Don't Waste It...

I got a great article recently from Desiring God ministries and thought that I would share it.

If you have been reading here long, you know that I had cancer when I was 15 years old. I have been cancer free now for 11 plus years. Praise God! Cancer actually saved my life. To make a long story short, through the 9 months of chemo and the people I met through this time, I was able to see God in a way that would lead me to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

I write this on the eve of prostate surgery. I believe in God’s power to heal—by miracle and by medicine. I believe it is right and good to pray for both kinds of healing. Cancer is not wasted when it is healed by God. He gets the glory and that is why cancer exists. So not to pray for healing may waste your cancer. But healing is not God’s plan for everyone. And there are many other ways to waste your cancer. I am praying for myself and for you that we will not waste this pain.

1. You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.

2. You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.

3. You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.

4. You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.

5. You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.

6. You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.

7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.

8. You will waste your cancer if you grieve as those who have no hope.

9. You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.

10. You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.

I encourage you to take the time to read Don't Waste Your Cancer I read through this a few times and started to see how other hardships fit right in to these sentences instead of the word cancer. Now the challenge from God is this... Live this every day, in all things. I also think that in order for me to think these things about cancer, I must live them out now, in my day to day struggles and trails. God is sovereign and I can live this way everyday.

I know that this will be hard, but with God I know that I have all of the help I need. "My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus"(Philippians 4:19).