by Lori Shevokas

Created on: January 23, 2007   Last Updated: February 26, 2010

Faith of Steel:

I met my paternal grandmother again when I was twelve years old. I had not seen her since my parents divorced several years prior, and did not remember much about her. Her name was Irene Shevokas. When I was twelve and moved in with my father, I had the opportunity to know one of the most amazing women ever to have walked the face of this earth.

What made her so amazing? She did not climb Mt. Everest, but when cancer attacks your bones and joints for 20 years, a simple flight of stairs may seem like Mt. Everest. She never danced with the Russian Ballet, but when you can toss aside a walker and dance a Polka for your oldest granddaughter's wedding, just years before leaving this earth, then that is pretty amazing. My grandmother never won a modeling contract, but when you can still smile and be joyous, and not shy away from family photos after having lost all your hair to chemotherapy, and having lost both your breasts to breast cancer, then that is pretty amazing. Yeah, my grandmother was a pretty amazing woman.

She was still a young mother of twelve when she was first diagnosed with bone cancer. She was told she only had six months to live. That was many years before I was ever born. You see, my grandmother had faith of steel. Nothing could shatter her faith. She believed God would not take her until her tie on earth was done, and she had lived a prosperous life. She was an old woman full of wisdom, courage, strength, and faith when she passed away on my seventeenth birthday.

Whenever I think that something is too difficult, or too traumatic to endure, I remember my grandmother's faith, and pray for the strength to persevere. God has never let me down, and in a way, neither has my grandmother. My grandmother taught me to smile through the tears, rejoice in your blessings, and lean on God when it seemed like too much. People often comment on what a strong person I must be to endure so much, but it has not seemed like so much to me. That is because God carried me through the fires of adversity to the safety of a loving family. My grandmother taught me to trust in God, and she was more than enough living proof of God's existence and God's miracles than any kid could ever ask for.

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