Dr. Coscio sent me for an MRI of the brain last Thursday right after my chemo treatment. She had ordered it the previous week, but as you know I have been a bit busy traveling back and forth from the snowy north, so this was the earliest I could get in. She was concerned about my vertigo which has me walking like Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) throughout the day. Or, maybe she just wanted to make sure I have a brain. My husband sometimes wonders.
I thought I would get the results on Friday, but no call. I left a message at the clinic. No return call. I know Fridays can get busy down at the clinic, so I was not concerned. Besides, “no news is good news,” right? My Friday morning devotion was very appropriately titled “No Fear of Bad News,” and this was my mantra all weekend. I determined I would not be afraid of the results, good or bad. I was not worried. I knew God was (and is) in control. So today I got the call, and the MRI was normal! Funny, but I sort of expected that. My brain is cancer-free, and I plan to beat this disease to live a long, totally cancer-free life.
I’m working through a book called Praying Through Cancer, handed down to me by a friend who is a breast cancer survivor, given to her by another friend who is also a cancer survivor. I appreciate them both for paying it forward. One day, I will do the same.
Today’s devotion was just as pertinent as Friday’s. It’s amazing how God brings a message to the forefront just when we need it most. The author quoted C. S. Lewis who said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Imagine that. Suffering is an opportunity for God to shout! Through the suffering, God has given me an opportunity to share His message. When I am healed, the world will take notice.
My new favorite verse is I Peter 5:10 as it is a promise and a hope. It says to me I will suffer a little while, but one day I will be restored. I will likely be even stronger than I was before! On a bigger scale, we will all be eternally restored if we have faith in Christ. I will close today’s blog with these powerful words of Scripture:
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”