Without giving too many details, and trying very hard to make a long story short, I pray that God will give me His Words for this story and not my own. In June 2014 I had to hospitalized for an acute case of pancreatitis. I was told to follow up with my primary care physician. My doctor didn't seem too concerned. But I was worried because my mother had previous pancreas problems, and had to have a surgery (Whipple). She had a pre-cancerous tumor on the head of her pancreas. Anyway...the following is the rest of my story. I decided to go to the surgeon my mother had been to. He is also a Christian and prays with patients and their families. I wanted a second opinion. So...the tests began. The results came back. Not the greatest news I've ever gotten. There was a solid mass in the body of my pancreas, and cysts on the tail of it. Surgery was scheduled. Oh, and I was going to be a diabetic the rest of my life on top of it because of how much of the pancreas he was going to have to remove. I had gone to the Dr. by myself, and he's located approximately 2hrs from where I live, but I was ok with that, I like quiet time to myself. But...that drive home...I will never forget that day as long as I live...It was raining, traffic was crazy, and I just had the wind knocked out of me. I was coming up on a small town and thought that I might have to pull over...cry...get it out of my system before I had to come home and share this devastating news with my parents (who had recently moved in with me), and my daughters. BUT....HERE COMES THE GOOD PART...I was passing an 18 wheeler, I normally don't pay much attention to them, other than making sure that we are both staying in our own lanes...but for some reason I looked up at the back end of the trailer...and someone had taken their fingers and wrote in the dusty dirt, in big bold letters.....STAND FIRM....that was all, nothing else. Needless to say, I did NOT have to pull over and cry. Instead, I finished my drive home, told who needed to be told my news (my prayer warriors). And I fled...I ran away...took my daughters on vacation. And I prayed....a lot!!! And when I got back, I had to have one more scan before surgery, The results came back...the solid mass was shrinking and so were the cysts. So had to have a repeat scan 3 months later....but during all of this, I decided to STAND FIRM. The next scan...even better news, the solid mass was completely gone, and the cysts were still continuing to shrink. So...I have to have another scan but we were able to go out 6 months this time instead of 3, we're not to there yet, but I'm sure that God's got me covered no matter what. So.....I guess I could have really made this short by simply typing....STAND FIRM!!! Because that's all we need to do!!! I've never shared a story on here, but...my daughters and I have also gotten a small matching tattoo, after the good news...it's a small simple cross with the words Stand Firm strategically placed. Very simple. Very small. And....for all of those who are against tattoos...these tattoos have sparked many conversations, with absolute complete strangers, and we get to share this story, my story, our story, of Standing Firm...in our faith...in our faith in God...so I pray today that this story will reach just one person who needed to hear the words,...STAND FIRM....