My name is Colleen. I am wife to Lenny and mom to Cassie, Chad, Marissa, Kendrea, Zachary, Landon, Garrett, Hayden, and Kyla. I am mom-in-law to Micah and to Kelsey. I am grandma to Jordan. I homeschool my three youngest. I do laundry, make meals, manage my home, love my family, follow hard after God.
I believe that Jesus is the Son of God–that He died to rescue me from sin. I believe He rose again and lives. If we believe in Him, and confess Him, and repent of our sin, He saves us and makes us His child for eternity. I love Him because He first loved me. I want to tell the old, old story while I live out my story.
In September of 2015, my 24 year old daughter, Marissa, was diagnosed with Stage III triple negative breast cancer. I started this blog as a way to trace God’s goodness through the hard. After 20 weeks of chemo and a double mastectomy, the cancer recurred in May 2016. She courageously fought for 10 more months. On March 6, 2017, Marissa finished her fight here and went home to glory where she is right now fully experiencing God’s goodness.
We miss her, but we trace His goodness as we continue our journey without her. Someday we will see her. Someday we will weep no more. Someday we will see all the glories of God displayed.
Until then, we know Him. We trust Him. He is good.
You can follow details of her journey on our facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/Praying-for-Marissa-177855832551151/
Tracing His Goodness 
We are heartbroken for you, Marissa and your entire family! We know that God’s ways are not our ways because we would all be tempted to always choose the easier path. We know His ways are perfect, but right now, they seem soooo hard! Please know that you have an army of people praying for Marissa. Your family has been a blessing to so many people over the years and now we get the opportunity to give a little love back. We commit to praying faithfully for all of you as you travel this journey together as a family. We love you very much.
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Colleen, I don’t know you and your family. I just followed a link a friend shared on your post Called to Sadness. I read that post and your about page. I just wanted you to know that I am sorry for your loss, and that I am praying for you and your family as often as the Lord allows.
I also wanted to share with you that Jesus knows and cares about your loss. He too had loss in 2 dear loved ones… His dear friend Lazarus and His beloved cousin John the Baptist. While we know He resurrected Lazarus, we also know that He did not resurrect His cousin who was murdered, decapitated, and used for a party favor for a birthday party. Your loss and your sadness is in His heart, just as your Marissa is in His arms. ❤ He loves you, and He loves your Marissa! ❤
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Amen. “I do laundry, make meals, manage my home, love my family, follow hard after God”
the problem with this is that “follow hard after God should come before everything else, not after”
I’m not judging you – just lovingly saying – if we want to follow after God – that has to be first. In our lives. hearts and minds. God loves you Jesus loves you
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It’s like a crescendo, Rebekah. All things are from Him, and all things lead to Him. ❤ Romans 11:36
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Hi – I’ve followed your blog for a while since our daughter Susannah told us about Marissa’s cancer battle. I’m finishing up a new study book on Hebrews 11 for Journey Forth (BJ) Press and want to include several testimonies of living faith. I saved part of one of your posts, and if you’ll give me permission I’d like to add it to the book. I’m not planning to use real names or other identifying facts. Could you send your email address to me so I can communicate more about this with you? Thanks. Claudia Barba (claudiabarba60@gmail.com).
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I sent you an email, Claudia. I’m glad for you to use our testimony.
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