A Board and a Blessing

I absolutely love Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Eureka Springs, AR. I have gone there for several years and have been a donor to them for as long as I've been going. I have so many wonderful experiences there and have met dear friends who work there. They even put a brick in memory of Dave in Bam Bam's courtyard that I mentioned in a previous post. Such a special place.

This past weekend was their anniversary event, and Jadyn and I attended and had the best time. We had a small gathering Friday night at the lodges that had all of the food I love but couldn't eat, but the company was fantastic. On Saturday, Emily McCormack (curator), took us on a tour of Freedom Field which is under construction. It is 13-acres of new habitats to house the cats from Big Cat Rescue that will make TCWR their home. We went to the hospital where we got to meet the latest addition to the TCWR family. And that evening was an event with catering that smelled amazing, topped off with Emily singing and my winning a quilt in memory of Mani, the liger who died of breast cancer, that Emily's mother made. Jadyn and I had some quality hot tub conversations complete with views of a fabulous Ozark sunset, a blanket of brilliant stars, and the caroling of lions. It was a wonderful weekend. (Check them out at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge | A Non-Profit True Sanctuary for Big Cats)

However, the best part of the entire weekend was when Tanya Smith, President of TCWR, asked if I would serve on the Board of Directors. What an honor! She asked if I wanted to wait until my health stuff was over, and I quickly said, "No!" I do not want this cancer messing up my life more than it already is. This is the perfect time to start this new adventure because with the passage of the Big Cat Protection Act in December 2022, attention and focus can now be put toward other endeavors such as expansion and education.

This was another in a long list of God winks for me. He is showing and giving me so many things to look forward to in my life. I thought Dave's death really made me appreciate living, but this tops it. While I know (or will soon have it confirmed) that this is not terminal, hearing that I have cancer really changed my perspective on a lot of things. Stuff that seemed so important just a couple of weeks ago isn't even a blip on the outer band of my radar screen, much less close to the center.

My church, Geyer Springs FBC, recently completed a focus on stewardship called the Next Steps initiative. While it did address financial generosity, it was so much more. Through that study, I realized that I was unwilling to make God the Lord of my relationships. Bottom line is that I didn't trust Him. I was afraid of losing, not just to death but to disinterest (that friends would no longer be interested in maintaining a relationship with me for whatever reason). I began praying for God to take over that part of my life and to increase my faith in Him that whatever happened in my relationships was part of His sovereignty and that He truly was working all things together for good, even if that meant losing. That was tough!!! I value my relationships so much more than anything financial, and to sacrifice those and trust God completely was downright scary!

But God. Just look what He has done. Yes, I have cancer. Guess what? He knew it then when I was wrestling with trusting Him with my relationships. Now, I stand in absolute awe and humility at the people who contact me and are praying for me. Wow! But God! He used this to prove to me that making Him Lord of my relationships was exactly what I needed to do. He not only added more relationships to my life in a short period of time, but He proved that all of my relationships are of a higher quality than anything I could have imagined or maintained on my own. I am surrounded by people who love me! That is not a statement of pride but of gratitude for what God has been and is doing in my life.

But God...