Trusting God Through Cancer: Surviving on God's Word

Cancer touches everyone whether we like it or not. Cancer is the dreaded word. No one wants to deal with it, but we need to look it straight in the eye. Who knows if the next doctor’s appointment will verify that you or your loved one has cancer.

Ed Adams has offered us a beautiful book to examine cancer up close and personal from the stories of survivors who have found their strength and encouragement from God, faith, friends, and associates. 

A few authors revealed the words we associate with cancer: scared, shocked, and hopeless, but an overwhelming number spoke about the power of hope that poured over them while they were going through diagnosis, tests, chemo, radiation, loss of jobs, etc. The reader is given an intimate look at the heart of people going through devastating times, unknown times. And yet, each proclaimed a victory!

Paula Vera stated, “I believe God uses our prayers and the prayers of others to draw us to Himself for healing, guidance, and for everything. I praise God for His salvation, for His guidance, for His sovereignty, for His abundant love and grace for me, and for the future that I can share with Him in heaven.”

  

Byron Pink offered his favorite hymn. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” And this is the wonderful message Ed Adams has compiled into real-life stories to help change our minds from cancer-hopeless to cancer-hope. 

On a personal note.

I worked in Hospice for fifteen years. This book is a sparking gem, a ray of hope. It’s an excellent book to give to those who are journeying through cancer, those who are caregivers, Hospice/home health workers, and anyone who ministers to someone with cancer. 

Don’t wonder what to say to a cancer patient or their loved ones. The authors who told their stories have offered the strength and encouragement to face difficult days and the enrichment of a newfound life in Christ. At the end of each story, each author shared their favorite Bible verse that emboldened them, reminding them of God’s love, grace, and mercy. The book offers you a template to encourage and help people realize that their illness does not define who they are, only their strength and courage in faith defines who they are.

God bless you,

Angela

Trusting God Through Cancer by Ed Adams

Amazon link to book: 

https://www.amazon.com/Trusting-God-through-Cancer-Collection/dp/1547154969/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506454942&sr=8-1&keywords=ed+adams

Ed Adams' Facebook Author page: 

 https://www.facebook.com/praisestogodworthy/

Letting Loose

When I first began writing, I dreamed of writing for children. I wrote short stories and poems about little ones who were always getting into trouble. It helped that my protagonist lived right under my roof, my little brother. He was forever up to no good to the point I thought my poor mother would go bald from running her hands through her hair.

But writing about little brothers gets tiring. I wanted to let loose and do something no one else had ever done. My initiation into letting loose began on my 16^th birthday. At that point in my life, my favorite author was Victoria Holt. Since there were no knights in shining armor or damsels in distress in my neighborhood, I decided to write about the characters around me. 

A character study is similar to stalking. At sixteen, stalking is not easy. The whole time I tried to be covert, I was stumbling over my own two feet or giving myself away by blushing. Instead of being reckless and daring, I was careless and timid. But I was determined.

At the top of our street there was a General Store. It was the perfect place to stalk. Customers strolled inside and took their time. Men chatted in groups of 2 and 3. Women lingered longest at the meat and cheese counter. I found the perfect corner to lean into and just watch. When Ms. Patty, the owner, glared at me I’d pick up a package and pretend to be reading the contents. After 30 minutes, I realized the task at hand was a lot more difficult than I had imagined. It was hard to hear what my subjects were saying and most of the time they kept turning their backs to me. 

Sighing, I decided to leave and think up another strategy to get writing material. As I turned to leave, a man three times my age with half my teeth grabbed me, pulled me through the throng of customers and pushed me past the screen door. He didn’t let loose of me until we were several feet from the building. I was terrified. He was huge!  

“You best go home now, you hear?” he yelled at me, still clutching my arm. “I ain’t lettin’ you go until you promise to quit trying to steal my aunt’s merchandise.”

I stopped flat-faced-still, looking up at him in total disbelief. “Steal? I’m not trying to steal anything.” Incredulous thoughts whirled around my brain until I realized how guilty I must have looked. “Oh, you’ve got this all wrong. I’m a writer. I’m trying to do a character study.”

“Character study?” he repeated, spitting out a wad of tobacco, “You’d best be trying to study school and not be dumb like me. Now git before I call the cops!”

I ran all the way home. It took me two days to write the whole event down . . . embellishing and letting loose on the best character study ever. Now when I even hint at having “writers block”, I remember being sixteen and pushing the limits. That’s the key to being a good writer. Letting loose.

God bless you! 
Angela

Discovering Josue: A Servant's Heart

Colossians 3:23-24 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

God asks us to serve one another (Galatians 5:13). When we serve others, we are the hands and feet of Jesus. It's humbling to think that when we help others we are doing what Christ does for us every day. Whether we realize it or not Jesus is growing and stretching us for His kingdom by the service opportunities He presents us and the life situations He maneuvers us through. Every lesson we learn are tools to help others. We serve God with the fullness of everything He has given us, the joy, and the hardships.

I just finished reading Discovering Josue. If you ever wondered what a servant's heart looks like please read this book. Having a Jesus-style servant's heart is hard. There's a cost. That's the reason most of us pull back or rethink whether we want to jump in and help others. We have to set aside time. The situation might be messy or hurtful. Finances may come into play, also emotions. This is the sticky part . . . we might have to deal with listening and refrain from disagreeing. We might have to build a relationship to get people to listen to us. More time.

God was preparing Gloria Giovanna way before Josue entered her life. On a whim to learn something new, Gloria decides to learn Spanish. She was a hairstylist and often had customers who were Spanish-speaking. It just seemed a natural progression to learn their language. Then she got into Latino dancing and the exotic flavors of Mexican food. What seemed like a huge challenge ended up fun and exciting, a reprieve from being a single mom struggling to rear three children.

God also brought a client to Gloria that needed help with a patient, an eighteen-year-old Mexican boy who was dying of bone cancer. The client was an oncologist. His heart was breaking for this young man who could not speak English and didn't seem to have any family in the States.

It's wonderful when someone tells their story and doesn't leave out the angst or questions. Gloria struggles with the oncologist's request. How in the world could she add one more thing to her overfull life? She was struggling to buy food and pay the bills. Her time was spent working in her beauty shop and taking care of three kids. She had no time or money to run around helping anyone. But God had a different plan.

Reading Discovering Josue is discovering ourselves. Do we have a servant's heart? Are we willing to pay the cost?

For Gloria the cost was getting to love someone she would have never met without God's intervention. Once Josue entered her life, there was no backing out. Next thing she knew, she was rounding up everyone she knew to enter into the glorious opportunity of discovering Josue.

"I went to visit him every spare moment and called to check on him two or three times a day."

The urgency to tell Josue's story never left her.

"I needed to get the story out of my system. I told her that I had no formal writing experience and no degree . . . but I need to talk about this. I can't just let it go. So now seven and a half years later, this story is still clinging to me every day of my life, and so here I am."

With God's help, Gloria finally published Josue's story. But it's more than his story, it's God's story pressed into Gloria's, too. The book is infectious. You will love all the characters Gloria marshals to help her with Josue. Once infused with God's desire for her to serve Josue, Gloria worked incessantly.

I hope you will read Discovering Josue. God will show you what it means to serve others.

God bless you,
Angela

Amazon link to Discovering Josue by Gloria Giovanna
http://amzn.to/2viJM9O

If you haven't picked up the September 12, 2017 issue of the magazine, First, for women, you might want to. There's an article on page 48, "Unexpected Grace: A lovely language", which compliments the work God did in Gloria Giovanna's life.

God is alive and well and working hard in the lives of His children.