Flower of Hope

It was a year ago, this past March that Mike and left the doctors office and went to Scenic nursery. We had just heard that he most likely had cancer we were being referred to Stanford. I remember the conversation well. We were in shock but optimistic that God would see us through. I at that point had been researching and knew in my heart that he had stage 4 cancer. I could see and interpret all the signs and his symptoms. He didn't want to talk about it, and I wanted to talk about it...so we compromised and went to Scenic nursery to cheer ourselves up. We both love plants and at the time were in the process of doing our yard. When we first walked in there was this beautiful Chinese Peony with one gorgeous flower on it about 5 inches across. I told Mike I wanted to get it as our flower of hope. We could plant it in our yard to remind us of this day and the faithfulness of God. We both absolutely believed that God was faithful to us, no matter what the outcome, and we bought the 50.00 flower! ( it is quite extravagant for us to spend this)
We planted the flower a year ago, the flower faded and fell off...Mike underwent the cancer treatment and he too faded, feeling weak and lousy for the rest of the year. Much to our dismay in the fall our flower lost all it's leaves, the ants attacked it, and there in the corner of the yard it looked dead. I put it in a pot, brought it close to the house and tended it. This pitiful little stalk with nothing on it. That was about December and it too was about then that Mike started to get enough energy to begin exercising again. Both Mike and our little plant started to show buds of getting better come January and February. Now it's April and our little Flower of Hope one year later has three beautiful flowers on it, they each are 5 inches across. They say that you only get one new flower for each year of the plants life, but we got two more this year instead of one! Mike too is doing remarkably better. This month we have another PET scan to check for cancer, but we are not afraid. Our little flower of hope is a reminder of the faithfulness of God, when I look at the flowers, I see the goodness of our GOD, and that HE is with us. Just like our wedding rings are three strands together to symbolize Mike, me, and God, so our three flowers remind me that GOD is with us.
Hold Fast, help is on the way, Hold Fast HE's come to save the day. One thing I have learned in my life, one thing greater than my strife is YOUR grasp, Hold Fast, Hold Fast.
God never let us go and our little flower of Hope is a reminder of that...HOLD FAST!