Tag: hope faith

The Day I Was Diagnosed With Cancer

After my cancer diagnosis, I began to write. This is from August 17, 2010. I’m thankful to be alive and give praise to the Lord today.

His Word helped keep me . . . this day . . . thankful. And He brought the help I needed with each and every moment, through my anger, my doubts, my fears, my sickness . . . He did.

On the day I found out I was to face a cancer battle, this was the Word of the Lord to me.

I hope this will be an encouragement to anyone going through some difficult times:

Bible Journal Along the way

Date: August 17, 2010

Today I was diagnosed with an invasive lobular, 5×7 cm- estrogen positive cancer tumor of the breast.

I have breast cancer.

In the evening, I opened my Bible to one of my favorite verses so I could see it on the page:

Jeremiah 33:3, Call unto Me and I will answer, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not of.

So, I decided to go off my Bible schedule and read Jeremiah today.

While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time:

“This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name:

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” Jeremiah 33:1-3.

The Bible tells us that “the word of the LORD came to him a second time.” I’m encouraged. Jeremiah heard these words not once, but twice, from the Creator of the Universe, the Most High God, the LORD:

“Call to me and I will answer you. . .”

“I will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

My ears are open. It seems in great affliction, the heart is ready to hear. I kept reading:

For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword in the fight with the Babylonians . . .

“Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security” Jeremiah 33:4-6.

This was the Word of God to Jeremiah concerning Judah and Israel, but on a day when you find out you have cancer and you open God’s Word . . .

it speaks of a tearing down against an enemy!

This is good news to my heart. My soul can breathe.

I can trust God. If He can do this for Judah and Israel, I can believe God to heal me.

I need faith for this battle. The Word of God will help increase my faith. 

“Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.”

“Dear Lord, I call to You. Show me great and mighty things through this trial. Give me understanding to Your Word. Help me believe! In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever.” For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the LORD. 12

I am a survivor. The Lord has done great things for me, and I praise Him each day for life today.

Please let me know if you are going through a great trial so I can be praying for you.

Thanks,

Toni

“Thou art near.” Help us remember this.

“Thou art near; yes, Lord, I feel it, . . .

Oh, but we don’t feel Him near at times. So, we keep reading as if reaching for the lifeguard’s rescue buoy.

“Thou art near where’er I move, And though sense would fain conceal it, Faith oft whispers it to love.

When our mind swirls with thoughts that pull us down, devotions to God, hymns, spiritual songs, and Scripture act as a lifeguard that has put out a float.

This poem was found in my Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible. The reading on page 256 was highlighted with Scripture: “Thou shalt guide me with they counsel.”

The devotional of 1 Samuel 23 tells of David, banished from worship, persecuted in his own country, with King Saul of Israel out to kill him. But enemies of his homeland came to invade. Should he fight and protect the people?

“David enquired of the LORD.” 1 Samuel 23:2, “And the LORD said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah.”

His men were afraid.

“Then David enquired of the LORD yet again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand” 1 Samueal 23:4.

Who did David listen to? The fearful men or the LORD? David turned to God for his direction.

Today, we all need counsel from the Lord, but the voice of men is loud. Will we pray? Will we be still to listen. Each of these are doing hard things!

“Dear Lord, guide us with Your counsel. Help us through the darkness of this day. Enlighten our path, show us Your way!”

As Holy comfort, this old poem sings:

Then, my soul, since God doth love thee, Faint not, droop not, do not fear; Though his heaven is high above thee, He himself is ever near!”

He will hear the prayers of His people. He will answer. Do we know the Lord? His character, His name? We’re as sheep, we forget so quickly. We need old phrases to call faith back again:

Not what I am, O Lord, but what Thou art;
That, that alone, can be my soul’s true rest;
Thy love, not mine, bids fear and doubt depart,
And stills the tempest of my tossing breast.

It is Thy perfect love that casts out fear;
I know the voice that speaks the It is I,
And in these well-known words of heavenly cheer
I hear the joy that bids each sorrow fly. By the Lord’s Love by Horatius Bonar (1808-1889).

Let’s promise ourselves to make God’s Word well known. That we might rise above anything that comes to steal His peace from our hearts and minds.

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail;

But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever Psalm 73:25,26.

May a prayer written over a hundred years ago be fresh on our lips today:

’Tis what I know of Thee, my Lord and God,
That fills my soul with peace, my lips with song;
Thou art my health, my joy, my staff, my rod;
Leaning on Thee, in weakness I am strong.

