It was April of 2021 when I got a call from a dear friend, and I was looking so forward to sitting down in a

chair and having a good catching up time. That's what I thought the call was for. I was very, very

surprised when my friend said to me, Francie, I was calling to let you know that I've been

diagnosed with cancer. You know, there are some rough days in life,

and then there are some off-script seasons when things are very different than what we had

planned. In fact, my guest today, sister friend Valerie Clear, said this. It's not just off-script.

It's like life has become a whole new library and you're browsing in the aisle

you had never imagined. I believe that this episode, lessons from an unexpected diagnosis,

will be so helpful to people who have either received a diagnosis that was very unexpected

or those who have family members or loved ones that are going through this journey.

Thank you for joining Keep the Heart for today's podcast with Francie Taylor.

Francie is an author, conference speaker, and teacher.

She is passionate about teaching what to do with what we learn from God's Word. Now back to today's

valuable study. Valerie, please introduce yourself to the listeners. Hi, Francie. Yes, I've been married

here for 38 years coming up at the end of March on the 31st. I've been

married to Dave Clear, and we've actually been at the same church in Rosemont, Minnesota, for 35 of those years.

And he's been the associate pastor and now the senior pastor for the past 20 years. So I've been a pastor's wife.

I'm a mother of two children who are grown. And our son Jonathan just became a pastor up in

Michigan. And he and his wife, Lacey, have two daughters. And I have another daughter, Cindy,

who lives close by us in Minnesota. So we are

excitedly going through these midlife years. I can't have anyone in my home without wanting to do a

podcast with them. So I've asked Valerie if we could do an episode about her cancer journey

...