“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24 ESV).

Little Grace is the name we called the precious little girl who was our neighbor and friend; our oldest daughter we called Big Grace. Little Grace was diagnosed at age six with DIPG, a rare form of pediatric brain cancer with a 0% long-term survival rate. Fifteen months after her diagnosis, Little Grace left this world to be home with her Heavenly Father. During her illness, in spite of how sick she was, she and her family traveled to Australia, swam with the whale sharks, took a trip to Disney, and went sailing with my family.

“It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?” (Psalm 127:2 MSG)

Cancer can make sleeping difficult. Worries, anxieties, and fears can keep you tossing and turning all night. Racing thoughts, physical pain, side effects of drugs, and plenty of other things can keep you up at night.

Psalm 127 reminds us that sleep, like so many things in life, is something we cannot provide for ourselves. I cannot make myself go to sleep or stay asleep. Sometimes I need God to give sleep, especially when things are hard. He delights for us to look to Him to meet our needs from A to Zzzzzzs!

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27 NIV).

By some estimates, humans have enjoyed only 268 years of peace in the past 3,400 years of world history. Similar estimates tell us that the United States has enjoyed only 15 years of peace within our 245-year history.

The world gives peace sparingly, and we count it as being those years when no war is being fought.

“When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads” (Job 2:12 NIV).

At my mother’s funeral, an old friend approached me with an outstretched hand. I did not recognize him. It had been years since we had seen one another. He still had that great sense of humor, though. Once he began to talk, I slowly began to remember him.

“Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23a NIV)

On January 9, 2019, a quiet, humble, and exceptionally wise and gifted surgeon came into our lives. My husband had been diagnosed with kidney cancer, in not one but both of his kidneys. Our journey to find the right treatment took us eight hundred miles out of town. Our local doctors had looked at my husband’s cancer and determined they would need to remove both kidneys, probably his spleen and any other organ they felt necessary, and put him on dialysis for the rest of his life. We were told this was our only option. But that response didn’t sit well with us.

“While Jesus was preaching the word of God, four men arrived, carrying a paralyzed man. But when they realized that they couldn’t even get near him because of the crowd, they went up on top of the house and tore away the roof above Jesus’ head. And when they had broken through, they lowered the paralyzed man on a stretcher right down in front of him!” (Mark‬ 2:2-4‬ TPT‬‬)

I had waited almost an entire day to have a feeding tube put in. The nurses had me prepped and ready. Finally, a young man from transportation services knocked on my door. He came to take me to the procedure room located in a distant area of the hospital.

“[Jacob] said to Joseph, ‘I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too’” (Genesis 48:11 NIV).

Jacob believed his beloved child Joseph had died. Joseph’s brothers had let jealousy get the best of them. They sold Joseph into slavery and told their father a wild animal devoured him. Jacob must have been blindsided by the news and completely devastated and grief-stricken. Furthermore, he did not know he had been lied to about Joseph’s whereabouts. I don’t know which was worse, Jacob thinking his son was dead, or his sons’ choice to deceive him. What a tangled scene of deception, jealousy, and sibling rivalry.

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand” (Isaiah 41:10 NIV).

For some, the awareness of cancer may come via the announcement of our primary care doctor. Others notice their body begins to fail them in some capacity, forcing them to seek an answer from a noted authority. At some point, your deepest fears are realized. It’s cancer.

“Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food” (Isaiah 55:2 ESV).

Ice cream. Mac and cheese. Pizza. French fries. Fried chicken. Brownies. Mashed potatoes.

No, I’m not talking about the diet of a heart-broken teenager. These are all the foods that were brought to my friend Tara when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. Comfort foods. We Americans love them, don’t we? Foods that are high in fat and sugar and remind us of the simpler times of our childhood. We tend to migrate towards these foods when we are in stressful situations. It is natural to want to fill a void in our lives with food.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV).

