When they tell you “It’s Cancer.”

Passage:
Psalm 139

Link: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%20139&version=NLT

Key verses:
“You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”  vs. 15-18 (NLT)

In October 2010 I was invited to become our choir’s Prayer Director. For over a year, I had the privilege to lead an amazing group of prayer warriors as we interceded for the needs of our choir family. You have to understand one thing about this choir: it’s almost as big as my first home church in Brazil. We have about 250 members. Therefore, as any good ol’ church, there are many needs. The prayer director’s job is very intense, as we receive numerous prayer requests, often several times a day. Our group constantly cried out to God on behalf of these brothers and sisters who, in many instances, faced the loss of part of their lives; whether by losing possessions, through the death of family or friends or facing the end of a marriage. I often would come home and share these prayer requests with my husband and we would pray together. Invariably, at the end of our conversation, we would remind each other of a saying that we heard years ago: “A phone call can change everything you know about your life in an instant. And everyone will get that phone call one day.”

Two weeks ago I received that phone call in the form of a doctor’s visit. I had been experiencing some abdominal pain for a couple of weeks and the pain became almost unbearable that Tuesday. Because of previous health history, my doctor rushed me to the ER for a CT scan of my abdomen. The exam revealed a ruptured ovarian cyst, the culprit of the excruciating pain. In the meantime, however, to our surprise, the doctors found a mass in my kidney. Two days later, I sat at the urologist office as I was told I had kidney cancer. My “phone” had rung.

If this is the first time you read this news about me, you may be shocked and sad at the same time. And I appreciate that a lot. However, today I want to share with you what God has shown me in the last 20 days. These past weeks have introduced me to a whole new understanding of God’s grace and love. These have also been days when I have been given the opportunity to experience whether or not the Word that I claim to stand by and believe in is indeed the reality which I choose to live by. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NASB)

When His Grace is Sufficient

“You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!” v.5-6 (NLT)

As I heard the doctor tell me the news, various thoughts raced through my mind: I am not supposed to have cancer. I don’t have any history in my family. I’m fairly young. I eat healthy. What on earth? And then, my friends, the doctor uttered these words, these amazing words that changed the way I looked at this brand-new valley in an instant: “this ovarian cyst may have saved your life. This cancer is a silent killer and most people don’t have any symptoms until the cancer is advanced and metastasized. These are really good news.”

Pause. First tears come down my face. Pause. Blessed ovarian cyst. Pause. Praise Your Name, Abba Father! Pause. You are with me. All fear is gone. Pause. Amazing, indescribable, unfathomable grace poured down on my life. Halleluiah to my King!

I don’t claim to understand all facets of God’s grace, but I certainly have seen it in a whole new dimension these past several days. My Bible has been open to Psalm 139 for almost three weeks now, and as I read this wonderful passage, I've started to visualize different ways in which God has taken care of me throughout my life. I see the Great Master, shaping my innermost being as I was but a seed in my mother’s womb. I see the Merciful Father, patiently waiting for me to turn to Him as, like the prodigal son, I pursued everything BUT Him for far too many years. I see Him mercifully nudging me to surrender it all to Him, even as a Christian, as I many times leaned to my own understanding instead of trusting Him blindly. And now I see Romans 8:28 in lively colors before me, as something that caused me great pain was used to potentially save my life.  

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (NASB)

And WE KNOW

Oh, my friends, what a deep, marvelous truth that Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God delivers in the beginning of this most loved verse of Scripture: we KNOW. We may not fell like God works all things together for our good, but we KNOW. This truth must be in the forefront of every trial we face. Because, honestly, when you are told you have cancer, or your spouse tells you that he or she does not love you anymore, or your child has walked away from God and is living in bondage and rebellion against everything that you taught him; how on earth, my friend, how can we feel like these things are working together for our good? We can’t! Our minds will want to despair, our hearts will tend to give up and rebel. We will feel like quitting. It is then that you must tell your soul, as the psalmist does on Psalm 42:5:

“Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!” (NLT)

Consider it ALL joy?

