What I lost physically, I more than gained spiritually. I gained a deeper awareness of God's blessing in my life.  

My two-month odyssey began with a fever that started on a Sunday afternoon in Chennai, India, where I was writing a news story about the Baptist World Alliance's tsunami relief work.

Unable to shake the fever, I finally made an appointment two weeks later at Vanderbilt Medical Center. I had left the clinic less than an hour when a resident called me on my cell phone asking that I return immediately to the hospital. He said my white cell count was low. I asked what was a normal count. He told me. I was stunned when he told me my count.

Three days later, I was told that I had acute leukemia. Six weeks later, I'm in remission with treatment continuing for the next year and recovery taking a number of weeks.

I would never have chosen this experience. I would never want to go through another month-long, body-bashing round of leukemia treatment in the hospital. I don't like being sick.

However, I have immeasurable gratitude for what this experience disclosed. I discovered that I have a beloved community that exceeded anything I imagined.

Baptists—friends and strangers, individuals and churches—promised to pray for me. They added me to their prayer lists, mailed me "prayer grams," emailed me notes of encouragement and sent gifts. They called my home, my cell phone, the hospital. They showed a level of personal and organizational appreciation that I did not know existed.