The house opposite us is being demolished today. There’s a bulldozer out front tearing it apart, raising its mighty claw into the air, and simply smashing its way through what was once someone’s family home. Hearing we have cancer can feel like a bulldozer has turned into our driveway without any warning and simply started knocking down our home. When the cancer bulldozer starts smashing into our lives, it’s not just our health that starts to crumble. Our trust in God may not escape unscathed.

“‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will’” (Mark 14:36 NIV).

It’s easy to find advice on how to hunt for a job. There are books and videos galore—and, of course, the advice of your friends. “Your suit is too bland and your resume too long.” “You’ve got to start tweeting, get Linked In, and, of course, build a massive friends list.” Everybody has words of wisdom to share, but have you noticed that it’s easy to believe there’s a job out there when you’re not the one who needs the job?

“Two are better than one … if either of them falls down, one can help the other up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 NIV).

Cancer is not a do-it-yourself project. You need lots of people. Doctors, nurses, and caregivers are obvious. Then, there is a church community to wrap its arms around you and lift you up, your family’s support, and—more than ever before—you need your friends.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's (Psalm 103:1-5 ESV).

When I first met Miranda, she had just been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She was given a six percent chance of survival. She was afraid. She thought that at any moment, she was going to die. As her cancer progressed, her husband became distant. Her children grew angry. Miranda felt as though God had abandoned her. She struggled to make sense of it all. How could a good God let something like this happen to her? Didn’t He love her? Didn’t He care about what happened to her family? If He was really in control, why didn’t He protect her? Was God really who He said He was?

“The Lord is your keeper” (Psalm 121:5a ESV).

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber” (Psalm 121:1-3 ESV).

You know there is a big difference between having and keeping. For instance, I might have a favorite sweater. It is my possession. However, I keep my puppy dog. He is not merely a possession; he is my beloved dog. He is dear to me. Therefore, I watch over him—not for my sake, but for his. I protect him from harm because if he suffers, it hurts me, too.

“God said to Moses, ‘I AM who I AM’” (Exodus 3:14 NIV).

Suppose I gave you a piece of paper and asked you to write down everything you know to be true about God. What would you write? Where would you even begin?

God reveals a lot about Himself through His Word. By studying scripture, we can see that He is holy, powerful, and wise. He is just, loving, and trustworthy. You could easily fill an entire page, maybe even two, listing His characteristics. But there would still be more. There is so much more about God than we could ever grasp.

“He has brought me to his banquet hall, and his banner over me is love” (Song of Solomon 2:4 NASB).

A friend of mine is getting married next month. She posted pictures on Facebook of her bachelorette party. Hanging over the mantel was a banner saying, “Getting Marry D.” It was a statement of celebration! Her new status was being proclaimed loudly. She will move from being single to being married. When she fills out forms for jobs and medical appointments, she will check the married box. Her identity will change.

“For the joy set before him he [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2b NIV).

At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,

And the burden of my heart rolled away–

It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day.1

For those of us who are familiar with this beautiful hymn by Isaac Watts, we recognize the spiritual power and passion of this song. Resonating gently, it rises like a prayer to our heavenly Father, thanking Him for the gift of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3 NIV).

According to Jesus, heaven is a real place. It is not a product of religious imagination or the result of a psyched-up mentality, looking for "pie in the sky by and by." Heaven is the place where God dwells and where Jesus sits today at the right hand of the Father. Heaven is described as a kingdom, an inheritance, a country, a city, and a home.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4 NIV).

Crying and cancer go together. How often have you cried in your life? I can remember a lot of tears around cancer events in my life. It seems tears often come when we try to balance what is inside of us with what is outside of us. My tears remind me that something is not right. To cry is to be human. Even Jesus cried (see John 11:35). Our tears often show us how frail we are.

“The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command” (Hebrews 1:3a NLT).

As a cancer patient, you may need radiation treatments. I recently completed my second round, a total of forty individual treatments. Thankfully, they appear to have been effective.

The radiation machine looks like something from a science fiction movie. While you lie on a rock-hard bench, the machine slowly rotates around you. It pinpoints the cancer cells, focuses, and blasts them from different angles with high-energy particles or waves such as gamma rays.