By Sue Larson
Nine years ago, I found out I needed to go through another round of cancer treatments after believing I was cancer free. Soon after my diagnosis, my neighbors gave me a blue bird box to hang outside my window. I spent that fall – September though December – in surgery and then 8 weeks of chemotherapy partnered with 40 radiation treatments. I finished just before Christmas with a big sigh of relief!
The following February, we got news that our son Ted had been diagnosed with a large melanoma on his chest. He did not have a surgeon or insurance, and he lived several hundred miles from any large medical services. We prayed and prayed and finally he was able to get some financial help and a surgeon. I had been very worried and upset after many negative experiences with skin cancer. As his surgery drew near, I prayed and prayed but felt no peace in my heart.
The Friday before the surgery, l went out in my garden and looked up at the big pine tree with my gifted blue bird box hanging in it, and I noticed two birds flittering in and out of the box. Later that afternoon, I went out to watch the blue birds going in and out of the box as they made their nest with grass and little twigs. As I stood there watching, a monarch butterfly landed on my arm and just rested there a bit! I had a realization that this was God’s answer to my prayers for Ted! This was a sign from heaven that all would be ok, and life would go on the way it should. On Sunday afternoon, I told Ted I had hopeful feelings about his surgery the next day.
By Friday that week, Ted had the results back – they got all the cancer with no lymph gland involvement! Praising God, I told Ted about the blue birds and butterfly experience.
Several weeks later right about Father’s Day, the baby blues fledged, and we got to see all five babies and the dad take a bath in our bird bath. Since then nearly every spring, we have blue birds in the box and monarch butterflies flying around in our garden. I am amazed at this continual reminder of God’s wonders being performed!
Sue Larson
