Today, I was reminded by a dear friend just how God always works everything out for His glory and how He is always in control. He told me how he stopped by a friend's house one night after bringing us dinner and invited him to church. They talked a little about living the "right way." His friend started coming to church and told him tonight that he wouldn't be in church if my friend had not stopped by to talk to him. So, to sum it up, if I didn't have cancer, my friend wouldn't have brought me dinner that night and wouldn't have stopped by his friend's house and his friend wouldn't be in church today. I then shared a couple of stories with him, so I'll share them here.
The first time I had cancer, my sister started going to church with me. She was already a member at another church, but she wanted to attend with me to show me more love and support. Her husband started attending with her to support me as well. He had not attended church for many years. She had been praying that he would come back to God for the 15 years that she had known him. He kept attending and eventually joined the church. Later, he started working with the children at church. My sister had always wanted children but couldn't have them. Her husband had not minded because he didn't really want any. After working with children at church, he started to really like being around kids. They decided to adopt and adopted two children from Russia. After my sister was killed, they moved to Mississippi to be closer to his dad. The two children eventually got saved and they are all quite active in church. That makes at least three people who came to Christ because of my cancer. But how many others have been saved because of the ripple effect of these three? I may never know in this life, but I believe that one day I will! God is SO good!
Here's another example: a friend attended Judgment Seat with us one year and came back to Christ. He's now about to leave to do some missionary work on the other side of the world. The fact that we took him to Judgment Seat could eternally impact people across the globe! God is just SO good!It's very easy to get down and question why I have to go through this, but God always has an answer.
Like I often tell my small group, a hundred years from now it won't matter that I had cancer. What will matter is how I respond to it. Our responses to our circumstances have a ripple effect to everyone around us. Try to remember that when you are having a tough day. God's ways are so much higher than our ways. As Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thought than your thoughts.'" From my viewpoint, having cancer stinks; but from God's viewpoint, it may mean salvation for some. He's just SO good!!
