Pastor David Wayne, the Jollyblogger, has been writing about his colon cancer and the treatments he is undergoing. His cancer is quite advanced, having metastasized to his liver and lungs. He writes in his most recent post that he should know by the end of the month if his treatment is working. Please say a prayer for David and his family.
David has some great insights about suffering and the sort of life God calls us to as Christians, whether in health or sickness:
But I also wonder if this may turn out to the good, whether I live a short time or a long time, in that I may find more joy after cancer than I have found before.
I’ve had tastes of joy (and sorrow!) I never had before and it may be that this brush with death is simply recalibrating my life and re-aligning it to the realities of life in a fallen world. I think I may have never experienced God as I could have because in seeking so hard to avoid suffering I was really seeking to avoid ever needing Him.
I love that phrase, “death is…. recalibrating my life.” David says that he avoided needing God by avoiding suffering. There is a very important truth there. Professing Christ is a declaration of our need — for rescue, for truth, for peace, for love, for reconciliation. Too often and all too easily, once we profess our need, we shake loose from God’s grip on our hand and run off on our own.
The Lord wants us to need Him. He designed us to live in dependency on Him. “I need Thee every hour,” goes the old hymn. Sickness reveals our weakness and need, but in reality, we are always weak and in need of Him, whether in sickness or in health. I need my life recalibrated so that I can learn to live in the reality of that dependency.
Pray for David Wayne’s healing and go read some of the things God is teaching him during this challenging and emotional time.
His posts are well worth reading. Death does recalibrate our lives. I really picked up on what he said in one of his posts about how God holds us.
David, I know you know Jesus is the healer but we need to call those thing that are not as those they were. Just continue to confess all the healing scripture, and start helping other people in need and you will experience the joy of helping others in need. That way you will take your mind off what you are going through at this time. I will be praying for your total healing I know God to be a healer. Thanks, for sharing your story….
Hey Charlie:
I visited David’s post and left a comment– I did immediately sense a difference in his writing– more “gravitas”? I hope I too will learn well the lessons God wants me to teach me in my trials.
Hope you’re feeling blessed,
Alex
A solemn reminder that it is one thing to be able to say you are healthy and a different thing to say you have value in life. Healthy people kill themselves everyday, and God ordains praise from sick and suffering people.