My Cancer Appointment with Jesus
It’s been a year since my last MRI. If you don’t know much about my journey, it’s now been 17 years since I was given 5 years to live. I was diagnosed with an incurable stage 4 cancer. As I often say, cancer’s not my story. Seeing Jesus at work in the midst of my journey is my story. The greatest gift through this whole experience has been the gift of perspective. Good perspective in the midst of any circumstance is actually way more important than the actual outcome. We tend to put all of our “Joy” eggs in the basket of that said outcome, but the longer that I live and hang WITH Jesus, I’m finding that the power of perspective trumps all.
Jesus talks about it all the time in terms of “Seeking first the Kingdom of God” and keeping our eyes/ view/ perspective on Him at all times. We see it with Stephen as he was being killed by rock throwing bystanders. And even more so with Jesus on the cross and especially after He asked His Father if “this cup” could pass Him by and they could do this Kingdom bringing process another way. Even Jesus asked God the Father if there was any other way for His journey to go down. But Jesus’ beauty and power really seemed most vibrant and unshakeable once He made His request known to His Father and entrusted the outcome to God. That’s called perspective.
Think about it. Jesus was pretty much nails after that conversation with His Father: the scuffle in the garden with Judas, His conversation with Pilate and the court, His posture during His beatings and ultimately through His last breaths on the cross.
“Forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing…” Who says that?! Someone with a higher perspective. We’re gonna talk more about this concept this year, but for now, I just want and need to learn from Jesus a recipe for perspective.
Tomorrow I begin tumor testing again and what would Jesus have for me to put into practice for the outcome of joy in all circumstances? At my last appointment, my Dr. came storming in the office saying “We can’t find 2 of your tumors and one seems to be shrinking...this isn’t supposed to happen!”
I want to walk like Jesus. I want my heart to be aligned WITH God’s heart. And the only way that seems to work is when I bring my requests to Him, take a big breath and surrender the outcome with contentment. Counting on His love for me, my family, and His bigger story.
10000 MINUTES Practice:
As you walk WITH Jesus this week:
Let your requests be known, take a deep breath...surrender the outcome to Him… then practice Contentment.
PS - We practice things that don’t come naturally b/c they are the best thing for our souls. They help us realign with what we really want.
Text “10k” to “55678” if you want weekly text reminders to your phone. We’ll be sending out a few encouragements a week to help you practice Jesus all week long!