September 16, 2017 KimHarms 7Comment

I’m talking about cancer and water and sinking and faith strengthened by a stormy sea at inspireafire.com today. You can start reading here and follow the link at the bottom to the rest of the story.   When you pass through the waters I will be with you. Isaiah 43:2 The image of water was a big deal to me during my cancer year. The power. The tranquility. The danger. The beauty. Cancer was my water. Fear-inspiring, yet fused with the beautiful. So hard, yet covered by a peace I cannot explain. The water was rough, but Jesus was constant….

September 8, 2017 KimHarms 6Comment

Look what I found in the big wide world of the Internet while doing a little writing research – my story on author Shirley Corder’s website. I remember when she requested my cancer story for her Testimony page, but I don’t remember ever seeing it after if was published. What a fun little surprise. Things like this make my heart happy. It’s a boost of encouragement from God through my computer screen. He’s like – Hey Kim, I know that sometimes you think you’re losing your mind with this whole writing thing and that you should give up and  apply…

September 5, 2017 KimHarms 6Comment

We live a construction life over here at the Harms house. I’ve been watching my man build amazing things for two decades. But I never imagined there would be a point in my life when a piece of me would have to be physically reconstructed. That at age 40 my chest would literally be taken apart and put back together. During that process of physical breast reconstruction, non-physical parts of my life were reconstructed as well. Pieces of my marriage were taken apart and reconstructed. Pieces of my thought life were taken apart and reconstructed. Pieces of my self-esteem were…

July 24, 2017 KimHarms 4Comment

I posted the following statement on July 18, 2016. We cancelled our plans for a family backpacking trip to Colorado this summer because a backpack and chest expanders are a bad combination. (Just wearing a seat belt across my chest right now about drives me batty.) Next summer the Harms family will be climbing some mountains. On July 11, 2017 we climbed a mountain. Well, kind of. We climbed most of the way up a mountain in Byers Peak Wilderness in Colorado. We camped by Horseshoe Lake 11,200 feet above sea level where we were secluded from the world (except…

May 30, 2017 KimHarms 1Comment

I go through all the boys notebooks at the end of each school year and keep a sampling of what they’ve done. Lewis’ stories often inspire laughter. But this rare gem brought tears. I was scared too, Mr. Lewis.  And what I wanted most in the world was to protect you from the fear I was feeling. I wanted to kick that fear and the cancer right out of our house. But I don’t have that kind of power, and the best I could do was to let you see me take my fear and put it in the hands…