Cancer is a short word for something that has such a devastating impact. Why would God allow it to strike Sylvia Bryan? And why now, of all times, when her mission work back in Nicaragua is bearing such fruit and beset by such needs? For Sylvia, the ravages of surgery and chemotherapy are just part of the struggle. There are the questions, the emotional upheaval - and through it all, one deep desire: that God will use her illness, and that she will glorify him through it.

As the friends of Cedar Circle lend their love and support to Sylvia and her husband, God is at work, knitting hearts, shaping and changing lives, and, out of this season of pain and sorrow, drawing forth blessings that are unforeseen, joyous, and enduring.

Some of God's greatest gifts come in life's darkest wrappings. Sylvia Bryan has known this truth for years. But she never anticipated the cost she is about to bear in walking it out. Concerned over her increasing fatigue, Sylvia's husband, Harry, has sent her home from their mission work in Nicaragua to undergo testing. The diagnosis is numbing: cancer - a stark, terrifying word that will utterly reshape the trajectory of Sylvia's life. How could Sylvia have breast cancer? She struggles with why God would allow such a thing now, at the most fruitful time of her life. The children at the orphanage in Leon need her. A church in the village needs renovating after the recent hurricane. Her beloved husband depends on her. And there are scores of people, young and old, who need to hear about Jesus and learn about his love through Sylvia's hugs, her smile, her care, compassion, and laughter.