lessons learned from a politician's wife

I can't say I am very affected by most of politics. I generally ignore political stuff but recently something happened that caused me to ponder things.

On Tuesday, a lady named Elizabeth Edwards passed away from cancer - leaving behind 1 older adult daughter and 2 children and a an ex husband who once had a promising career in politics.  The grace and dignity she showed despite all of the adversity she faced in life really really hit me.

I have almost nothing in common with this lady other than having the same first name as her, and yet her story affected me deeply - let me share what I know of her journey with you:

She met her husband John in law school. They had 2 kids, Then, her 16 year old dies in a tragic accident. She and her husband stop practicing law and go into politics. They then have 2 more children, While her husband is beginning his political efforts, she is diagnosed with cancer. It goes into remission. Her husband, watches his poltiical career go up in smoke as he ends up having to admit to having a child with another lady. Then, Mrs Edwards's cancer returns, and this time the doctors told her it was not curable - she could treat it, but not cure it. Despite ALL of this, she focuses on her children and writes books to help OTHERS who are facing difficult situations, and in the end, she passes away very quickly - the day after announcing she was stopping treatments for her illness. It made me VERY sad. Also, some mean judgemental people are planning to picket her funeral. I pray her family doesn't notice that occurance.

Her story affected me because I know, I have complained constantly during difficult times. I have not been through half of what this poor lady experienced in her lifetime.  The lesson I took from her life was that - we cannot control the adversities that God or circumstances bring into our lives, only how we react to them. It sounds trite, but I think it is a very strong lesson. One that I believe Mrs. Edwards had mastered at least in her public life. I don't believe everyone who is a celebrity or public figure uses the spotlight they are given to set an example, but Mrs, Edwards definitely did.