Holding on through the Doubts

“Your book has been a ray of hope for me,”  declared the email I received recently from a young woman in Poland.

GOD Wins over Cancer: testimonies of healing

When an international license for a Polish translation of When GOD & Cancer Meet was purchased a couple of years ago, I never imagined I actually would get to correspond with a Polish reader…wow!

But there she was–complete with a photo holding the book.

So today I would like to introduce you to that reader and share a little of Megan’s story–one of honesty, courage and faith…even in the midst of doubt.

After giving birth to a precious daughter this past April, Megan, 37, was diagnosed in May with Stage 2 breast cancer and a BRCA1 genetic mutation. Last month she finished  chemo, but still faces a double mastectomy and removal of her ovaries because of her increased cancer risk.

“This (diagnosis) has been very hard for me,” Megan told me. “Even though I pray and receive so much love and support from my family (including a husband and a teenage son), there are moments when I begin to doubt whether I will have the strength to endure to the end of the fight.”

“Even though I fully trust God and have surrendered my life and everything I love to Jesus, this time in my life is very difficult,” she confided.  “I want so much to live, to stay close to my family, to walk the dog…to simply live.”

 In her first email to me, Megan asked for something that could help her “hold on in the moments when doubt returns.”

What a great desire…not to give up no matter what life dumps on us.

Don’t all of us weary folks need some encouragement to hold on in the hard times? I sure did as a 36-year-old mother facing cancer back in 1990. And now as a grandmother twice that age, I still need uplifting when it seems every month I’m saying goodbye to another loved one, and every day the world feels less safe and peaceful.

Doubts can easily creep in as we wait for God’s timing to heal whatever has been broken or lost.

I believe these are the moments we learn to trust God in spite of, not because of our circumstances.

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
    and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
    and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
    and the cattle barns are empty,
 yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
    I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
Habakkuk 3:17-19

Dear sweet Megan, as you trust God in spite of your circumstances, I am believing Psalm 94:19 will be true for you:

When doubts filled my mind, Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

Next week on Dec. 11, Megan is scheduled for her double mastectomy and I don’t want her to have any doubts that God will be her strength and His comfort will renew her hope.

Friends, will you join me in praying for my new friend–who lives about 5,000 miles away, but is very close to my heart? And please pray also for the young atheist in the chemo room who received a copy of my book from Megan because as she said: “Who knows? Maybe it will touch her heart and she’ll start to believe.”

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