When Life's Interruptions Come Knocking: What Perspective Will You Send to the Door?

By Sharon A. Jones

Life interruption is based on the author’s experiences as she shares her inner turmoil as she delves into several cancer diagnoses and, recently, an unusual disease. She shares heartfelt losses of family members, friends, young children, and an adult child. Sharon shares her experience with others who have gone through cancers, hospitalizations, death, or just needed a listening ear. Emotional and physical pain can be really debilitating. No one should feel as though they’re invisible, especially when life’s interruption comes knocking. You have to make a decision on what perspective will you, the reader, send to the door.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638859390

Book preview

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When Life's Interruptions Come Knocking

What Perspective Will You Send to the Door?

Sharon A. Jones

ISBN 978-1-63885-938-3 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63885-939-0 (Digital)

Copyright © 2022 Sharon A. Jones

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

My Story and Those Who Touched Me along My Journey

To my husband, who tirelessly stood by my side.

When each interruption came knocking at my door, we answered the door together.

Thank you for your dedication to our family and supporting me through these journeys—for better, for worse—and we have seen a lot.

To Carol, thank you for listening through the years and sharing three words: a testimony, guidance, and biblical applications.

This book is dedicated to Cecilia Patillo, who was placed in our midst by God. She modeled what it looked like to endure Life’s Interruptions with grace, poise, and a smile. She endured many things, and there were moments when those interruptions got the best of her, but she never stayed down. She was our mother, our Energizer Bunny. The presence of children lit up her face. She was a mother and a blessing to many people. Thank you, Mother, for being a vessel used by God. A heartfelt thank you to her children for sharing their mom with us.

When Life’s Interruptions Come Knocking

Let not your heart be troubled. Have you ever received a phone call, and you had to sit down after you hung up? Have your child ever said, Mom, Dad, I need to tell you something. Promise me you will not be mad? The wedding invitation went out to two hundred guests, and now the wedding was called off. Perhaps you received a phone call from your physician’s office that you weren’t expecting or your child is missing from college. The phone rang, and on the other end of the phone, they’re telling you she/he died. This was so unexpected; your heart has been ripped from your chest.

Those are just a few examples of life interruptions, those moments when you’re in your lane, moments when you couldn’t be happier. When he finally proposed and now doesn’t want to marry you; the car went through the light, you didn’t see it coming and your daughter was right there. You looked down for a moment, just seconds, and she was gone. Your world seems to be hurling out of control, and you don’t know why. We’ve all asked that dreaded question in our lives: Why is this happening to me? Why my family? I can’t answer that question. I can only tell you the story of my life and pray that it will give you a reason to keep going despite life’s interruptions. There will be many knocks on the doors; how you choose to receive what is on the other side will depend on who opens it. Did you notice the s at the end of interruption? I hope what you read today helps you to respond and receive disappointments, hurts, diseases, people, and relationships in a brand-new way.

What was the initial question that I posed to myself? Sharon, if you had to dissect yourself, would you know who you are? It’s easy to go through life as though you have all the answers. You are fearless, and you may feel that time is on your side. It was all about learning, maturing, seeing growth through other’s perspectives, and learning how to apply timeless principles, which would catapult my faith into the lives of others. There is such a joy in walking alongside someone who’s hurting or scared, and they need someone just to listen. The only way you can truly live up to the hype is to have to live out these truths. I would rather draw near to someone with experience in life than someone who received all their knowledge of life through a textbook. I need proven expertise, and if it’s coupled with a book, that’s even more valuable to me.

This story has been in the making since April of 1997, and I let it go by because I wasn’t ready; I thought, Who would read it? You’re probably wondering what has changed? A desmoid fibromatosis, a rare disease, came into my life unexpectedly. I didn’t see it coming, but before we can deal with that, we must look at what happened before all of this that has led me to share my story. I had been married for almost ten years. We had a blended family, and everything was falling into place until April of 1997. Medullary carcinoma introduced himself to me in the form of breast cancer. Notice that I used the masculine gender for my disease. It was invited in by a resident physician’s prescription pad. I would have severe premenstrual syndrome monthly and would take progesterone, and Premarin. Unfortunately, I didn’t ask enough questions; I just compliantly took them for several years in hopes that it alleviated the symptoms I was having. After taking these two medications over a while, my body had become overrun with hormones.

You see, after that doctor (resident) left, a new one came and asked some pertinent questions.

He asked, Mrs. Jones, have you had a hysterectomy?

No.

Have you had a partial hysterectomy?

No.

Are you still having a monthly menstrual cycle?

Yes.

Mrs. Jones, you shouldn’t be on those medications, so stop taking the hormones.

A short time afterward, during a breast exam, we felt a lump. Did it concern me that something was growing inside my body? It did. But breast cancer was the last thing that crossed my mind. I was familiar with cancer invading my life through the family. My mom, two uncles on my dad’s side of the family all had been diagnosed with cancer. Now I had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and grandpa had been diagnosed with an illness of some kind. He lived