I started to write a post last night dealing with some very interesting prostate cancer clinical trials. Upon logging on to my website, I discovered to my dismay that all the previous pictures that I had posted were missing and only one remained, that one appearing on every section. I verified that no written content had been altered hence hackers were not involved. My personal knowledge of website maintenance is sorely limited.
My passion, mission and ministry is to communicate spiritual (Christian) and medical content to you, the readers and especially to those who, like me, face prostate cancer. I personally maintain this site financially but I have been blessed with two colleagues who are website experts and who are compensated to maintain this site. The problem with the missing pictures is “under review” as I write this. The website problems put a damper over my morning but as so often happens, God had a specific word for me as I read my morning devotionals. The first was the May 8th devotional in Our Daily Bread.
The Bible reference was from 2 Corinthians 4:1-6. Verse one reads as follows. “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do NOT lose heart.” This was just what I needed to hear!!!! As Christians, we are not immune to life’s problems. The Lord just told me in His word, that I am not to lose heart. God has the solutions, and when we submit our lives and all its component parts to Christ’s lordship, His methods always lead to the best results when all is said and done. I humbly ask for your prayers that our “picture” problem be solved and that this website can continue to be of service and remain functional.
It took about 3-4 hours of work to solve the problem with the pictures. So whatever our situation, may we not waver in our faith and trust in the Lord. (If you are not sure of your relationship with God, see the linked website section.) As the most loving Father, God has our best interests at heart and let us remember to trust Him in whatever circumstance and location wherein He has planted us. May people with whom we have contact see God and Jesus through our actions and attitudes. In the words of an old song, “you may be the only Bible some will ever read.” So “let’s bloom where we are planted.”
I usually try to start every day by reading a portion from the Bible using three different daily devotional booklets. From these, I try to glean one specific thought from God’s Word to remember and to hopefully put into practice that day. In these modern days in developed nations, God speaks primarily through His Word due to its availability through various media. However, in areas of the world where the Bible is not readily accessible, one hears today of God or Jesus appearing to people in visions, miracles or by other supernatural means. Today’s readings were extraordinary to me. First, I read a devotional in “Today in the Word” from Moody Publishers. It focused on Matthew 9, about Christ’s compassion and how He revealed His divinity to the people of His day by healing their diseases and most importantly, forgiving their sins. As I have described elsewhere in this website, God or Jesus have only spoken to me in dramatic fashion on few occasions. But one such occurred on January 11th, 2004 when in response to being anointed with oil for my prostate cancer, Jesus told me to “reach out and touch the hem of His garment.” At tines, I question if it was Jesus who spoke to me or whether it was my sub-conscious exercising wishful thinking. Today, I read Matthew 9 about the woman who touched Jesus’ garment and was healed of her 12-year hemorrhagic condition. In verse 21 she said, “if I only touch his garment, I shall get well.” In January 2004, Jesus had told me to do the same thing. But did I believe it would be effective in my case since I still showed signs of prostate cancer by having a positive PSA reading? Upon reading v. 21 today, I again humbly but fervently asked Jesus to give me the same faith this woman had, namely that “if I only touch His garment, I shall get well”. Then secondly, I opened the April 10th, 2014 devotional from “In Touch” by Dr. Charles Stanley. It was entitled “Looking Beyond Disappointment”. The Biblical reference was from John 11:3-6 which described Jesus’ raising His friend Lazarus from the dead after delaying His appearance for several days. Since 2004, I had sensed that God had told my wife and I that I was not to die from prostate cancer but that my condition, even with a rapid PSA doubling time which worried my physicians, was to glorify God and Jesus in some way, perhaps through this website. In today’s devotional, the words of John 11:4 leaped out from the page again where Jesus said of Lazarus’ death that “this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” The Lord had given my wife and I the same message several times before but I had often doubted its application to me. Then thirdly, I read the April 10th Anchor devotional from Haven Ministries. They cited Deuteronomy 6:1-9, specifically verses 6-9 where God was strongly telling the Israelites to record in writing the words which God had told them and how He had delivered them many times. God specifically says in these verses, “and these words which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and you will bind them as a sign on your hand….. and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” In summary, first God reminded me today of the words spoken to me in January, 2004 to “reach out and touch the hem of His garment.” Then, when I asked Him to verify it and give me the faith to believe He actually said it, He reiterated to me John 11:4, a verse which God had given us earlier, where He says that Lazarus’ premature sickness was not to cause his death but to glorify God. Then lastly, He tells me to write this down which I am now doing on this website blog. I am writing this to extol God’s and Jesus’ ability to heal and treat diseases and more importantly to forgive our sins and provide eternal life especially at this Good Friday and Easter season. I am also writing this to remind myself of God’s and Jesus’ personal message when future doubts may arise in my life. May God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice become very personal to each of us.