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-5 (NASB)

My family took the last week of December off to rest. I spent time praying and asking God to show me what He wanted me to prioritize for 2012. The list was pretty easy: #1 – knowing Him more; #2 – enjoying my family more; #3 – serving Him through my ministry at Soaring with Him, which includes the book that I am in the process of writing. While praying for this year, I remember distinctively telling Him to do whatever He wished with my life in order to bring Him glory and so that I'd know Him more intimately. Two days before the diagnostics, I came across James 1:2-5 and I felt compelled to write it down in a 3x5 card and post it on my kitchen sink window. The night I came home after the doctor's visit there were two things that God kept reminding me: One: the fact that I had asked him to do whatever He pleased with my life in order to bring Him glory. Two: He had told me, two days before, to count it all joy. This verse could easily be misunderstood, had Paul not followed his explanation on what the “ALL” meant. We are to count our tribulations and our trials as joy. What a strange, utterly crazy thought for those who don't understand the love of a Father who wishes to bring His children into a deep knowledge of Him. Paul is saying that our trials produce in us an endurance and faith that otherwise can never be accomplished. Think about it: how can we see His miraculous healing, if we don't go through pain? How can we feel His all comforting presence, if we are never alone? How can we experience the joy of deliverance if we were never in bondage?

Bitter... or Better?

At the end of every shocking encounter with painful situations in life, we are left with two simple choices. We can choose to become bitter... or we can choose to become better. In the first process, you will allow the world, the doctors, your mind, the devil, and even well intended friends to determine how you will respond. This road is pretty easy, in fact. All you have to do is feel sorry for yourself, allow fear and doubt to permeate your mind and do nothing about it. You can choose to numb yourself with the help of pain killers, alcohol, drugs, sex or any other activity that will get your mind off of your problems. You will find momentary pleasure and you may even forget your pain for a moment. But at the end of this road, you will find yourself bitter and empty.

The second road is God's path for His children.

Your first response will probably be like everyone else's. You'll cry, you'll hurt and you may even despair. But then you should stop and look up. You should then remind yourself that your loving God, who hand-crafted you in your mother's wombs, whose thoughts about you are to prosper you, never to harm you (Jeremiah 29:11,) who promised never to leave you nor forsake you (Joshua 1:5,) has allowed your trial for a reason. You start worshiping Him before you even understand where you are going and certainly even if you don't “feel” like it; because you're determined that you KNOW that He is working it all for your good. You choose to, instead of allowing your mind to wander to places of hopelessness and depression, to believe Him at His Word. You choose to wait expectantly upon His deliverance. You choose to trust that, even if He does not remove your trial, even if your outcome is a far cry from a happy ending, He is still in control and He will reward your faith and faithfulness in this life and in the life to come. This road leads to life-everlasting. This road leads to an intimate, precious relationship with the Father that can potentially change your life and impact the world around you. This road will make you better.

I don't know the end of my story. At this moment, I am so overwhelmed that God has graciously revealed this cancer in such an early stage. Don't get me wrong. I have my moments. This will be my third major surgery in less than six years. But I am choosing to praise Him because, although I will lose part of an organ, this loss should mean that I will gain many more years in this world with Him. Tomorrow, I may find out that it is not so. I don't know. But I hope, with all the hope that there is in me, that if and when the doctors say that my days in this world are coming to an end, my life will have brought Him glory. Not so I may get the kudos of those who are watching, but because I know that in the process of living with Him, I have gained a closeness and understanding of the Father that nothing in this world can ever give me.  In words, in action and in deeds, today I choose to become better. I choose to say yes to whatever means my Maker decides to use to perfect my faith, that I may lack in nothing.

