Month: November 2015

Help and Hope for Healing

/ Virginia / Leave a comment

Since I received my diagnosis, I have been blessed to be surrounded by wonderful friends.  Knowing that our God often comforts us through people (2 Corinthians 1:4), I have tried to keep attune to the messages He is offering me through my friends.

I have learned over the past several months the importance of attending to God’s Word.   One friend suggested the book Healing Promises by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland.  This wonderful little book offers hope and God’s Word on healing.  The Bible verses are also available in CD form (read by either Kenneth or Gloria).  I read, speak, and listen to God’s healing scriptures daily.

While studying God’s Word and listening to these tapes, I have learned that Jesus WANTS to heal me.  In fact, He has already paid the price for my healing, “By His stripes, we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

As a small example, I learned that I have been misreading Mark 1:40-42.  In this passage, a leper comes to Jesus and says, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Jesus, filled with compassion, healed the man.  I have been praying those very words.  I learned, however, that in the NIV version, the translation reads differently.

A man with leprosy came to Him and begged Him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Jesus was indignant.  He reached out His hand and touched the man.  “I am willing,” He said, “Be clean!”  Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleaned.

What was Jesus indignant about?  He was upset because the leper didn’t know that Jesus WAS willing to heal… to heal him… to heal me… to heal you. No longer do I have to ask, “If it is Your will, please heal me.”  I know it is His will!   Now that’s amazing Grace!

Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name.
Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    may I never forget the good things He does for me.
He forgives all my sins
    and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death
    and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
    My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!  (Psalm 103:1-5)

 

The Unexpected Diagnosis

/ Virginia / Leave a comment

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I found the lump one night early this September.  We were 4,800 miles from home.  We were traveling the northernmost road in Canada with all its snow, sleet, and mud.  The day before I had photographed a grizzly bear walking along the roadside.  With my husband softly snoring next to me in our tiny camper, I wondered what this lump might mean and what Papa’s next adventure for me might be.

Now, two months later, I find myself diagnosed with breast cancer.  Surgery is scheduled for December 9.  It seems so surreal… I feel great.  Life is great.  How can this diagnosis be true?

The first question many of us ask is “Why did this happen?”  The answer is simple but never easy to accept.  We live in a fallen world.  Bad things happen because of it.

For me, the question I must ask is “What will I do with it?”

I love Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.  One of my favorite lines speaks to just this moment.  Frodo wishes the ring had never come to him.  “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times.  But that is not for them to decide.  All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given.”

In the next several posts, I would like to share with you some ideas on what we can do with the time that is given… even when the diagnosis is unexpected.  I welcome your comments and know that together we can find hope and answers in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Lord is my shepherd;
    I have all that I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows;
    he leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
    bringing honor to his name.
Even when I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
    for You are close beside me.
Your rod and Your staff
    protect and comfort me.
You prepare a feast for me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
    My cup overflows with blessings.
Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
    all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
    forever.  Psalm 23 (NLT)