Team #DanimalStrong

In my most recent post, I told you about the battle my beloved brother-in-law Dan is waging against AML, a form of leukemia with which he was diagnosed in December of 2018.  I also promised some photos of the many people who love Dan and purchased matching #Danimalstrong t-shirts to show their support for him as he fights his way to a cure.

It's hard for us, with our limited human understanding, to accept that there is so much suffering in this life on earth.  Many people lose their faith in God during the roughest patches, because they don't think a loving Father would allow his children to experience so much fear and pain.  But I think this quote (from an eminently quotable saint who is a veritable font of wisdom) explains the value of human suffering perfectly:

We need to suffer patiently not only the burden of being ill, but of being ill with the particular illness that God wants for us, among the people He wants us to be with, and with the discomforts that He permits us to experience.  I say the same of all tribulations.  
                                             ~St. Francis de Sales


Here is another profound saintly insight into suffering and how it brings us closer to God's Son than anything else does :

If God wills that we be struck down by some affliction, take it as a sign that He considers us mature enough to be associated even more closely with His redeeming Cross.

~St. Josemaria Escriva


It's obvious that God considers Dan mature enough to handle what many of us could not, that He has chosen Dan to carry this heavy burden because He loves him so much.  I am in awe of my brother-in-law right now, of the way he is carrying the cross that has been chosen for him.

As he fights the particular affliction he's been given, here are some of the people God wants Dan to be with during this particularly difficult time in his life. (These are just some of the many photos bouncing around the Internet these days, but this is a pretty good sampling of Team #DanimalStrong members).

#DanimalStrong!  PRAY FOR DAN!

(Many thanks to Kendra Tierney, who posted the above saint quotes in her Instagram stories recently.  I am grateful to have seen them right now, when they help so much to make sense of what is happening to this guy we love so much.)