{"id":13310,"date":"2023-09-18T21:50:21","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T01:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=13310"},"modified":"2025-08-17T16:15:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T20:15:52","slug":"lamenting-leukemia-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=13310","title":{"rendered":"Lamenting Leukemia – Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week, I wrote a Lament for a Leak<\/a>. This week I got much worse news, so it’s time to write a Lament for Leukemia. Except wait — I already wrote a Lament for Leukemia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yes, this is about my same niece, Meredith. Now she’s seven years old, and she’s still dealing with leukemia.<\/p>\n

I remember the Lament form using the ACCESS acronym:<\/p>\n

Address to God
\nComplaint
\nConfession of Trust
\nEntreaty
\nSureness of Help
\nSubsequent Praise<\/p>\n

[If you’re interested in reading a book about writing your own psalms, subscribe to this blog or to my Sondermusings substack<\/a>, and I will definitely let you know if\/when I find a publisher. You’ll also find out some things along the way. Let me encourage you to try the lament form and post your own examples in the comments.]<\/p>\n

For now, another lament for leukemia:<\/p>\n

[Address to God]
\nLord, we don’t know where to turn
\nand so we turn to You.
\nYou love us and care for us,
\nyou hear prayer,
\nbut we don’t understand
\nhow children can suffer so much
\nin this world you’ve made.<\/p>\n

[Complaint]
\nMeredith was in remission!
\nShe did so well with immunotherapy!
\nNo side effects!
\nOut of the hospital on the first possible day!<\/p>\n

Our hopes were high.
\nOur hearts lifted to see her
\ndancing ballet,
\nlearning Parkour.
\n(Parkour seems to be navigating obstacles with strength and grace —
\nmay she navigate these new obstacles with strength and grace.)<\/p>\n

But only a couple weeks later,
\nher b-cells are back.
\nThe reengineered t-cells are no longer
\nprotecting her from leukemia.<\/p>\n

We don’t want to be ungrateful.
\nHer big sister is a match!
\nBut the stem cell transplant process
\nis hard,
\nis risky,
\nis scary.
\nAnd we’d gotten to hoping she could do without it.<\/p>\n

Lord, she’s just a kid!
\nSeven years old, with years of painful and uncomfortable treatments
\nbehind her.
\nShe was doing activities,
\ngoing back to school,
\nlearning new things,
\neven growing her hair back.
\nNow it’s time for six more weeks in the hospital (at least).<\/p>\n

[Confession of Trust]
\nLord, we know that you do see trouble and grief.
\nYou consider it to take it in hand.
\nYou will be with your children
\nevery step of the way.<\/p>\n

[Entreaty]
\nLord, have mercy!
\nGrant Meredith health and healing.
\nUphold her family.
\nGrant them all grace and peace.<\/p>\n

Give her sister peace and rest
\nas she donates her stem cells,
\nand transform her blood into
\nhealing and salvation for Meredith.<\/p>\n

Lord, we don’t even understand fully how it works,
\nbut turn her sister’s blood into good medicine
\nthat gives Meredith new health and new life
\nand many years of thriving.<\/p>\n

[Sureness of Help]
\nThank you, Lord, that you do hear our prayers.
\nThank you for the amazing developments in medicine
\nthat have produced this cure for leukemia.
\nThank you that you have been with this family for years already
\nand you’re not abandoning them now.<\/p>\n

[Subsequent Praise]
\nLord, help us dare to celebrate again
\nwhen the stem cells do their work.
\nLet us look forward to the day
\nwhen her blood has been renewed
\nand she is cured.
\nWe look forward to singing for joy
\nat the healing you bring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I wrote a Lament for a Leak. This week I got much worse news, so it’s time to write a Lament for Leukemia. Except wait — I already wrote a Lament for Leukemia. Yes, this is about my same niece, Meredith. Now she’s seven years old, and she’s still dealing with leukemia. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-laments","category-praying-with-the-psalmists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13310"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13314,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13310\/revisions\/13314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}