Vision 2011

"Where there is no vision, the people perish..." Proverbs 29:18 Do you have vision for this new season? My prayer for you as you look forth into this new season, this new year, the year of "Reconciliation," is that you would see outside the proverbial box and proclaim this to be your finest hour.

My Twournal

Purchase my 2009-2010 Twitter Journal, "Twournal" and Twitter will donate 50% of all sales to cancer research.

angiesuttles - Twournal - Twitter Book of Tweets by Angie Suttles

Question: "What was the very first Christmas gift?" 
Answer:   Love 
"For God so 'loved' the world that He gave His only son..." -John 3:16


Happy Birthday, Jesus!

My Facebook Overview 2010

This is Christmas

I pray we haven't forgotten.

youtube.com/watch?v=20HoJZ…

Throw In Your Hat!

"Throw in Your Hat" Hat Drive 

You can throw in your hat and help cancer fighters in treatment by donating gently used hats or new hats. (Need hats for ladies and gentlemen)

Mail your hats to:

Livestrong Upstate SC

PO Box 3868

Anderson, SC 29622

(Donation receipt upon request)

Thankful Jesus carried a cross, not a picket sign.

Elizabeth Edwards had the heart of an advocate and I appreciated her voice.
If we don't step up, there will be many more lives ending this way.
As an advocate, myself and a survivor of two different stage 4's, it makes me angry! As a breast cancer sister of Elizabeth's, it makes me sad.
These are the facts:
1) This year, cancer passed heart disease as the leading cause of death in the US.
2) It is estimated that by 2020, one out of two people will be diagnosed sometime in their lifetime.
3) We lose the same amount of people every other day to cancer as we did on 911.
When will congress GET IT???!!!!!!!
I stood on Capital Hill alongside 199 of my Livestrong constituents and we vowed to go to war as Nixon did in 1975 and as we know, no cure.
We have to take the ribbons off! We have to get serious!
My son will not go through what I have been through, I declare it! He will not ever see the trenches of cancer, I decree it!
You may not think you can do anything and you can't do everything but you can do something... and please be careful where you donate your funds.
Be sure your funds go to research, resources and recovery. Don't pad administrator's pockets.
We have to go to the very root of the problem, not scrap the surface.

Take Your Shoes Off!

For weeks, the message of Joshua 5:13 has been pressing in on me....


Not all of the giants in our lives are our enemies. 
In fact, I would have to testify that the giants in my life brought me into promise lands I would have never entered into of my own accord. 


Joshua was by Jericho when a man stood before him. We have to calculate that this man was that of giant stature because the scripture explains to us that Joshua had to lift up his eyes to look upon him. The giant stood before him with a drawn sword and Joshua, who was use to fighting, asked the giant if he was "Friend" or "Foe". The man's reply to Joshua was that he was the Commander of the army of the Lord. Then the angel proceeded to command Joshua to remove his shoes for he was standing on holy ground. 


As children of God, no matter where we are currently standing in life or what the giants may appear to be, we can take our shoes off and feel at home; feel safe. These battles that life has conditioned us to fight belongs to God. The man proclaimed himself to be the Commander of the army of the Lord, which makes the situation clear that we have an army of God at our disposal. He commands His angels to take charge over us and I have watched Him do this in my own life, time after time.. battle after battle.


Most people say after cancer, you have to live the "New Normal" but I say, why would you want "Life as normal" or "Life as usual" after you have experienced this kind of Amazing Grace. 


So as you look up at the giants that stand before you in your own life...put away your sword, take off your shoes, and feel at home as these battles belong to the Lord and you're standing on holy ground.

STILL UNBROKEN

THIS BLOG POST IS IN HONOR OF ALL MY CANCER FIGHTING PEERS, WE'RE .......
'STILL UNBROKEN!!!!!'


Broken bones, broken hearts 
Stripped down and torn apart 
A little bit of rust, I'm still runnin'  
Countin' miles, countin' tears 
Twisted roads, shiftin' gears
Year after year - it's all or nothin' 
 
But I'm not home, I'm not lost 
Still holdin' on to what I got 
Ain't much left
No there's so much that's been stolen
I guess I've lost everything I've had 
But I'm not dead, at least not yet 
Still alone, still alive,
Still UNBROKEN!!!!! 
I'm still alone, still alive, I'M STILL UNBROKEN 
 
Never captured, never tamed Wild horses on the plains 
You can call me lost - I call it FREEDOM  
I feel the spirit in my soul 
It's something Lord I can't control 
I'M NEVER GIVIN UP WHILE I'M STILL BREATHIN! 
 