Fjord leading to Stavanger, Norway; Bjarne Gabrielsen photo.
I recently read about the high costs of various cancer drugs and treatments. In the case of FDA-approved prostate cancer treatments, a course of Provenge (sipuleucel-T) costs $93,000. Zytiga (abiraterone acetate) administered via four 250 mg pills daily costs $60,000 annually. Four 40 mg pills of Xtandi (enzalutamide) taken daily costs $59,600 per year. Yervoy (ipilimumab) is an FDA-approved treatment for melanoma which is being investigated in prostate cancer as well. It’s cost is about $116,000 or about $29,000 per infusion, four being needed. It must be noted that these costs can be partially alleviated through Medicare and other supplemental financial aids. The drug developers also can provide financial help to needy patients. One should always consult the company websites.
On the other hand, mercy, compassion and eventual healing via a personal relationship with God available freely through Jesus Christ, have no monetary cost. George Mueller, a 19th century pastor who aided over 10,000 orphans and helped 100,000 poor children receive a Christian education stated the following. “Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends.” While I certainly do not advocate passing up available therapeutic treatments, compare the costs and availability of these two categories.
The following was written by Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta, and printed as the Feb. 25th, 2014 devotional of In Touch Magazine. It applies very well to any man dealing with prostate disease.
“Your home offers protection from the elements. So when a storm rolls in, you seek shelter within the safety of those four walls. The same principle applies to life’s storms. If we’ve built a solid house on a foundation of faith, then we’ve got a haven to run to when dark clouds gather and anxiety threatens to overwhelm us.
Let’s suppose a problem” (such as prostate cancer) “is worrying you, and your stomach is in knots. Friends and family try to be understanding,” but they have never experienced a similar diagnosis. “You are so focused on the issue that it feels as if your shoulders are bearing a heavy weight. Now listen to the liberating alternative God offers: ‘Cast your burden upon [Me] and [I] will sustain you’ ( Psalm 55:22). He doesn’t erase the ills that invade this life. Instead, He shields us from the weight of worry by taking situations into His own hands.
However, the call to a free and peaceful life goes unheeded unless a person has confidence in the Lord. Trust is built through relationship—praying during daily trials and triumphs, seeking biblical guidance for decisions, and testing God’s Word to see that it is true and practical. That’s how a house of faith is constructed brick by brick on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.
A believer who trusts in the Lord receives the peace that Isaiah 26:3-4 promises. ‘The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because He trusts in Thee. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God, the Lord, we have an everlasting rock.’ But unshakeable peace isn’t instantaneous; it is cultivated through a consistent relationship with God. A lifestyle of dependence upon Him is the key to weathering storms with supernatural calm.
Boca Pass between Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf of Mexico at Boca Grande, Florida. Cayo Costa in the background. BJ Gabrielsen photo.
There are some highly interesting medical news items to be posted in the next week or so but I first need to share the following. I was raised near the east end of Long Island Sound and learned to swim at a young age. When my parents would hold me up in shallow water where I could touch bottom, there was little challenge. That was easy. But soon, they would take me into deeper water above my head. Even as the waves would splash in my face, I remained very calm with complete trust as long as I was in my parent’s grasp. As men who are facing prostate cancer, we can think of ourselves as being in “deep waters”. Our condition is not something we would have wished for ourselves. In the book of Luke chapter 5, verses 1-11, Jesus’ disciples had fished all night without success. But when the Lord challenged them to head into deeper waters, they caught fish in abundance beyond their wildest expectations. Deeper waters can be a source of blessing. As Christians, we can waste our lives standing on the shoreline never venturing beyond ankle-deep water. There we need little help from the Lord. But when we find ourselves in deeper waters, we need God desperately. When we are in the deeper waters of prostate cancer, we find we must relinquish control of our lives. While we can seek to maintain our bodies in the best ways possible by nutrition, exercise and medications, we can no longer determine our own fate. To the Christian (meaning one who has a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ), God is our captain who upholds us with His strong hands just as my parents did for me as a child learning to swim. The surrendered believer experiences God and Christ more intimately than someone on shore can; we can receive a boatload of God’s goodness and blessings. We must hold fast to the truth that God will never remove His hand of support and strength from us. Jesus’ own words (John 10:27-29) bear witness to this fact. “My sheep hear My voice and I know them…..and I give eternal life to them; and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father (God), who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
Have we as individual Christians actually submitted our conditions to the Lord? Charles Stanley writes that “we often want to cling to a measure of control in case God doesn’t work events to our satisfaction. Too many Christians are content merely to dip their toes into faith because they fear life might not turn out according to their plan. But how much greater their loss will be if life doesn’t turn out according to God’s plan. He can do much more with a surrendered existence than a sheltered one.” The process of surrendering our condition to God is a continuous, daily one. Visualize packaging the prostate cancer and laying it at the foot of Christ’s cross and leaving it there. Alternatively, place it in a box (called God’s box by one author), and depositing it in the box and locking it. The Christian life, even to a prostate cancer patient, becomes exciting when we wade into water so deep that our feet no longer touch the bottom. Then all we have to stand upon are God’s promises, but they are more than enough.
