Stir, Laugh, Repeat: Truly an Inspirational Person

My dear friend Dusty has been going through chemo for some time now and I must say doing quite well. No sickness, no pain and no weakness. She has amazed me as well as her doctor. A couple weeks ago she came to my door and said I have some good news and I have some bad news. Good news was that the uterine surgery that was left from her surgery was virtually gone. Bad new was that it had spread to her bones and spine. My attitude took the good news with a Thank God! My attitude took the bad news as Please No God! Dusty's attitude was one that I've never seen in anyone before. It was so up and thankful that I felt guilty for my feelings.

After telling her family over the weekend, Dusty sent out an update to several thousand of her followers from Dusty's Front Porch. This message gave me such an uplift that I had to share. It is a bit long but worth reading to the end. I hope it gives you the peace of mind that it gives me.

OK TROOPS... The ct results were 2 weeks ago & I know a lot of you, judging from my inbox are chomping at the bit to know what's going on. I apologize for the wait, but I wanted to notify family members before putting it out in cyberspace. Now that's been done, & I'm free to bring my extended internet family back into the loop, so to speak! By the way....due to the fact that I've had my cellphone glued to my ear trying to notify folks....I've pretty much used up my phone minutes for the month!! So, if you need to contact me? Do it via text message or email until March 12th, then you can call me again ok? LOL!!

*Note: when this whole cancer/update thing began, I was just up-

dating the members of my personal THOUGHT list which was a few

hundred....somehow, kinda like the porch itself, the update list has

morphed and grown over the past months and now it goes out to the original thought lists plus a few thousand more!! (Yes, thousands!! -- whoever thought that the trials and tribulations of a gray-haired, big-mouthed, grand/great grandma would be so interesting to so many folks in almost every country in the world!! Strange!!) Anyhoo...if you receive this update 2 or 3 times? That's probably why, so just delete the extras, k?

OK....apparently, when they took the first CT scan back in November, before the surgery, the doctor spotted several cancerous lesions in my legs (both femur bones) and one floating in my spine. He didn't mention it because we were focused on eliminating the remnants of the uterine cancer left in my abdomen and he was half-hoping that the chemo I was undergoing would take care of the other ones, too.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The chemo worked just super on the uterine cancer....it's virtually gone, vanished, poof!! But it's had no effect on the cancer in my bones and spine. That's been actually growing and the mass in my spine is no longer "floating" -- now it's lodged firmly in my spinal column. So to make a long story short?

They are going to finish the round of chemotherapy I'm in the middle of ----that should be ending in mid-April. After that? There's no form of treatment they can offer me for what's now being called "Uterine cancer that has metastasized into the bone". They said they will be able to manage the pain when it starts and they will be doing ct scans on a monthly basis to see which direction the spinal tumor decides to grow...

downward gives me the best outcome as in more time, etc.... upwards presents complications because it will interfere with my central nervous system's ability to control my diaphragm which of course controls the breathing....the only option they'd have in that case is to entubate, which to me? Is no option at all....I will NOT be kept alive by machines in any way, shape, manner or form. But all that's in the Father's hands....I'm convinced I'll have as much time as I need to do what He's planned for me to do!!

READ ON!!!

NOW for the exciting part! God has laid something on my heart that has me SUPER excited! Ya have to be careful nowadays when you tell folks "GOD said" or "GOD told me...." cause you know how it goes: If you talk to God? You're praying.....if God talks to YOU? You're psychotic!! LOL!!!

But He has laid this on my heart....He is NOT pleased with the way

Christians handle/view the whole sickness, dying, death thing. In the church as a whole we're doing the Kingdom more harm than good! Think about it....other folks, who are NOT Christians, must look at us and say, My goodness....if their God is so WONDERFUL and loves them SO much and has prepared an eternal life for them

in Heaven that is going to be SO marvelous, then WHY, when one of them gets ready to go there, do they seem to view dying as such a tragedy? Why is it permeated with such fear, grief and anguish?

