Faith Is Clinging to God Always, December 19
By Karen Tripp
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. (Matthew 2:13-15a NIV).
Cancer can bring turmoil and intense emotions for both patients and caregivers. As a matter of fact, due to cancer, people can experience more intense feelings than they ever have before.
A common reaction to these new intense emotions is a fear of being overwhelmed by them. “I’ve never had to cope with emotions this strong; I don’t think I can handle anything more.” So our minds find sneaky ways of avoiding even the possibility of more struggles. You don’t consciously decide to avoid things, your mind just leads you to avoid them. For example, you have a physical symptom you should mention to your doctor, but by the time you see him again, if doesn’t come to mind. You stop seeking out friends; that way, you don’t have to deal with the hurt of them avoiding you.
Do you know that the traditional, picture-perfect Christmas story has done the very same thing? There is so much joy and wonder in the story, but a real power of the Christmas story comes from knowing that these regular people—like you and me—also endured great heartbreak as part of God’s plan.
Consider Herod’s evil actions in our verses for today. For me, this is one of the darkest stories in the Bible. A madman killing innocent children? Horrible. I cannot imagine how overwhelmed the families and even the whole community of Bethlehem must have been from this insanity. This is one dark story we’re easily tempted to avoid. But, if we do, we’ll miss the full picture of our faith in God.
Consider this. Bethlehem was a small town of shepherds. It seems to me there was probably some overlap between the community of shepherds who were on the hills of Bethlehem when the angels sang the good news, and the families who lost their babies to Herod’s madness. Seeing this overlap powerfully changes the Christmas story for me. To think that the community of shepherds who witnessed and ecstatically shared the good news of the Christ Child might have also experienced one of the darkest episodes in the Bible makes these people all too real.
Faith is clinging to God always—in the darkest dark and the brightest light.
There are a lot of things about cancer that can be overwhelming. You need something more than your own strength to overcome all that cancer can throw at you.
Seize the words of Isaiah 41:10 (NIV):
So 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 right hand.
You need something to…
· stomp down the fear.
· wipe away the confusion.
· fill you with unimaginable strength.
· help you with each and every step.
· above all, hold you up through it all.
I think this is why you hear so many cancer survivors say, “I don’t know how anyone makes it through cancer without Jesus.” He is YOUR God. He is holding you up through it all. Do not be overwhelmed. Do not be dismayed. Do not fear.
Pray: Lord, I ask You to show us with great clarity all of the times in our lives You have held us up. Each time You were there in our joy and in our struggle. Each time You prevented us from being overwhelmed and filled us with hope. We ask You to bless us again through both this cancer journey and this Christmas season, so we may do more than endure, we may CELEBRATE! Amen.
Your Turn: Take a moment and think of a time before your cancer diagnosis and another time after when you can see God was holding you up. What does it mean to you for God to hold you up? Write your answer and put in a place where you can see it on good days and bad.
Karen Tripp, MS, LMFT, Cancer Caregiver
Karen is the Executive Director of Cancer Companions, the premiere national Christian cancer ministry (https://www.cancercompanion.org). Her roles have included authoring several Christian books including God is Bigger Than Your Cancer and working as a licensed marriage and family therapist. She is a daughter of a colon cancer survivor. Karen uses her experience to teach how to step into another person’s struggle to help build their faith while strengthening your own.
Cancer Companion’s vision for the future is for every person impacted by cancer to know the hope, love, and grace of Jesus and that every oncology team has included faith in their treatment toolbox. By 2033, Cancer Companions will provide 5 million engagements through cancer prayers, scriptures and interactions to those impacted by cancer. Engagements include; social media outreach, e-newsletters, prayer team requests, 30 days of Cancer Prayer event, and volunteer connections.
To learn more about our ministry and the services we provide visit our website by clicking here.