Middletown, Maryland church yard; BJ Gabrielsen photo.
First and foremost, as we are nearing the end of 2013, I wish to thank the nearly 200,000 readers of this website. Writing it is a joy for me personally, and it was especially gratifying to receive comments from prostate cancer patients who had been successfully treated at my “alma mater”, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. Hopkins continues to be one of the best sources of information about this disease as evidenced by recent articles on brachytherapy and general therapy options in the Johns Hopkins Health Alerts to which one can subscribe. There is a lot of new medical information which will be posted shortly. At this time however, I would like to wish you all a belated meaningful and gratifying Christmas season and a truly fulfilling and healthy New Year. The significance of these holidays is best expressed by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah as follows. “For a child (Jesus) will be born to us, a Son will be given to us, and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6). “‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare’ (not governmental) ‘and not calamity to give you a future and a hope.'” (Jeremiah 29:11.) Finally, a verse from Matthew 1:23 which is most meaningful, comforting and indeed mind-boggling, which states “a virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means ‘God with us’.” Imagine the eternal God of a myriad of universes can be so personal through Jesus His Son that He can truly be known individually. May we all experience this in 2014.
During my personal and scientific career, I have been blessed to meet and interact with some extremely interesting and gifted people. One such person, Dr. Raymond Damadian, is the inventor of magnetic resonance (MR) scanning. He and I formerly attended the same church in Long Island, New York. One of Dr. Damadian’s chief scientific passions continues to be the use of MR scanning in the early detection of cancer. His company, Fonar, is focused on the design, manufacture and application of upright multi-position MR scanners. As I have previously written, I have micro-metastatic, PSA-producing prostate cancer cells at some unknown site(s) in my body but I continue to be totally healthy and asymptomatic. During conversations with Dr. Damadian, it was proposed that I undergo upright MR scanning to see if metastatic prostate cancer could be detected in common metastatic sites such as bladder, lymph nodes and pelvis. I underwent the scan in a seated position, optimal for receiving MR signals from areas such as prostate amd bladder. After consultation with his radiologist, Dr. Damadian reported that he could not detect any cancer in the prostate-bladder-lymph node areas which was good news. However, there was a suspicious area in my right pelvis. In 1991, as a result of a severe auto accident, my right hip had been replaced. Subsequently, my right pelvic area (acetabulum), had suffered considerable wear-and-tear over the years, hence a process called arthroplasty was performed in 2007 wherein significant bone grafts were inserted in my right pelvic area. But my original replaced hip remained in place and functioning well. The area surrounding the bone grafts required further review by Dr. Damadian and his radiologist. Upon hearing this preliminary report, I immediately began envisioning the worst logical scenario. Knowing that prostate cancer metastasizes to the pelvis, I left Fonar somewhat with a sense of impending dread fearing that the MR scan had revealed some pockets of tumor cells. That evening, I found myself anxious and somewhat angry with God thinking that He had allowed my cancer to metastasize to the pelvic bone, which I knew eventually would result in considerable pain and possibly death. The next morning I again asked God why He had allowed me to receive this negative result and I voiced my extreme concern. However, upon spending some time reading His Word and in a few moments of fervent prayer, I reluctantly agreed to trust Him for whatever outcome would emerge, even though I was not happy with the entire scenario. I compared my situation with that of the apostle Paul, to whom was given a physical “thorn in the flesh”. Paul had pleaded with God on three occasions to remove this physical malady but God had not done so. I am sure Paul was not overjoyed about having this physical “thorn”. Instead God told him (in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9) that “His grace was sufficient” for Paul’s situation and Paul later concluded that “God’s power was perfected in his (Paul’s) weakness.” So I awaited Dr. Damadian’s further radiological evaluation of my pelvis with some anxiety but a mediocre though significant degree of trust in God’s eventual provision. A very short time later, as I was boarding my return flight to Florida, Dr. Damadian called and proclaimed that he and his radiologist could not detect any cancer during subsequent intensive review of my scans. The presence of the areas of grafted bone were not commonly observed in other more clearly defined pelvic scans. My spirit soared along with the ascending plane in which I was traveling. God had tested me again to see if I would trust Him