Count it all joy! All of it! The bad, the ugly, the sad, the hard times, the emptiness, the loneliness, the rejection. Count it all joy, my friends, as these valleys are the means by which a loving Father is using to bring you closer and transform you into the person He has designed you to be. Way back when, in your mother's womb, where He crafted you and counted each one of your days. Not one went missing. Not one.

Dear Father, I praise You for your presence, which is better than silver and gold and better than life itself. I pray that you will teach me to keep my eyes on You through my trial, that I may never lose focus of the fact that You are in control and You have the very best in mind for me. In the process of walking with You and waiting on my deliverance, may you teach me, mold me, hold me in times where the hurt is too great. Remind me, Father, that my life is in Your hands and that with Jesus, I can do all things and go through any valley. Teach me to listen to You and obey, that at the end of this journey, I may become better, not bitter.  In Jesus’ Name I pray, AMEN!

Allow me to share a video with you. This song will bring your trial into God's perspective and bless your soul!

The Perversion of Freedom

Passage:

Deut 5:6-21

Key verse:

“You must not murder.” v.17

January 22, 2012 was the thirty-ninth anniversary of the ruling in the case of Roe vs. Wade, which marked the beginning of the legalization of abortion in the United States. Since then and according to a Barna Group survey of 2009, over 50 million babies have been murdered at some point during the pregnancy. The number is evidently higher, since the survey dates of three years ago. What started with what I firmly believe was a misinterpretation of the Ninth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, became a means to legitimize the killing of the innocent.

Last week I spent quite some time researching the history of abortion laws in the United States, as well as browsing Pro-Choice and Pro-Life websites. I found out that in 1900, all States of the Union legislated abortion as a common crime. I was dismayed at the attack against life displayed in Pro-Choice websites and I was even more astonished to read some of the testimonies of women and their reasons for deciding to terminate their pregnancies.  I came across news that made my heart cringe: the headlines were from an article published on Lifesitenews.com: “Shock: 40% of New York pregnancies aborted.” You can read the entire article in the link below:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/shock-40-of-new-york-pregnancies-aborted/

The picture that you  see in the beginning of this devotional is of the Memorial of the Missing; a monument that the Mississippi Baptist Convention put together as a visual reminder of what this country is doing. The monument is filled with fifty million pennies. Fifty-million. This number is equivalent to the total population of twenty-five of our fifty states combined. Wow! What a visual. As this beautiful nation proudly took the stand as the most powerful country that ever existed, its people has been slowly deceived and drifted away from the Truth and the very principles that made it great. In the name of progress, individual right to privacy, or whatever else one’s mind might use to justify the act of abortion, mothers of America may have allowed the killings of future presidents, governors, preachers, teachers, doctors, you name it. In reality, we have allowed the murder of a great part of our future.

The Law and the Lord

Our passage in Deuteronomy is where God’s laws were given to the people. The Law was given to us in order to display God’s holiness, as well as to protect us from evil, heartaches and disappointments. As strange as it sounds to some people, the truth is that God gave us His  Laws out of love alone. Perfect, protective love. If we honestly go down the list, we will realize that if we violate any of the Laws given to Moses, the result will inevitably be heartache and pain. I’m still to meet an adulterer who is full of God’s joy and peace. I don’t know any children who dishonor their parents who don’t end up having at least one child rebelling against them. And I dare say that 100 % of the women who have allowed their babies to be aborted will deal with recurring guilt; even if they don’t know the Lord as their Savior. And those who boast that they don’t feel guilty at all are either lying or have chosen to bury their guilt and strive not to think about it. 

