Paula A. Smith
Year of Diagnosis: 1998
Age at Diagnosis: 51 years

Caring for those in need, especially the elderly requires patience. Not everybody has the time or interest. Not everybody has the temperament to slow down and wait on those in need. That takes a special kind of person, one whose faith is fashioned in patience. Fortunately, there are still folks who do not mind taking time to care. Folks like Paula A. Smith, diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998 at the age of fifty-one.

Paula could have easily let breast cancer overwhelm her. Yet, those years of doing for others taught Paula something about waiting. Waiting is not the same thing as doing nothing. Waiting is about knowing who is really in charge. Waiting is about yielding to the Lord to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. Paula’s waiting is what has seen her through 9 years of survival. For Paula patiently waiting is a way of life. Patience is what her faith is fashioned from through breast cancer and beyond.

“Wait on the Lord and be of good courage and he will strengthen thine heart, wait, I say wait on the Lord.” (Psalms 27:14)

See Paula's story in the 2008-2009 Fashioned in Faith Calendar