More of Thyself, Oh, show me, hour by hour;
More of Thy glory, O my God and Lord;
More of Thyself in all Thy grace and power;
More of Thy love and truth, Incarnate Word.

In Jesus’ name. Amen, and amen.

Who is praying with me?

Read aloud. Today, right now. Be changed. Let faith flood in …

God speaks.
Read aloud His words.
Let the sound resonate deep.
Let God’s word wake us from our sleep. And for those who are awake, yet stricken with fear,
read aloud God’s word and hear: 
God the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked. A Psalm of Asaph

Psalm 50. “The mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken,
And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting [from east to west].
2 
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shone forth.
3 
May our God come and not keep silent;
Fire devours before Him,
And around Him a mighty tempest rages.
4 
He summons the heavens above,
And the earth, to judge His people:
5 
“Gather My godly ones to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
6 
And the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is judge. Selah.

7 
“Hear, O My people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.
8 
“I do not reprove you for your sacrifices;
Your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9 
“I will accept no young bull from your house
Nor male goat from your folds.
10 
“For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 
“I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is [b]Mine.
12 
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
For the world and all it contains are Mine.
13 
“Shall I eat the flesh of bulls
Or drink the blood of male goats?
14 
“Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving
And pay your vows to the Most High;
15 
Call on Me in the day of trouble;
I will rescue you, and you shall honor and glorify Me.”

16 
But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite My statutes
Or to take My covenant on your lips?
17 
“For you hate instruction and discipline
And cast My words behind you [discarding them].
18 
“When you see a thief, you are pleased with him and condone his behavior,
And you associate with adulterers.
19 
“You give your mouth to evil
And your tongue frames deceit.
20 
“You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
21 
“These things you have done and I kept silent;
You thought that I was just like you.
Now I will reprimand and denounce you and state the case in order before your eyes.

22 
“Now consider this, you who forget God,
Or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be no one to rescue [you].
23 
“He who offers a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving honors Me;
And to him who orders his way rightly [who follows the way that I show him],
I shall show the salvation of God.”

These are the words of Psalm 50, Amplified. 

This is the heart and opinion of God.
God’s word is truth.
Do we believe, or leave? . . .
I will choose God. I stand with Him, fearless, with courage, because He is faithful and just. Because He shows salvation to us.
He gave us His Son.
What will you do?
“Peace be still.” These are the words God has to say …
Shall we join together, with thanksgiving, and give Him honor?
We can then Be still and rest in His glory and power!
Be still my soul, and rest in Him, this day.
Jesus is the life and light and the way.

"Tell me something good."

“Tell me something good.”
“Are your ears open then? What’s the focus of your eyes? Take a minute to see into your heart, is it bleeding in pain from loss, or even shame? Or is your heart hardened by kicks and pushes and mean looks and lies?”
“I will tell you something good. In your sorrow, in your pain, in your brokenness and even in your  shame. God loves you. The true and living God, the One Who sent His Son, He loves with an everlasting love- and He is forever the same.”
“There is no shadow of turning with Him. He sees your doubts, he sees your fears, he knows the anger and the hurt. He even counts your tears.”
“He doesn’t give up on you. He is waiting… He ‘suffers long.’ He is able to accomplish all that concerns you today. But there is one requirement on your part – oh, not to ‘do good’ and ‘get your act together’, don’t you know the Power of His Spirit will do that in and through you all-together!  No, not that, those you will do in the Power of His name, –
but first, open your ears, and lift up your eyes, and hear and see the Love in His eyes. Can you see His hands reaching out to you? They are scarred just like your life, but they are healed  –  through and through! And if you cry out His name with your willing but broken heart, He will take hold of it and wash the doubt and fear and sin all away. He will comfort and mend and wrap you in compassion…
His name is Jesus. So you ask, “how do you know all this then?”
“Because, this is my story. I just tell you again, what God did  for me when I was broken and torn – even beyond what I thought, any remedy! But He came and He showed me His love, and yes… He reached out His hands-that I might see that ‘He knew’. So I tell you today, because I know deep in my heart – it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what you’ve done or gone through – Jesus, He is the Good Shepherd after all,
and you His dear lamb, He is calling… you!”
“Can you hear His voice? Ask Him to Help! He will show you truly, that you are His love, and YOU are His choice!”
(“Where do I get all my information? Yes, the Good Word, the Bible! Read it aloud, it will give you great satisfaction!”)