It is 1:00 in the morning and I cannot sleep. Two friends had dramatic life experiences today and I cannot seem to make sense of them. In just four hours, I experienced a roller coaster ride of emotion and it is not easy to stop the ride just because it is time to sleep.
A couple of weeks ago, Kay was diagnosed with cancer. Kay is the sister of a very close friend. I knew her because we worked together for about three years. The cancer was in the lymph nodes and was in the late stages. The doctor gave her no hope and indicated that intensive chemotherapy might only give her a little time. Kay decided against chemotherapy but agreed to some surgery that could remove a mass and ease some of the pain. The doctors had put her on morphine and oxycontin to ease her pain. They had begun coordinating with hospice so the transition would be smooth when the time came.
Kay’s sister Renee called this afternoon to tell me that when the surgeon operated today, they found no cancer in her body. None. They did not remove the cancer. There was no cancer. They performed new blood work that showed no presence of cancer anywhere. Later today, every test they could run confirmed that Kay has no trace of cancer anywhere in her body. This is the kind of news that makes you want to jump up and down screaming, “Thank you, Jesus!”
In the middle of our unbelievable rejoicing, a neighbor and close friend, Kathy, came over tonight to talk to Debbie. (Kathy is adamant that you spell her name correctly.) She has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Kathy is my age and had been perfectly healthy up until now. It was like someone hit us in the stomach. Debbie’s mother had MS and her sister-in-law is living with it now. So Deb helped explain that it is possible to have many meaningful years with the disease.
A few weeks ago, my favorite Bible teacher, Mike Williams, talked about how God does not judge us based upon our works and we should not judge him based upon his works. To me, this is more than a profound statement. Under the old Christianity, our reaction would be to be happy with God for Kay's healing, but to question God when disease or misfortune come our way. None of it ever seemed to make sense. But now, I have trusted Jesus completely for my salvation. I must trust him in other areas of life as well. I cannot explain what happened to Kay or Kathy. But I know God is good. I know God loves them equally.
So rejoice with Kay today. And remember Kathy in your prayers. Now maybe since I have gotten this off my mind, I can go to sleep.
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2 comments:
Wow, Greg, that must have been quite a day. My thought on this is that if we try to make sense of each event that happens to us, we'll just drive ourselves nuts. At some point we have to learn to just accept it and try to trust it will all work out in the end.
I'm glad for Kay. Sounds like a true miracle.
Peace,
Brian
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