Now, you will find Christians and even pastors these days who will argue against God’s Laws, stating that we are under a new covenant – one in which grace rules above everything. According to these people, grace has ended the importance and relevance of the Law. Oh, my friend, what a subtle, satanic disguise of grace. Yes, we are under grace and it has certainly set us free from the burden of the Law (which we could not fulfill on our own strength) and from the guilt of sin (since Jesus paid for all our sin debt in full on Calvary.) However, Jesus Himself never dismissed the importance of the Law. As a matter of fact, in Matthew 5, He emphasized the eternal relevance of the Law in its minute details:

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-19  (NASB – emphasis added)

In Jesus’ own words – we are never to dismiss the Law. He is the Lord of the Law. He gave it to us and He is unchangeable. So is His Law. As a matter of fact, under the new covenant of grace, He expects even more from His children. Regarding murder, for instance, this is what He said:

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” Matthew 5:21-22 (NASB – emphasis added)

Matthew Henry, an English commentator of the Bible and minister in the 16^th century perfectly summarizes the relationship between Jesus and the Law:

“Jesus came to o fill up the defects of the Law, and so to complete and perfect it. If we consider the law as a vessel that had some water in it before, he did not come to pour out the water, but to fill the vessel up to the brim; or, as a picture that is first rough-drawn, displays some outlines only of the piece intended, which are afterwards filled up; so Christ made an improvement of the law and the prophets by his additions and explication.”

Now then, What about Grace?

Here’s the truth about grace:

God's grace imparted upon salvation is His power to transform our lives and empower us to live a godly life. Grace is not a trump card which allows us to do whatever we want to do. It’s quite the opposite of that. Grace enables us to live like Jesus, because through grace we have received His nature:

“For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” John 1:16-17 (NASB)

Simply put: grace does cover our sin, but over and above, it became, upon salvation, the divine authority within our hearts which gave us power to live the life that God called us to live. When we understand grace, we live in victory over the dominion of sin. Even though we will still sin until the day God calls us home; we cannot claim that sin has a stronghold over us unless we allow it to, by either compromising or ignoring the tugging of the Holy Spirit in our hearts when we sin.  

Walking the Walk

So the question is… how can we, Christians in this country, go to church on Sunday and nod our heads in agreement with the standards in God’s Word, raise our hands in worship and adoration to a holy and perfect God and yet, turn the blind eye for what others are doing; even condoning their behavior as God’s Law is broken and distorted? You may say you never do that. But here is one plain (and very unpopular, I’m sure) thought: as you cast your vote on Election Day, do you check if your candidate stands for abortion or same-sex marriage? Like it or not, when we passively watch our legislators sign laws that go against God’s principles, we are compromising. You can use the justification you want, but the truth is that God cannot bless a government that acts against His Laws:

“For My people have forgotten Me, They burn incense to worthless gods And they have stumbled from their    ways, From the ancient paths, To walk in bypaths, Not on a highway.” Jeremiah 18:15

And as preachers across the nation compromise God’s truth using the banner of grace, they bow to immorality without consequence. This is what God thinks of them:

“But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 2:8

Are you absolute about your convictions? We must be! The reason why legislations such as the legalization of abortion have passed in a country which was unmistakably founded on principles of Scriptures is one only: someone compromised. One person at a time, we have slowly turned away from the beliefs by which our founding fathers have staked their lives and fortunes on. We have been pretending that we don’t see it and justifying our political and personal choices as “separation of church and state.”  What a lie! Anyone who really thinks that way should do some research on what Thomas Jefferson really meant on his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association where he mentioned the concept. It absolutely does not mean that we must separate our beliefs from the way we govern our country.

As we play the “see no evil, hear no evil, say no evil” game, God’s words are stern regarding our passive approach:

“If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small. Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death. Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.” For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve.” Proverbs 24: 10-12 (NLT – emphasis added)

It is time for us, who Jesus Himself called the light of the world and the salt of the earth, to start changing the future for our children. May we start a revolution for righteousness! May we stand up and voice our hearts, minds and souls! May we claim America and our future back to the Lord!

Come back to righteousness, America! Come back to the Truth that made you great!

And if your heart is stirred by these words, my friend, I invite you to share this message of Truth. Not my truth, but God’s, found throughout His wise, loving and perfect Word.

So - go ahead! Forward it or click “like it” and share it with your world.