I'm not home, I'm not lost 
Still holdin' on to what I got 
Ain't much left 
Lord there's so much that's been stolen 
I guess I've lost everything I've had 
But I'm not dead, at least not yet 
Still alone, still alive, 
Still UNBROKEN! 
I'm still alone, still alive, STILL UNBROKEN!
I'm still unbroken 
Still Unbroken 
 
Like the wind, like the rain 
It's all runnin through my veins 
Like a river pouring down into the ocean  
I'm out here on the streets 
But I'm standing on my feet 

Still alive, still alone, still unbroken  
I'm not home, I'm not lost 
Still holdin' on to what I got 
Ain't much left 
Lord there's so much that's been STOLEN
Guess I've lost everything I've had 
But I'm not dead, at least not yet 
Still alive, still alone, Still Unbroken 
I'm still alone, still alive, I'M STILL UNBROKEN 
I'M STILL ALONE! STILL ALIVE! STILL UNBROKEN!
I'M STILL UNBROKEN!  
I ain't never going down! 

I'M STILL UNBROKEN! 
-Lynyrd Skynyrd

GOD IS ABLE; IS HE WILLING?

‎"God would rather us think of Him as not able to heal us as oppose to Him not willing." Think of yourself as a parent; wouldn't you?-me

I was recently asked by a fellow cancer fighter why a loving God would allow us to endure cancer. This particular person was angry with God and proclaimed they would never have faith in a God who would be so cruel. 
My response: Jesus came to do the 'Will' of His Father and Jesus' ministry was a healing ministry. The Bible clearly tells us that the enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy in John 10:10 and goes on to tell us that Jesus came to bring us life to the fullest. I often hear prayers that ask God if it be His will to heal a particular person than do so.. but I have yet to find anywhere in the Bible that Jesus stopped to ask His Father first if it be His Will before healing someone (the only ones who did not receive their healing were those in Jesus' own hometown and the Bible says it was because of their unbelief. See they had seen Him as merely a carpenter all His life so their perception of Him was not as their healer or savior). The Bible tells us that Jesus went about doing the Will of His Father so you have to look at the ministry of Jesus and what He did go about doing; He went about healing the sick and saving the lost (well the Bible says that same power lives in us). The disciples understood healing but could not understand salvation...today, we understand salvation but not healing. God brought me to studying healing through the two cancers over the past twelve years but it was not until the diagnosis of the second stage 4 that my thinking and my speaking really began to change. I agree, of course, that going home to heaven is the ultimate healing..we are made new and never again will sickness have it's place in our lives but the Bible says we can have these things in the.."Land of the Living."Psalm 23:11 "The power of life and death are in the tongue."Proverbs 18:21 So we have to be careful with what we speak in our situations and how we pray over people..and we have to take the authority given to us through the Holy Spirit and command the mountains to move. Yes, there is an appointed time for all of us to die and leave this place in which we were not created for to begin with but there is a back to the cross..the stripes of Jesus: "By His Stripes, We Were Healed."1 Peter 2:24 There are 39 categories of disease and there were 39 stripes placed upon the back of Jesus? That is powerful! Healing was part of the atonement: His body was broken for our healing and His blood poured out for our salvation.

