The Mask

“When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.” 

Psalm 94:19

As I am sitting here getting to write this, it occurs to me that this is the first Saturday in over a month at least that I have nothing on my schedule.  The steroids have me busy working and cleaning but, I have no where to be.  May was filled with the end of the soccer season and state tourneys and getting ready to try and pull out the state high school championship.  The last two weeks ends were filled with hospital stays and getting the diagnosis that we are now faced with.  So I’m sitting here thinking about the fact that it’s Saturday and I have no where to be and no schedule.  Very different for me.

This past week has been filled with dr appointments and working through the diagnosis and new reality that we will face moving forward.  Some days I wonder if it’s really hit me or has God really just given me the peace I need to not have one ounce of worry at all.  While I am at peace, I have to be honest getting the mask fitting yesterday wasn’t as easy as I had hoped and prayed it would be.

It reminded me of the movie “Man in the Iron Mask” where one of the twin brothers was forced to live with a metal mask on his face as punishment from his brother.  The moment the mask was removed – you could see freedom and rest he hadn’t experienced before.  This image came to my mind as I lay on the table getting my own mask fitted yesterday.

For my radiation treatment I will go for 6 weeks everyday to basically lay on a machine and get specific passes of radiation for a small time frame.  I don’t know exactly how many minutes it will take, but I have been ok with the idea of it and accepted it as what I need to do.  Well, yesterday I went in to get my mask fitted for the table.  Some of you will know what I’m talking about and some of you may have had your own mask fitting at some point – goodness if this is you, so many prayers and new understanding.  It was new to me.

I walked into the room and they told me I needed to take out all my jewelry and I needed to take my braid and cute little scarf off my hair and then lay on the table.  They needed to band my legs together I guess so I didn’t move and then the tech began working on the foam pillow my head was on so it was formed however it was supposed to be.  He showed me the flat screen that they would warm for 5 minutes to put over my head and he finished what he needed to do.  He brought the flat mask over to attach to my head and then we realized my hair would get stuck to the mask, so we really need a shower cap on first to save my hair, lol.  So we did that and then had to wait another 5 minutes for the new mask to warm up.

As he brought the mask over, I really was relaxed just focused and spending time talking to the Lord in my mind.  He pulled the flat plastic (which would open for holes once stretched), and worked to attach it to the table.  I had been warned I couldn’t move at all and he worked to create little pockets of air for my nose and encouraged me to open my mouth a bit so I could breath through my mouth as well.

Did I enjoy this process?  No.  Was I ok?  Yes.  Did I stay ok, probably not – but, thankfully the beeping and movement didn’t last any longer so the heat sweats and racing heart didn’t cause me to scream or start over.  I don’t tell you all of this to make you feel bad for me or freak you out, but for you to understand what getting a mask is like and a way for you to pray for me going forward.  I will be strapped under this mask everyday and I can’t move while I’m there.  I’m praying the Lord gives me focus and clarity for those moments so that I can sing in my mind or review Bible passages and not allow my heart to race too fast and affect my breathing.  No wonder I never wanted to be an astronaut!

As I thought about this I was reminded that Jesus made the decision to do what no one else would’ve chosen to do, to march to the cross and die for each of us.  He knew what it would entail and yet he depended on his father in order to fulfill his calling.  The night he was arrested Jesus was in anguish and you can see the depth of the stress of what he would endure in this passage from Luke 21:

³⁹ Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.⁴⁰ On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” ⁴¹ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.^[a]

While Jesus loves us, he knew the journey he was going to have to go down and being fully human he knew it would hurt, he knew he would be separated from the Father and knew the cost of choosing to walk that road.  As I read this and know the journey that is in front of me I can learn a lot by following Jesus’ example:

1.  I must be completely reliant and focused on prayer
2. I must never look and focus on my own desire – I must be submitted to and committed to what the Lord desire to do in and through me
3. I must be honest with the Lord on my struggles and be vulnerable so he can fill me and lead me
4. The Lord will send me who/what I need so that I can walk this journey and remain faithful
5. Jesus’ physical body showed signs of the stress of what was going on inside of him and what would take place – I myself must expect moments of difficulty – mentally and physically going forward

These are ways you can pray for me as I begin this journey.  My hearts desire is to follow Jesus’ example and to be faithful no matter what is going on,  that the Lord gets the glory through every circumstance, no matter how unpleasant it may be for me.

Here’s where I am so thankful and really have found myself just weeping over so many times.  While Jesus struggled, he had asked his disciples to pray and to stay alert for him.  Of course they didn’t understand the magnitude of what was about to happen, but Jesus spend these moments of anguish alone.

⁴⁵ When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ⁴⁶ “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

I pray so hard that I will not fall into temptation to doubt and that through this process my faith will grow deeper and I will see the face of Jesus like I never have before.  I am so thankful….so thankful…. so thankful for the messages, Bible passages and everything else from everyone.  Unlike Jesus, I have been surrounded by people who are not asleep.  They are warriors battling for me and keeping me focused and going.  I could not be faithful or fight without you.  I need you and I am so thankful for your faithfulness and support.  We are going to have an amazing story to tell through this!

Here’s a picture of my mask