Some sadness is to be expected, after all, you're going to miss that person and won't see them again for a long time, but shouldn't it also be a time of celebration and joy????

Of course it should!! But most of us don't see it or react to it that way!!

We need to learn to do so!! We're in the last days and time is SHORT! The impression we convey to the rest of the world is CRUCIAL!! We know the Father loves us...we know He has a Heaven prepared for us that will outshine our greatest expectations....we know that we'll one day be there with Him forever!! We need to act accordingly!!

I believe with all my heart that my last "mission" if you will, for God, on THIS side of the Jordan is to get that message across to those who need to hear /see it!! He wants us to show the world, Christians and otherwise, what it means to face illness, dying & death with a strong faith, and the sense of joy and expectation that should fill your heart when it sinks in that you're finally going to SEE heaven after just hearing and reading about it all your life!! You're actually going to meet Jesus!!

Take His hand, kneel at His feet and hopefully get that hug you've been waiting for forever!! Don't know about you? But for me? It doesn't get any more exciting than that!! LOL!!

I did have some questions that He's seen fit to answer....like WHY ME? Well, why not me?? Thanks to the Front Porch and the Thought for the Day, and my various other enterprises, He's given me the visibility....1000s of folks around the world know that I'm sick and are watching me go thru this whole thing....plus we all

know He's provided me with a BIG mouth & the gift of gab that makes sharing and talking to anyone about anything extremely easy for me....and my faith is certainly strong enough and LOUD enough to get the message out!! Plus, sharing the details of my personal life with any/every one comes as natural to me as breathing...

I've had no side effects from any of the chemo they've been putting me through, I believe because, even though I may be sick, He has too much for me to do to have me incapacitated.....He needs me up, operating and functional, so He's made it happen! I believe He'll continue to do so!

When I questioned how I was supposed to do all this one person at a time, He said, "I'll open the doors ---you just be prepared to step thru them..." That's good enough for me!!

If that's His plan for the rest of my life, then trust me....I'm in it to win it!! I'm not quite sure yet what it will look like or how it will happen, but I'm gonna give it 100% of my best cause the last thing I want to do is show up in Heaven having to hang my head,

saying, "Sorry Lord ---- I chickened out!" NOT THIS GIRL!!! LOL!!! If I do it, success for everyone!! If I can't? I'll be able to say: Lord, I tried my best!!!

So, in closing let me also say that this new "project" of mine will be carried out in addition to the Thought for the Day (which I'm starting back up in March) and in addition to my daily work on the Porch....yes, regular entries from our columnists, the daily bible study, etc will all be coming back. The Lord's gotten rather fond

of the Porch.....He says it'll continue to do what it was created to do long after I'm up there with Him....which is encourage believers and plant seeds in the hearts & minds of those who don't yet accept Him....so, I gotta trust!! That's what we've always been taught right? WE plant the seeds, but HE waters the garden!!

So, look for your daily Dusty's Thought in your inbox again starting in March, as well as the daily Bible study and contributions from my wonderful columnists.

Keep me in prayer as always and if the Father puts someone in your path who needs to hear what we're selling? By all means, hook 'em up! Give them my phone #, or email, or direct them to the porch, or if you're local here in Charlotte?
Haul 'em over here for coffee!! I'm flattered that the Lord thinks I'm a bigger version of the energizer bunny, but truth is? I need all the help I can get to accomplish what He wants done!! Especially till the end of May while I'm still under "house arrest" due to this whole chemo/immune thing!! LOL!!!! So, until that's over, which will be approximately the end of May, I'm building my own personal "GodSquad" to help get the word out, round up prospects, and assist me in spreading the news & everyone of you is invited to participate!!

Love to all with much appreciation and gratitude for the ongoing prayers from all of you that have helped me and kept me strong thru all this!!

These monthly updates will continue and I hope your prayers do as well!!

I love y'all ---- mean it!!!

Dusty