This is how I know Jesus, as Jehovah Rapha, The God Who Heals. Like salvation, not everyone receives healing but it's not that God's Will has anything to do with it. When Jesus cried out "It is finished," He meant everything. It's up to us to receive..salvation, healing, spiritual gifts. These things will never be forced upon us, they're available for our taken. On the cross, Jesus cried out to God and asked Him why had He forsaken Him.. I believe this to be an indication that God had turned His head as He could not bare to watch the suffering of His son. And even though God is not shocked when things happen to us as the Bible says He knows the end from the beginning...God's heart does break for us when we fall sick or into sin (and I'm not talking about those everyday mess ups that we all have as none of us are ever going to be perfect). I do believe it is His Will for us to be made whole but I think, like Paul talked about, we grow weary in this "race" in the this flesh in this world. My grandmother understood healing as did my aunt, who passed recently from cancer, but both were satisfied with years and both had a greater desire to be with Jesus than to remain here and I truly believe that this is why we do lose some of our loved ones prematurely but I do not believe it was God's Will for them to suffer and die from a disease..(we are conditioned to the things of this world being flesh and bone). I believe when it comes down to it, we make a choice in our spirits (as we are Spirit, Body and Soul). I truly believe that if any of us, living, ever caught a glimpse of heaven and Jesus (and I do believe loved ones we have lost did see Him, I really do....as I could tell you many stories of people on their death bed who cried out His name as if He were in the room) none of us would choose to remain here. I have struggled many times with making the choice of life when my body has been racked with pain beyond explanation from bc bone metz ...and I can't wait to see Jesus face to face; the one who died in my place. I keep choosing life for now, because of my son but one day, I am going to go home! However, cancer will never get the credit and God will never be the blame for my leaving this earth!
I will not die until I am satisfied and I say this with boldness because of Psalm 91:16 "With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."
I just want us to seek out what God really does say about healing and look closer at the ministry of Jesus. Salvation is only the beginning.... He has so much available for us but our heads are so wrapped around this world and what we can see that we so often miss the gifts He has for us. I want what Jesus suffered and died to give me so that it would not have been in vain. I want to pay my vows to Christ and pick up my cross daily and though, I fail often, I know He will give me what I seek in my heart to receive. (Psalm 37:4) I want everyone to know Jesus to be real and to know Him as the one who accomplished everything we would ever need to overcome this world. (John 16:33) If we are praying God's Will be done then we haven't read the Word of God because the Word of God tells us what His Will is, in all things. We need to know this and we need to pray His Word not what we grew up hearing in church. 


"Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven" Matthew 6:10...There is no sickness in heaven.

This has always been my favorite quote so I was elated to see this image posted up on a fellow breast cancer fighter's facebook wall. 

I wanted to share the story behind this simple but powerful declaration by Winston Churchill.

Story goes: Churchill said this on October 29, 1941, when he visited Harrow School. It was after the Blitz and things were looking up a bit for Britain.

"What we have gone through in this period of ten months, this is the lesson: Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never -- in nothing, great or small, large or petty -- never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. 

Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

-Winston Churchill






-Angie Suttles

The Cool Scars

Could we take the approach this courageous feline did in the face of such a threat?  


This video (link below) reminds me of a story I often share with survivor groups.

One sunny Florida day in the summer, a little boy was viciously attacked by an alligator. 
His father saw what was happening from their home window and ran courageously out to his son without hesitation while boldly assuring his boy that he would be alright. The boy's father grabbed his son's arms with a firm determined grip and began to pull him from the alligator's mouth.
The next day when the press requested to interview the small boy about his terrifying experience, he was asked about the ordeal and about the wounds caused by this ferocious animal. Instead of the boy revealing the markings on his legs from the attack of the alligator, he eagerly presented his arms to the reporters. In their confusion, they asked him why he was showing them the bruises on his arms. The little boy peered up to this very attentive group of journalist and explained in a bold proud tone that these were the real scars, the cool scares, because these were the scars where his daddy had held him so tight that it saved his life. 


This boy was not concerned with the damage that was now so clearly present from the attack of the alligator or with what he had lost. He was focused on the cool scars that was the evidence of his father's strong hands that had surely saved his life.


This story reminds me of the giants I have faced in my own life. I have scars from over a dozen surgeries and over fifty rounds of radiation and chemotherapy but when I look at myself in the mirror, I only see the scaring from the grip of my heavenly father's hands that has 'surely, saved my life!' 




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sAF8gMN9c0




This cat never stopped to think about the possible outcome from his approach to such a giant. Without wavering, he claimed what was his. He stood up to his enemy even after his enemy had multiplied. He had not seen what the outcome would be and it could have went very differently. It was his bold move of faith that caused him to be victorious. 


"Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Veteran's Day

   Thank You

November is "National Caregiver's Month"

To the caregivers in my life; I love you.

