It’s All in How You Look at It—Part 2: Press Your Way through the Crowd

Part 1 of It’s All in How You Look at It helped us to see how, in 2025, that there were two sides to the “dollar bill of life” and that which side we focused on was totally up to us.  As I thought more about this, I was reminded of how this applied to my own life in the last two months of 2025.  My faith was on trial and my resolve was tested in a very real way. 

On November 17th, I woke up with abdominal pain that had me looking and feeling green for 6 weeks.  On November 18th, I was to give the prayer of comfort during the funeral services for one of our church members.  I felt very sick but knew that I had to press my way.  I pressed through assisting with communion, baptizing my grandson and every ministry assignment I had.  I had to press through the crowd believing that God would carry me through everything for which I had been assigned.

The pain impacted my appetite and no matter what I ate, the discomfort persisted. Everything I ate triggered the pain.  I had 2 days out of 6 weeks when I thought I was headed in a better direction only to be right back where I started.  Yes, I went to my primary care doctor.  Yes, I scheduled an appointment with my gastroenterologist  (1/28/26 was his earliest).  Yes, I tried this, that, and the other—but to no avail. 

All I knew was that I had to choose which side of the one dollar bill I was going to focus on.  I decided to keep my eyes on the side of the bill that reads “In God We Trust,” and like the woman with the issue of blood, I continued to press my way through the crowd—the crowd of pain, the crowd of fear, and the crowd of doubt. 

And God came through providing me the relief I needed just hours before our Annual Sarcoma REACH Fundraising Gala on December 21st.  During those times leading up to the gala, when I would question if I’d be well enough to even attend the gala, I could hear the voice of God saying “Press through the crowd like the woman with the issue of blood.”

How will we look at the challenges of 2026— Will we be fearful of the crowds, or will we march forward in full authority, clutching life’s dollar bill proclaiming “In God We Trust?”

The choice is up to us.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. Lamentations 3:21