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Four Words No Woman Wants to Hear

  • Kelly Givens What topic related to Christianity, faith, and the Bible is trending online and in social media today?
  • Updated Nov 21, 2013

“You have breast cancer.” Those were the words Jill Savage heard this past week. Four devastating, life altering words. Four words no woman wants to hear.

Cancer. It’s such a scary word. There’s so much unknown about it. And in the face of a positive diagnosis, our fears might rise up and our faith cripple. But Jill is trusting in our Great Physician. He is not taken off guard by her diagnosis, there is nothing about her cancer that is unknown to Him. Jill knows this. She writes:

“We’re still waiting for some test results to determine my treatment plan. There are still unknown factors.  But I’m trusting my unknown future to a known God.

He is Able. He is Peace. He is Hope.

Here’s what I know for sure: My circumstances have changed, but my God hasn’t changed.

My hope is in Him.

My trust is in Him.

It is not well with my circumstances, but I can assure you, it is well with my soul.”

Her reliance on God is echoed by others who have walked down this path. Kate Motaung recently shared on iBelieve about her mom’s battle with cancer. Right after the initial diagnosis, Kate was filled with fear and dread. But the Lord was able to take her family’s devastating situation and impress upon Kate the power of Christ over their lives.

“Though it can be very tempting to think the cancer is in control, the reality is that even cancer takes orders from the Supreme Ruler,” Kate writes.  “He alone is in control over all of creation, including cancer.  Not one malignant cell has the ability to travel or spread apart from the authority of the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.”

Wendy van Eyck’s husband is battling cancer for the second time. Though they have every reason to feel down and to despair, they are choosing instead to walk in hope. “I don't know what your "cancer" is or what the thief has stolen from you,” Wendy writes. “But I do know that this is not how the story ends, that it is not the final word on your life. God has more for you. No matter how our stories begin, when Jesus is involved they always end in life, life and more life.”

On the eve of his surgery for prostate cancer, John Piper wrote these words: “God’s design is clear from 2 Corinthians 1:9, ‘We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.’ The aim of God in your cancer (among a thousand other good things) is to knock props out from under our hearts so that we rely utterly on him.”

Do you have a loved one suffering from cancer? Are YOU going through this trial? Then you know just how fleeting life can be, how little control you have over it. But as these other faithful children of God have testified, there is great comfort to be found in surrendering our fears and clinging to God. He is completely in control and wants you to take cancer as an opportunity to draw closer to him. Don’t let cancer cripple you; cling to Jesus and the hope he offers all who believe in him. 

Related Articles:
How to Help a Friend Through Breast Cancer
What Cancer Taught Me: 6 Ways to Make Every Moment Count