Cancer News
“You have cancer.” These three
words were directed at my wife five years ago, in October 2017. I remember my
first thought after this message penetrated my brain. “No, not again!”
Christmas 2017 soon settled in
on us. We experienced a sense of peace stronger than our upset. Here is a
response to how we processed our cancer reality in the 2017 Christmas season.
“By faith,
I recognize trials give evidence that even in this experience my wife is going through,
we can rejoice together. This is not saying that we think cancer is good or
that I am happy my wife has cancer. I can say we can be joyful, for God knows
all about it. This trial has not taken God by surprise. He has given us
assurance of his love and comfort in a very real way.”
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/37258556/7108807865702777159
Thank God for Healing
In mid-November 2017, a friend
at church gave us some healing oil he had brought from the Holy Virgin
Cathedral in San Francisco. Terry’s cancer experience included a bleeding issue
we were concerned about. We used the oil as a step of faith and prayed God
would heal her. The next morning, the bleeding stopped, never to return. We
didn’t try to explain it but accepted it as from God. His love, mercy, and will
are stronger than our skepticism.
On January 8, 2018, Terry had
surgery to arrest her uterine cancer. Her surgeon presented himself as a
compassionate healer. Thanks be to God, Terry’s surgery lasted only thirty-five
minutes. Prior to the operation, the surgeon informed me it would take anywhere
from forty-five to ninety minutes. Even the surgeon was surprised at the
surgery’s duration.
To date, Terry has been cancer
free for almost five years. We do not take this measure of healing for granted.
Instead, we thank God for His love and mercy on us.
A Reflection
In times of personal struggle,
I retreat to the ever-ready embrace of poetry. Here is a poem I wrote as my
reflection of Terry’s cancer experience.
Cancer At Christmas: a
husband’s poem for his wife
The news is more than sad, but
this year
we celebrate Christmas,
not cancer.
I will be honest in my heart,
share cries and whimpers,
feel
numb,
shake a fist at heaven.
My head held up only by my
hands,
offers you, my love, who
brings me this news,
a face wet with tears,
frozen fear.
Why God, I ask, would there be
cancer
at Christmas? Help me, I pray,
help
my darling.
My love—you amaze me.
Yes, you live.
Yes, we live.
We hang decorations, drink
eggnog,
romance each other, your words
slipping
out like healing hands,
touching me,
but it’s me who wants to
support you.
We celebrate Christmas,
not cancer. In this together,
we hold on.
Never let go of the moment,
any
moment.
This illness will not be
forever.
We have peace, stillness.
So, my love, sleep like a baby
in the arms of He who loves
us.
God is not dumbfounded,
by this fiend,… cancer.
Joy is our companion.
We weep, yes,
Yet we rejoice. We are not
alone.
Immanuel, God with us,
Is unseen
yet present.
Let Him love us.
Let me hold you, my love, you,
not cancer.
This year,
We celebrate Christmas.
Dear Reader Friends
If you or a loved one are living with an illness, please
know you are not alone. Your illness, your tears, do not take God by surprise. Dear
ones, not even cancer can separate us from the love of God.
Alan lives in Deroche, B.C. with his wife,
Terry, and their poodle, Charlie. He contributed stories to Good Grief People
by Angel Hope Publishing, 2017; Story by Story: The Power of a Writer,
Unstoppable Writers Publishing, 2018; Easter Stories & More by InScribe
Christian Writers’ Fellowship, 2021. He is currently working on a book
expressing the grief of grieving grandparents entitled Hidden Poetic Voices:
A Reflective Work of Grief, Faith, and Poetry. Alan periodically writes
articles for FellowScript Magazine. He has written posts for our InScribe blog
since 2015. Blog: https://scarredjoy.ca.
