It's still all about Him...

          I decided to continue with my thoughts from last week as I listened to a testimony from a single mom, Abigail, who had cancer. As she shared her testimony I got emotional because I saw God so powerfully at work in her life.
         Both her father and her grandparents had died from cancer and it seemed she was going to be next. She spoke about feeling that spirit of death crowding in on her making her fearful but Jesus’ presence also being there encouraging her.
          When she got the news, the doctor told her that the cancer had gone to places that he couldn’t reach and honestly told her that she was going to die. The treatments were very aggressive and were only meant to delay the inevitable. She asked loved ones to pray for her and she, herself, held on tenaciously to God trusting Him to perform a miracle for her. Unfortunately, even as she was aggressive in her prayer and faith, the cancer became even more aggressive. As she said herself, it was becoming more difficult to hold on to hope.
         Even as I heard those words, I was reminded of the reality that sometimes even with our best efforts and best support from family and friends, our situation just does not seem to be improving but rather getting worse. And it’s at this point many of us usually simply give up. It’s too hard, all hope seems lost and even other voices may be telling us that it doesn’t make sense you may as well just give up, let go. Let me just say here that it is important to let go but be careful of what you are letting go. Let go of the situation, let go of the problem but don’t ever let go of your hope in your God. Let Him decide how He is going to handle it and know that in the end He will fight and win for you.
         With hope slipping out of her reach, Abigail took a trip to the Dominican Republic and spent time with a friend who was also a doctor. When her friend saw the results, her reaction made Abigail even more scared and discouraged. She cried out to God as she had done many times during her ordeal and asked Him straight out if she was going to die. Instead of responding right away, He took her on a spiritual journey at the end of which He assured her that she was cancer free. A few weeks after her return home, she did another PET-scan and the results confirmed what she already knew. That was in 2017 and she is still cancer free today.
         What caught my attention the most was the fact that in spite of her faith and prayer and trust in God, her situation was growing worse. It was a blow to her faith getting negative results over and over, but she kept her eyes on Jesus.
          We too will face challenges and trials that seem to knock the wind out of us, so to speak. We will face times when it doesn’t even seem to make sense hoping or trusting in God. Just as the devil came to her as if to say, “your father is gone your grandparents are gone, now it’s your turn,” the devil will always come to discourage us, steal our faith in God if possible, and try to make us believe the lie that it’s over. We too, like Abigail, really have to choose to keep our eyes on Jesus. In Abigail’s case, no doctor was able to help, her supporting family and friends couldn’t help, she was on her own, either God would do it or He wouldn’t.
          I don’t know what situation you are believing God to pull you out of. I don’t know what impossible challenge you’re facing today. I do not know how many times you have heard “no” when all you wanted to hear was “yes.” However, I do know this. Jesus hasn’t moved and gone anywhere. He is not worried. The battle still belongs to God it was never yours to begin with.
​          So, I encourage you to fix your eyes steadfastly on the One who is able to do anything and everything and choose to live, choose to trust, choose to let Him have His way. Choose to focus on what His Word says about your situation, what His Word says about you. Stand on His Word, stand on His promises. Your situation doesn’t have the final say, God does!
 
          If you have never accepted Jesus Christ into your life as Lord and Saviour I invite you to do so now. We all need Someone bigger and stronger than us who has our back.