps pushing back spring. Whether all your treatments are going as planned or it’s filled with delays, it’s easy to ask God, “When is this going to end?” You’re not doubting God’s existence or your salvation, but perhaps you wonder, “God? Are you paying attention?” “Are you really bigger than this cancer?”

You know, sometimes bulldozers are pretty handy things to have around. I have on occasion been called a bulldozer. This is hopefully not referring to my physique, but rather my tendency to become intensely focused. This can be a good thing—as long as no innocent bystanders are in my way. After all, bulldozers like me have real problems slowing down or changing directions.

I guess I’m like most women. I love getting flowers. It’s kind of silly, really. It’s not like flowers are good for anything. Yet, my grandmother told me that flowers are the most gracious of gifts because they don’t do anything except make you happy.

Cancer is not easy for anyone to understand and yet children and teens have an additional difficulty due to the way they think. People do not learn abstract thinking until 12-15 years old or later. What does this really mean? It means that without abstract thinking younger people think everything is black or white, good or bad. We see a bright, articulate young person and believe they think like an adult when really they see situations as two sided instead of multi-faceted.

The average caregiver has been providing care for 4 years on average, spending 24.4 hours a week. She is typically employed and working full time (an average of 34.7 hours per week).

Stupid Cancer is a nonprofit whose mission is to help empower everyone affected by adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer by ending isolation and building community.

Focusing on Christ does not mean pretending that cancer is small and has no impact on your life. We need to be honest with ourselves and face the truth that cancer is big, really big, gigantically big - but Christ is BIGGER!

Do you ever think, “There are no problems, because God is in control”? That’s not quite accurate. The truth is, “Despite the problems, God is in control.”