Holding Me Tight
Feb 5, 2023 | by The Fellowship
Cancer, the horrible "C" word, can come with devastating news, terrifying thoughts, and complicated procedures. But God, who answers prayer, is bigger and mightier than all of these things!
In the longest ten days of my life following several breast biopsies, a new habit had quickly formed: pick up the phone, refresh/login to my healthcare portal, and click "test results." It was becoming an obsession. My doctor’s office said that he would call when they had results, but in the meantime, I felt compelled to find out at the earliest possible moment!
On Tuesday morning a couple of weeks ago, our church staff meeting was about to begin. But before it did, I opened my health care portal for the 25th time that day, not even realizing I was doing it. Constant checking had become so automatic. But there they were ... the results … staring me in the face on the screen of my phone.
I was in a state of shock. Doing my best to interpret the medical language so foreign to me, I scanned the document, stringing together enough words that confirmed I had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The tears came quickly. The beautiful women around my table abandoned their own prayer requests to surround me, put their hands on me, and pray. The eloquent words hit my head and heart like nothing I had ever experienced. I felt every word! The Holy Spirit was holding me as tight as these wonderful women!
The pastor who was conducting our staff meeting quickly figured out something distressing was happening and asked me to share the news with everyone in the room. In my shock, I do not recall what or how I shared the news. All I know is that God purposely put me in THAT room with other strong Christians when He decided I was going to find out about my cancer. Not an hour earlier, not an hour later... RIGHT then. He knew I needed all of them to lift me before the Lord. And boy, did they pray! Just like the words I was hearing; every ounce of my body was full of God's love through these angels who were speaking over me.
I felt cherished … I felt hope … I felt peace. It was going to be okay.
My surgical oncologist confirmed a few things: My breast cancer is the most common type. One in eight women will develop Invasive Ductal Carcinoma during their lifetime. It was caught early through an annual mammogram –- so my cancer is late Stage 1/early Stage 2. I have elected for a lumpectomy of the masses and a lymph node extraction. This is an outpatient surgery, scheduled for Wednesday, February 15th.
After four to six weeks of recovery time, I will begin six weeks of daily (M-F) radiation to make sure anything forming, or leftover is eradicated from my body. As long as the lymph node analysis does not come back showing evidence of cancer in it, I will not need chemotherapy. This is the best possible scenario under the circumstances. Praise God!
This will be a journey I would rather not take … but on it, I will be strengthened by allowing God to use me for His glory every step of the way. I will walk confidently, armed with each and every word prayed over and for me. Because He is mighty to answer our prayers, I refuse to be robbed of any JOY!
S.H.
Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10