Two mums, terminal cancer, shared tears - and gospel hope

For two years, Chloe and I stood in the same playground, at the same time, picking our daughters up from the same class and yet our conversation and friendship never went much further than a brief chat.

At times in those first few years it felt like I was back at school myself, wondering how everyone knew each other and how on earth I could make friends.

Fast forward a few years, and our youngest kids (despite it being a large school) were in the same class. But this time, I wasn’t prepared to stand in silence. At minimum I wanted to be friendly, at best I hoped to create community. It turned out I wasn’t the only one that yearned for more.

I wanted to create a space where others would have an excuse to talk and get to know each other. So in the first week of term I invited all the Year R parents to come round for cake and chat. Around 30 came and squeezed into our house and the conversation quickly flowed. The next week, someone else offered to host and the next week another. We still meet, five years later every Friday morning.

It was during these mornings that Chloe and I started to chat. I’ve discovered more and more in life that as we do what we love, do it with others and do it often, we make friends. I never dreamed that this simple idea could become something of a sacred space.

I endeavoured to love Chloe so well that she would become curious why. I prayed for opportunities to answer any questions she had and I showed great interest in her life. Yet more often than not we didn’t talk much about Jesus.

Seven years after we’d met, now dear friends, we spoke for the last time. She’d been diagnosed with incurable cancer and just days before she died, I said to her, 'I need to tell you something important.' I shared what I believed about the hope of a resurrected life for all that trust in Jesus. Her response 'Nay, I believe everything you say'. I wept.

In all this I learnt to trust God that He was at work in His world and that my part was to love deeply, not only sharing the gospel of God but my life too.