Author: Janet Thompson
Located in: Lake Forest, CA
Submitted: October 07, 2007
Tell us a little about yourself. I am the founder of Woman to Woman Mentoring and AHW Ministries. I live in Lake Forest, California and am in full-time ministry teaching, training, speaking, and writing. I am married to a wonderful godly man and we have four married children and nine fun and beautiful grandchildren.
What was your motivation behind this project? For years I had begged God not to let me be the 1 in 8 women diagnosed with breast cancer. Then when I got the shocking news that it actually was me, I knew that God had been preparing me to accept that I would join this sisterhood, and that He had a plan and purpose for me to use my breast cancer to help others.
Soon after completely my treatment I knew what that purpose was..."Dear God, They Say It's Cancer. I had received many technical and personal testimony books that were helpful, but I longed for one book that had words from the Lord to comfort me, snippets of other women's stories, encouragement, mentoring, a place to journal my own story, and a place to keep all the information I was receiving, and to record this epic time in my life. When I saw that a book like that did not exist, I knew I was to write the book I had longed to have.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? The subtitle is my hope and prayer that I and the book would be a companion on the reader's breast cancer journey. I am so blessed when women write me and say that as they read the book, it was as if I was going right through the experience with them.
I also hope that my breast cancer sisters can find hope and purpose in their own experience in spite of the horror and devestation that comes with this disease. God has not abandoned us...He is going on the journey with us and I know I couldn't have made it through without the peace the Holy Spirit brings.
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? I cried as I wrote the first half of the book and didn't see how I could possibly finish it. But then I had a breakthrough. There actually was a catharsis in writing about it and getting my feelings out, which is why I included lots of journaling and note taking space throughout the book. I know if the reader can pour out her heart to the Lord through journaling, she will experience the same freedom from the pain and grief that I did.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: I am just coming up to my 5 year celebration. It seemed like such a long time away when I was diagnosed, and yet, I stand on the brink of that very important doctor's appointment. I will never take my life, or the life of my dear friends and family for granted because I know that we all will reach the end of our earthly days, maybe with little warning. But as the last chapter of the book says, the end is just the beginning. And for those of us who know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that beginning will be a new life with Jesus.
With the days He has given me I hope to continue using my life experiences to mentor others. With God at the center of our life we can withstand any storm and not just survive but thrive!
