I have experienced the truth of the Word of God in this journey. Maybe at the apex is that Romans 8:28 has been seen in more ways than I could have imagined.
God does work in all circumstances to bring about His good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. His ultimate purpose is to draw us to Him so that He can fashion us into the likeness of His Son. Nothing does that more than the difficult times in our lives. Only the power of God can bring anything good from cancer. The most obvious good is that illness and struggles cause us to turn to God. A second good that God brings through cancer is that it brings you face to face with your mortality. I think one of the good things cancer brought to me 22 years ago was that I began to cherish every day because each day is a gift from God. I still do, maybe more so now. God can also use cancer to open doors that I could never have opened. Some people are reading the blogs who’ve never heard me preach. God has opened doors with some customers and others for me to share with them that would never have been opened. I see the truth of God’s Word in this far more than the promise of Romans 8:28. I saw some of God’s truth yesterday afternoon. Well, actually I felt it more than I saw it. That’s when God’s Word comes home to us. When we see a truth with our minds and then experience it in our hearts. I was texting yesterday with someone who is going through a very similar circumstance in her life. There is something about being in the “C” club that has a way of drawing you together. It is far more than “misery loves company.” I had come from my second hour of being “educated” on when the treatments would be, when to take what pills, and mostly what the potential side effects would likely be. It’s one thing to listen to a medical person read 5-6 pages. It’s another to hear someone who has been in the middle of it give me some insight. Here is the truth of the Word that I experienced firsthand. Jesus promised the Disciples that He would not leave them alone, that He would send the Holy Spirit to reside in their hearts. He told them that He would send them “another” Counselor or Comforter or Helper to be with them forever. The word Jesus used comes from two words in the original that mean called and to come along side. The Holy Spirit is the One who is called to come along side of us to help us. Paul picks up this truth and transforms it. He writes in 2 Corinthians 1 these words: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” Paul uses the same words that Jesus spoke to the Disciples. As God has come along side of us through the Spirit to help us, so we are to come along side others to help bring them comfort. I have often been the one who has been called along side of others to bring them comfort. Yesterday I was the receiver. Someone came along side of me and brought me comfort because she had experienced the Lord coming along side of her to help her. The truth that I have known for a long time in my mind lodged in my heart. That Romans 8:28 promise actually is true. It will be put to the test again today as I begin the treatments.
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Chuck Cooper
Pastor at Daybreak Community Church Archives
November 2024
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