Evidence of Providence

“No evidence of hypermetabolic malignant disease from the head to the midthigh.”

The first sentence of the Interpretation and Recommendation section of my latest PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan was, to our family, evidence of Providence (God’s protective care).

It is only by God’s steadfast love and generous mercy that we have come this far—counting 1,286 days since I was diagnosed. And for this ‘extra’ time, we are ever grateful.

It was only fitting that on the day the PET scan results came out, we had a family meeting in which we decided to articulate our purpose for being together—and being given all this extra time. We all committed to a family VMV (vision, mission, and values) so that we can be guided in our actions inside and outside the home.

Two weeks ago, we met and asked ourselves what each member thought was the purpose our family (mission). We asked what kind of family we want to become (vision). And to describe our values, we asked what things we like about our family (continue), what things we don’t like about our family (avoid/stop/change), and what things we want our family to do or be (start).

Each member wrote his/her answer on sheets of paper—one sheet per answer per member. Some even drew their answers. I consolidated 20 sheets of paper into a family VMV statement and we happened to meet again on the day we got my PET scan results.

We really cannot claim to have accomplished anything. We just signed a sheet of paper to formalize our agreement to our family VMV. We will have to come back to this sheet of paper often to make sure we are living our values, fulfilling our mission, and getting closer to our vision. We will also have to review this sheet of paper to make sure it is current because our VMV may change as our members mature.

There is still so much we want to do together. We certainly feel God’s abiding love for us each time we are together. 

But we have long accepted that when we cannot be together, God remains with each of us—that we may walk courageously toward His purpose for our lives.

Sison Family VMV 2008