\u201cMy wife has advanced\ncancer\u201d\u2026 something I never thought I would write, nor something I ever thought\nwe would have to face together. But nobody else sees such things coming either,\ndo they? So Claudia (CJ to many) and I will face this crisis with faith in God,\njust as we have everything else in our life! As many of you know, I have been\n\u201cblogging\u201d for about 6 years now, so I will use this platform to share our\nfaith journey through cancer with others. I do this not because it\u2019s \u201call about\nus\u201d, but because writing my thoughts will help us work this out, and I pray it\nmay help some others who are going through the various struggles that we all\nface in this life. And, whatever the final result, we pray that God will be\nglorified in this journey, and that we will walk through it as faithful\nfollowers of Jesus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OUR REACTON: <\/strong>\u00a0Like everyone else, our first reaction was shock, fear, much sobbing and tears, numbness, and just trying to get a grip on our life that was suddenly turned upside down! To be clear, yes, I\u2019m a retired pastor, and CJ is a wonderful, faithful person who loves to lead worship and praise God all her life, but we are just like everyone else and get no \u201cspecial favors\u201d because of that. Christians will face all the heartaches and struggle in life, just like everyone else. As a husband and man, my first desire is to \u201cfix this\u201d and make it alright, but I am struck by the realization that I am helpless to do anything to stop this cancer! But as most believers understand, God has us \u201cright where he wants us\u201d, needing to be entirely dependent on Him for our hope and future. Another thought I expressed as a husband was \u201cI wish I had this cancer and not you!\u201d Truthfully, I would rather deal with the pain and treatments myself, than see my wife go through it! But I can\u2019t!… BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS, JESUS HAS ALREADY DONE THAT FOR US! This week we again celebrate the excruciating death and resurrection of Jesus! Part of the amazing \u201cgood news\u201d of the gospel is that Jesus took the punishment and pain for all our sins and sicknesses upon himself on that cross, and in the resurrection defeated death itself for us. In I Peter 2:24 it says \u201cHe himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 And in Matthew 8:17, it says \u201cThis was to fulfill what was written through the prophet Isaiah: \u2018He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases\u2019<\/em> \u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n OUR FIRST ACTIONS: <\/strong>After the initial shock had worn off, CJ turned to scripture to hear what God was going to say to us. She has been reading through the Old Testament and came to II Chronicles 20:15, which says \u201cThis is what the Lord says to you: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God\u2019s!\u201d<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>I encourage you to read all of chapter 20, but to summarize, King Jehoshaphat of Judah faced 3 invading armies, and knew he was powerless to win the battle! In verse 12, he says \u201cO God, will you not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon YOU!\u201d <\/em>After God told him that the battle was not his to fight, he still instructed Jehoshaphat to prepare for battle. Interestingly, leading the soldiers was a choir of singers who were praising God and singing \u201cPraise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever\u201d. As they approached the battle, God caused confusion in the enemy armies and they ended up completely destroying each other, as the army of Judah just watched!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are using this verse\nand story as our faith focus in this battle against cancer! We see the \u201cvast\narmy\u201d as the many tumors diagnosed in the 1st<\/sup> CT scan. We know that\nwe are powerless to destroy them ourselves, but we believe God has ultimate\npower and will fight this battle for us. Now, that doesn\u2019t mean we just sit\nback and do nothing! <\/p>\n\n\n\n ANTICIPATING THE AWESOMENESS OF GOD!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The army of Judah\nwitnessed the awesome power of God to save them and fight for them. When we\nfeel helpless and hopeless, God is still God, the all-powerful creator of the\nuniverse who cares deeply about each of us! But just as God gave King\nJehoshaphat specific instructions, he does for us as well. In my John Maxwell\nLeadership version of the Bible, John outlines the major steps King Jehoshaphat\ntook in the story that apply to us today as well:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) They fought their fear.\n(vs.2,3) They didn\u2019t let fear paralyze them, but stayed calm enough to think.\nPlease pray for peace and wisdom for us as well!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) They sought the Lord!(vs.3,6-13)\nThe King prayed to seek wisdom & perspective from God. Pray for us to be\npatient and seek that as well!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) He brought the synergy.\n(vs.3,4) He gathered the people and informed them. We are blessed with social\nmedia connections, and God has connected us with well over 100, perhaps 200,\npeople praying for us and encouraging us with cards, emails, texts, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4) He caught the vision\n(vs.14-17) He listened to the voice of God until he knew what to do. Help us\nlisten to God\u2019s voice, because his plans are much greater than ours!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5) He bought God\u2019s idea\n(vs.18, 19) He bowed his head and took\nthe steps forward that God gave him. Pray for us to humble ourselves and honor\nGod in this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6) He taught the plan\n(vs.20-23) He gave his key players\ninstructions on what to do. Pray that God will direct our doctors, the chemo\ntreatments, CJ and I as we take each step, and all of you as our team of\n\u201cprayer warriors\u201d to focus faithfully on God\u2019s plan for us, so that he will be\nglorified!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7) He got the victory (vs.24,25)\nHe trusted and obeyed, and God won the battle. As Christians, we know Jesus has\nalready won the battle when we put our trust in Him! Whatever the ultimate\noutcome of this battle with cancer, we who trust in Jesus know that we will\nlive forever with Him in his coming Kingdom, and will someday have new bodies\nthat will never get disease or die!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, having said all that\nnoble stuff, I\u2019m still a weak person like many of you, and I\u2019m selfishly\npraying as a simple child of God for my Heavenly Father (Abba, or \u201cdaddy\u201d as\nJesus said) to heal my wife and let me share many more years with her as we\nenjoy our family, friends, this beautiful world He created, and most of all be\nable to share the message of Jesus\u2019 coming Kingdom with all we can! No matter\nhow this ultimately ends, I believe with\nall my heart that God is good, all the time; that nothing can separate us from\nthe love of God; and that ultimately, as we trust fully in Jesus, everything\nthing is going to be just fine and our eternal future is assured!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0My next blog in a week or so (hopefully) will be on faith and healing. We will focus on Hebrews 11:1, \u201cNow faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0Thanks for your continued prayers and support! God bless each of you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cMy wife has advanced cancer\u201d\u2026 something I never thought I would write, nor something I ever thought we would have to face together. But nobody else sees such things coming either, do they? So Claudia (CJ to many) and I will face this crisis with faith in God, just as we have everything else in … Continue reading THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD, PART 1: SHOCK AND AWESOMENESS!<\/span>