Today is an anniversary of sorts. On October 11, 2004, Dianne came home from her doctor to tell me something was very wrong. The next day it was confirmed to be cancer. A few days later we knew it to be Stage IV cancer. And that started an entirely new chapter in our lives.
Dianne still has her port. She takes a drug every day. She still sees her oncologist several times a year.
And she manages the household, cares for her family, volunteers at church, participates in Bible studies and encourages me. In fact, until she reads this she probably won’t even remember the importance of this date – she’s got real things to attend to right now rather than bother with something in the past.
Cancer does not rule our household. But God used it to change our household.
Pastor John also had cancer, and that lead him to write a short booklet available at Desiring God: Don’t Waste Your Cancer. Please, read it and share it with somebody you know.
Joni Eareckson Tada also faced cancer, and did a one-hour video on her journey, which can be found here. Caution: this is a raw look at cancer and includes some frightening, very real images.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV)
The Works of God 
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