Hope

Yesterday was National Cancer Survivors Day and I quietly celebrated two years in remission.  I went to church in the morning and spent the afternoon getting some much-needed pampering at my local nail salon.  I opened the picture above and thought about those days and how I got through them all.

They caught my cancer stage one, but because of the aggressiveness of the type I had, they got me into treatment as quickly as possible.  The shock of the diagnosis and the  ushering into treatment left me no time to think, research, consider alternatives, or weigh options. Within a week of meeting my oncologist and after numerous tests and scans, I was getting my first chemo treatment.  I can’t tell you the number of people that called with their homeopathic treatments, but I’m a scientist at heart and their remedies fell on deaf ears.  I thanked them all, went eagerly into chemo treatment and sought my own remedy. There were two books that became my daily guides – The Bible and The Radical Remission (2014, Kelly A. Turner). You see, I quickly surmised that I was under spiritual attack and though the physical attacks were clearly in the purview of the Doctors, I needed another healer to fight my spiritual battles. I learned from Radical Remission, that cancer can be fought on a multitude of levels – I choose the spiritual route.

Armed with my Bible, other readings, writings, songs of praise and worship to help me understand and meditate clearly on the word of God, I entered into my daily practice of spiritual healing.  All of my routines were anchored in the belief, the faith, the hope of God’s healing.  I dismissed the doctors as instruments of God and anchored my soul in God’s promises for my life through Jesus Christ.  One of my favorite songs during that time is from an old Lutheran Hymnal – “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less” by Edward Mote, 1797-1874.  It goes something like this:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Finding strength for the journey is key when faced with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer.  It is important that you anchor yourself to weather the storm.  People have found many ways to accomplish that, but as Joshua said in the Bible, Book of Joshua 24:15

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”