The Works of God

Five years ago today, Dianne went to see a surgical oncologist who confirmed that she has breast cancer.  By the end of that week it would be diagnosed as Stage IV cancer, having spread from her breast through her lymph nodes to her bones in her back and ribs.

Stage IV cancer is a strange thing.  As her doctors have said on more than one occasion, “you will die with it; our goal is that you don’t die of it.”  And, praise God, she is able to serve in the roles she loves best today, as mother and wife and member of the church.

To this day, Dianne, good mother that she is, counts the 17 days that Johnny was in the NICU as the hardest days of her life.  My hardest days were those following that cancer diagnosis, through chemotherapy, surgery and then radiation.

Hardest days, but not the worst days.

God was holding us up.  I had no doubts then nor do I have doubts today about his sovereignty over that cancer, when it appeared in her body, when it would be diagnosed and what it means for us today.

And God was good to provide for us:

• My sister came to live with us (and brought wonderful Farley) for months.  Other members (sister, sister-in-law, niece, mother, and mother-in-law) would come for weeks at a time.  My children NEVER were without a strong female relative to help them, comfort them and care for them, even when Dianne couldn’t leave her bed.  And those women all built her up in the children’s minds as their mother and the manager of the household.
• The elders immediately gathered to pray for us and anoint her with oil.  Pastor John looked straight at her and reminded her, “you have already passed from death to life” (John 5:24).  And then he looked at me squarely, and turned back to her and said, “and we will fight for you” through prayer (Collosians 4:12, 2 Corinthians 1:8-11).
• And army of people showed up, lead by two incredible women.
• God provided a flexible job that allowed me to attend every medical session for the first year.
• God provided a good school with a wonderful first grade teacher when we realized we could no longer home school Hannah.
• God surrounded us with praying people, from many states and several continents.
• Several women from church who had experienced cancer visited, provided support and encouraged Dianne within days of the diagnosis.
• Two men from church who had also experienced cancer in their wives were in my living room within days to pray with, encourage and help me.

The list could go on.

The statistics are not in our favor.  More than 90% of women with Stage IV cancer will have it return.  We do not hope in statistics.

We hope in God! Because we know that God is always good and always right in all his ways and all his works.  And we continue to pray!

Cancer is a horrible thing, and I hate it.  But my own sin is even more horrible, and I do not hate that nearly the way that I should.  I am glad that Jesus covers that sin and has authority over that cancer and helps me see that one is truly worse than the other.

Appropriately, this hymn was sung in church yesterday, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty:

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration!

Amen.