Someone was sharing with me a conversation they’d had about sharing Thadd’s stage-IV colon cancer diagnosis and the journey he/we are on. This person was told to stop saying Thadd has cancer and, essentially, believe in God’s healing. Although I’m sure said person probably meant to be encouraging, I found the inference not only discouraging, but ignorant. Now, don’t stop reading because I used the word ignorant. Ignorance is simply a lack of knowledge or information about something. We’re all ignorant of one thing or another, at minimum! Only our omniscient Lord God can claim a lack of ignorance, so I think we’re all in pretty good company with one another in our collective ignorance. So I say, embrace it; it’s quite freeing to accept that we don’t know it all, and exciting to continue learning new things.

Okay, back to my original train of thought. Stop saying he has cancer? That’s like telling a man who can’t see to stop saying he’s blind, or a brown haired person to stop saying they have brown hair. It’s a fact. It just is. It’s knowledge that allows us to understand what’s going on with Thadd’s body, and it gives a launching pad from which to jump into however we choose to move forward. Whether with nutrition, science, medicine, natural remedies, or a combination thereof, we have a better understanding of how to work with and through the effects of this very real disease called cancer that is ravaging my husband’s body. We should not deny the truth, the facts. That would be irresponsible and damaging – physically, mentally, and emotionally. And spiritually.

Believe in God’s healing? We can, and do, believe in His healing. But, like Jesus, we also have to pray, “thy will be done” in this and all matters. If we’re going to believe He has the power to heal, we also have to believe He has a plan and desires good for us. And it also means we have to believe in His “no” or “not yet.” We don’t get to pick and choose which parts of God’s character, plan, and power we’re going to subscribe to in order to suit our desires. Not if we truly desire to follow Him and be submitted to Him and trust Him. We know He can, we just don’t know if it’s His plan. Accepting the truth of the matter does not diminish our faith and hope in His ability and power to heal. There’s no magic to be used here – no magic prayer, no magic words, no magic thoughts that will make our desire for healing become a reality. God is not waiting for us to hit that magic perfection of belief in order for Him to give us what we ask. He just doesn’t work that way. Faith – Hope – Belief : these are heart matters, and God knows our hearts.

And so we live in the Dichotomy of Hope and Reality. And that means living in truth – God’s truth that He is who he says he is, and He can do all that he says he can do. And that means believing . . .  in Him. Allow your belief and your hope to rest secure in our loving God; not paralyzed by hope, but fueled by it. #Discover the truth and beauty and freedom that is available from faith and hope. #LoveOnPurpose and #LifeYourFaithBoldly.

Remaining #UnbowedUnbentBroken

To see more of our journey, follow along on CaringBridge.