Preparation for the Fight

I didn't even see it coming...CANCER.  I wasn't expecting it, but never the less, it came.  In retrospect, I can see now that I was preparing for the journey and the fight long before they came to be.  A few months before, one of the ladies in my Bible Study group purchased us copies of The Lies Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  Our group did the study of this incredible book.  I loved each chapter, even when the truth wasn't pleasant.  Each chapter had the lies countered with the truth from God's Word.  Some, I could recognize and was okay with them.  For example, the lie is "I shouldn't have to suffer."  The truth is, "True joy is not the absence of pain, but the presence of the Lord Jesus in the midst of the pain."  Some...I had to really think about.  For instance, the lie is "God should fix my problems."  The truth is "God has an eternal purpose He is fulfilling in the midst of my problems."  There were several more truths which I hung on to months later as I experience the pain, nausea and roller coaster of emotions that cancer and its treatment brings.  I would recommend the book to all women, whether or not they are going through trials or not.  Ms. DeMoss has written The Lies Young Women Believe.

At the beginning of the year of my diagnosis (2007), I purchased a new devotional Bible that would help me read the Old and New Testaments in paired passages with a couple of questions each day.  That book is The Message//REMIX Solo:An Uncommon Devotional by Eugene Peterson. The Old Testament reading the morning of my diagnosis was II Kings 6.  One of the parts I thought was particularly odd is the story of how some prophets were building and a borrowed axhead fell in the water. Elisha cut a stick and threw it where it fell and made it float.  I remember thinking, "Why is that story in the Bible? That's just strange."  One of the questions for that day went something like, "If God can cause and iron axhead to float and deliver an entire army into the hands of two unarmed prophets, is there anything He can't do for you?" I remember thinking, "Well of course not.  Good point." That evening is when I spoke with my primary care doctor and she told me the results of my biopsy.  When she told me I had cancer the morning's devotion came back to me and I felt peace.

I believe it's vital to study and learn God's Word.  You just never know when and how it can impact your life.