Cancer: Encouragement for HealingSample

Day 1—When Cancer Calls, Uninvited . . .

There are just some days when news or situations come unexpectedly, unannounced, or uninvited. We might find ourselves looking at a life now placed on pause, or worse, having been turned entirely upside down. A cancer diagnosis can do that to us. Whether the news was for ourselves or a dear loved one, it can shake us to our core.

And yet, our Heavenly Father holds us ever so tightly in His Almighty Hands.

If we have had the wind knocked out of our soul because of a physician’s pronouncement, the Lord Jesus is in the midst of our questioning, confusion, alarm, and dismay. He is here—Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our Healer. Our God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever never leaves our side. He is never swayed by our anxiety, pain, unbelief, uncertainty, or the magnitude of a diagnosis. He still heals today.

I know this firsthand.

Just a few years ago, the Lord healed me of stage 4 non-functioning adrenocortical carcinoma—a rare, incurable, and deadly cancer with a less than 5% survival rate to five years from the first diagnosis. I went into my third surgery told that I was winding down. Yet, I came out of the operating room with no cancer found anywhere by the attending surgeons and the verifying pathology department at a major hospital. Nevertheless, the greater miracle was the power of His presence to bring joy, peace, and strength every step of the way.

Today, let’s open God’s Living Word and be loved, comforted, encouraged, and healed, beckoning us to greater surrender and a more significant release of the Holy Spirit’s presence. Let’s hone our ability to hear God’s voice, review some possibilities of what might hinder our healing, and discuss the power of spiritual-warfare prayer. Most of all, let’s find ourselves in greater intimacy with the Most High, and like the apostle Paul, learn that His grace is more than enough in any situation—even a cancer diagnosis.

Take time each day—slowly if possible—to let the referenced (for further study) and accompanying Bible verses (to bring encouragement) speak deeply into your heart by asking: 

• For the Holy Spirit’s felt presence. 
• What phrase or section of the verse(s) stand out to me? 
• What might God be saying to me through this phrase, and how do I apply it to my life?

Let’s begin . . .