IT'S "MOVEMBER"

It's "Movember"...Men grow a moustache to raise awareness for men's health issues.

SO, LET IT GROW, 

Gentlemen!

Double Rainbow Guy, Mean Son Of A Witch, Peace Chick & Tonight's Menu: Dead Man On Worms (YUMMY!)

HALLOWEEN EMOTICON

                                                                               Happy Halloween :-)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON

These posters were a series designed by an unknown artist that would serve as a message from the King to his people, who the government was sure had grown discouraged and was losing confidence during the beginning of World War II in 1939.The messages were intended to be used only if the Nazis succeeded in invading Britain.
The messages were to champion the people to a greater resolve and undergird them with determination.

Two and a half million posters were printed but only a limited amount were actually distributed. I don't know but I was just thinking, why wait? Why wait on an invasion or adversity to state a charge of resilience? So, I share them with you today in the same hopes that no matter what your challenge, that you would remember these things.


 "Keep Calm And Carry On"


"Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory"


 "Freedom is in Peril, Defend It With All Your Might"


                                                      

Paddles Up!

You want to get your, "Paddle On" for cancer research?

Contact us at upstatedragonboating@gmail.com and tell cancer to MOVE OVER, I'M PADDLING!

There is a registration and a fundraising commitment but it is ALL for cancer research.

We have experienced paddlers and unexperienced paddlers so come grab a T-Grip and let's paddle for our lives!

The Goal $250,000 (ALL for research).

If cancer has touched your life, your hands should be on a paddle and your wallet. Please give what you can to help us raise funds for research.

Chattanooga

  "Are you taking time or missing moments?"

YOUTUBE VIDEO of Livestrong Day 2010, "The Carolinas Care Event"

Livestrong SC and Livestrong NC teamed up for this year's Livestrong Day 2010 event with the goal to demonstrate living strong during and after a cancer diagnosis. We had an amazing day of doing just that at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXPr6tceH8g

Thank you to the US National Whitewater Center for an incredible day.

Belle Magazine Article (October Issue 2010) by Angie Suttles (A portion of the article)

 “Stop Counting the Moments and Start Making the Moments Count”



When my 17 year old son’s alarm clock failed to go off one morning, he said to me, “I’ll never make it, I don’t have enough time.” I replied with “Be thankful you have the time you do,” as the problem was not the lack of time but the importance of how he spent every moment of the time he had.


A moment is defined as a specific point in time. A moment is the only promise that time can afford us with great value in every single one.


Before surviving two different stage 4 cancers while only in my 30’s, I didn’t really understand the cost of a moment. Like everyone else, I would find myself counting down the days and hours to the weekend and then asking, “Where does the time go?” I learned to stop counting the moments and start making the moments count. Time is the precious commodity in which none of us will ever have enough. Time “really doesn’t” wait for anyone.


As romanticized as “The Bucket List” has become, and as glamorous as our goals and achievements on that list are, we should first learn to appreciate and understand that living resides in the day to day details. It’s not “5 Year Plans,” it is spontaneous trips with family and belly laughs with friends. Scripture tells us in Luke 19:13 that we’re to occupy while living. In order to occupy, we have to engage and absorb the present even in a time of trial and testing.


My time of testing began in 1998 at the age of 31 when I was diagnosed with a rare stage 4 vaginal cancer. I underwent a Radical Vulvectomy followed by 28 treatments of radiation to the pelvis, ending all possibilities of more children. Just at five years clear from that cancer, I was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, “Invasive Ductal Cell Carcinoma,” that had metastasized to the bones. I underwent a mastectomy and received the normal protocol of radiation, chemotherapy, and bone strengthener. The final report in June 2004 stated "Healing and Response to Therapy,” which I was told is very rarely stated in reports of this kind. I was then placed on an anti-hormone since the cancer had been estrogen driven. In December 2008, with tumor markers rising, I returned to chemotherapy and completed 36 treatments in eight months. Markers returned to normal, chemotherapy was terminated, and I was again placed on a protocol of bone strengthener and an anti-hormone medication. Then in April of this year, tumor markers were again climbing. I decided to seek out additional answers at MD Anderson in Houston, TX and consult with a new oncologist here at home. I was prescribed Xeloda, a chemo pill, along with bone strengthener. Tumor markers are plunging and once they stabilize, I will maintain the bone strengthener and begin a new anti-hormone therapy.

