Andrea Gressman

I recently went to a conference and it was such a rich time for me spiritually. I feel so convicted to share some of the nuggets that were presented to me in the hopes that maybe someone else can get something out of it as well.  Most of these are not overwhelmingly deep. Some are very simple concepts that may even have been presented before to me but for some reason, it grabbed ahold of me now or just had a different meaning in the present time. The first nugget was the idea that "we are not in Kansas anymore."  We have heard that saying so many times in reference to the Wizard of Oz movie many of us grew up watching.  This was actually a reference to our post-Covid circumstances in the church world. However, I do feel like it can be applied to our family life, friend life, and even work-life just as much as it can be applied to our church life.  It was a simple statement. He was referencing how the church was sitting at a certain mark and then when Covid hit many ...

Shortly after the funeral we started getting calls and texts for other life things. Bills showed up in the mail, our kids/'schedules carried on, my husband's work schedule resumed.... the world kept going and I didn't... I wrote the following in my journal: "My world has stopped - but no one else's did. How do you keep on functioning in a world that keeps moving when you are at a stand still?" The best way I can describe it is like I am in a fog. I don't want to be but just like a real fog you don't have a lot of control over it. It is just the reality of being in deep grief I guess. In all honesty I am not resentful or bitter that other people's worlds have carried on. That's just life. It wasn't their child that died. But I do have a hard time with those who expect the same from me. Just being real here which I promised from the beginning of this process that I would be. I can tell you the sweetest words I have heard through th...

Today marks 4 years of remission. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma on February 2, 2011 and was declared cancer-free on January 4, 2012. Today I can exhale just a tiny bit more. In the last 4 years I have learned that cancer will be a factor in my life for the rest of my life. It will never be something that I don't think about and carry with me. The fear of the cancer coming back or being diagnosed with a secondary cancer will always be in the back of my mind. I know the statistics by heart. I can recite my risk factors like they are written on the back of my hand. But I do my best  live my life beyond these numbers. To live with the hope that my story can be different. That hope gives me peace which I cling to.  I have tried to ensure the fact that I am a cancer survivor does not define me but being realistic it will forever be a part of who I am. And I find my battle now is keeping my fear in check and live each day to the fullest - leaving as many pieces of me behind...