I engaged myself during my time of testing by serving as The Relay for Life’s Entertainment Chair, a Committee Member for the 2008 Cancer Survivor Alliance Conference Committee in Columbia, by raising funds, and by volunteering with various other organizations in the community. I became a cancer advocate with The Lance Armstrong Foundation in 2007 when I was chosen by the foundation to travel with Lance Armstrong and 199 of my constituents from around the country to Washington, DC to ask Congress to make cancer a national priority. In 2008, the foundation asked me to lead a local Livestrong grassroots effort, and I formed Livestrong Upstate SC. I also served as a Track Leader for the foundation at the Livestrong Summit in Columbus, Ohio in 2008. Livestrong Upstate SC has held Livestrong Day events annually throughout the Upstate for “Livestrong Day” and served various cancer organizations with fundraising and community events. Under the Livestrong Upstate name, I birthed the Upstate’s first cancer survivor dragon boat support group that now benefits one of the local cancer associations.

As breast cancer survivor dragon boaters from across the US, we share our journey of survival and our love for the sport of dragon boating in a new book, “Reaching for Life.” The book was formally launched on July 25, 2010 at the USDBF Club Crew Championships held in Chattanooga, TN. First print sold out within three weeks and went to a second print. The Library of Congress has issued the book an ISSN number. Proceeds from the sales will benefit dragon boating activities all over the country.

I was introduced to dragon boating several years ago while recovering from the first cancer diagnosis, which at the time, did not qualify me since the sport was being directed towards breast cancer survivors to reduce the risk of Lymphadema and reoccurrence. I was reintroduced to it in Washington, DC in 2007 a few years after the breast cancer diagnosis. While having lunch with the South Carolina constituents, I met a breast cancer survivor dragon boater who paddled with the Charleston Dragon Boat Team. From that moment, dragon boating became an untamable passion for me. I have paddled with teams throughout the Southeast and Canada, much of the time while undergoing chemotherapy and it was empowering. With every stroke of the paddle, I was fighting back. Outside of the physical and mental benefits of the sport, every aspect from the reach of the paddle to the pull of the water and the tenacity required to cross the finish line is a parallel resemblance against the fight on cancer. Dragon boaters use the reference, “Awakening the Dragon,” which not only defines a new found love for the sport but a sudden explosive passion for life. I was honored and humbled to have been given the opportunity to share my journey through these cancers and my love for the sport along side of such courageous women who have perseverance and passion.

Passion is the prerequisite for living and the only means by which we can make the moments of our day to day lives count, no matter the circumstances.

“To live without passion is like trying to sing while holding your breath.”


Angie Suttles

Livestrong Day 2010

"A day spent living strong is a day well spent."- Angie Suttles

The Sun Stood Still In My Life, I'm Changed Forever

I have seen the sun stand still in the dark places of my life as I've battled a couple of hateful cancers and even before. I have felt the power of the prayers of my friends, family and even strangers. God has shown Himself strong in my life and has been that friend that sticks closer than a brother. He has held my hand through dozens of surgeries, sat with me through over fifty rounds of chemotherapy, comforted me, held me, lifted up my head to see His Glory, favored me, and showered me with His amazing Grace. He has wiped away my tears and healed my mind and heart. He has kept my spirit from being crushed and my soul sustained. He is the One Who has carried me when I could not stand and I have felt the warmth of His eyes as He has watched over me. 


He is the Love of my life. He is the One Who's breath causes me to be victorious. He has never asked me to be perfect and never expects me to give anything that He, Himself, does not supply. He loved me and protected me even through times when He was the last thing on my mind. He has never lied to me and never turned His back on me. He has only given to me good things. 


What kind of love is this, I ask? 
This love is unconditional, unmerited, not earned and not jealous. This love is a greater love than we would ever be capable of comprehending. This love is unimaginable and unbelievable. This love is greater than the love for a child or spouse. This love is complete and without boundaries. And no matter what we do, this love is offered freely with no prejudice and no judgement. 
This love is our very life. 


Angie Suttles