regardless of the medical outcome. Initially my faith faltered but it recovered somewhat within a 24-hour period. Often God allows us to view ourselves in His divine mirror. Hopefully, we will remember what we observed and learn from seeing our mirror image and grow spiritually in our loving and trusting relationship with the Father and His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 14:14, Jesus saw a great multitude of people, had compassion on them and healed their sick. The Great Physician is able to heal. He created us and knows every mechanism in our body down to the most minute detail. Sometimes He promises to immediately take away our problem when we ask, and in other times, in His love and all-knowing, He allows the ailment to remain. Seeking medical help is often His plan for us, but He also wants us to come before Him with our need, acknowledging His ultimate power and ability. The Bible is full of accounts describing the Lord healing physical, spiritual and emotional sicknesses. Jesus also gave His disciples authority to heal in His name. As you read the Bible, notice how often God healed people and valued their faith. Jesus often healed to demonstrate His power as part of the God-head. When in need, ask for His help. He may grant your request immediately or His plan might be to bring greater good to you and glory to Himself down the road. The process also helps cultivate and grow our faith in His ultimate will. Either way, walking closely with Him is always the healthiest and wisest choice.
James 5:14-15 says “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” Have you ever wondered why we see far fewer miracles today than in Biblical times? God has not changed nor has His power diminished. And our needs are no fewer than those of that day. Why then, do we witness less of His healing power in modern society? James 4:2-3 lists two reasons. “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” God’s power may also be hindered by a lack of faith. Because the people of Jesus’ hometown rejected Him, He did few miracles there (Matt. 13:57-58). There is another reason which may be difficult to comprehend and accept. Sometime the Lord’s perfect and loving will is not for our health to be restored immediately-or ever in this life. He might have a lesson for us to learn that might require suffering so we can listen to His voice and understand. Because the Father knows the big picture that we are unable to see, He may allow the difficulty to remain. The apostle Paul accepted this. He asked God three times to remove what he called his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). But he finally understood that the condition would continue and the Lord’s power would be made perfect through Paul’s weakness. God desires that you turn to Him as Lord and Healer. Pray with faith in Jesus’ name bringing your requests but also surrendering to His perfect will. “Not my will but Thine be done” as Jesus Himself prayed. Trust that He can do anything- and that what he does will be in your best interest for His glory. Our heavenly Father still does miracles today.
Adapted from In Touch Magazine, by Charles Stanley, Aug. 8-9, 2013.
I would like to share a small example which I believe illustrates God’s timetable and daily provision for circumstances in our lives. While this narrative might seem relatively insignificant, the principle it demonstrates is a major one. Just as we rely on God’s help and provision for serious issues such as prostate cancer, He also makes His presence known in more routine ways of daily life. During the summer months, temperatures along the sun-drenched southwestern Florida Gulf of Mexico coast consistently range into the mid-90’s accompanied by intense humidity. But civilization functioned here long before the advent of climate-controlled air conditioning. A few days ago my wife and I experienced to a small but realistic degree what it would have been like to live here without such modern conveniences. It was a hot, rainy evening at midnight when our 20-year old air conditioning unit finally expired. It would take days to replace it. As we try to consistently do, we prayed that God would enable us to accept our circumstances with His peace and tranquility. To our pleasant surprise, the next few days became mostly cloudy and rainy with temperatures only in the mid-80’s, thereby negating Florida’s hot intense sunshine heating our home. It made our circumstances very bearable and made us appreciate all the more how people thrived without the modern conveniences of air conditioning. God did not alter the weather patterns to conform to our immediate need but we believe He arranged the timetable such that when our need arose, He made the circumstances quite bearable. Our earthly bodies are subject to illnesses and various less-desirable conditions, yet when we release them to the Lord, He carries us through often in ways we could never have anticipated and even guarantees it in His Word. Two examples follow. “Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need,” according to Hebrews 4:16. From the Old Testament, Lamentations 3:22-23 states “the Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.”
We’re all in this together! Silver Springs, Ocala, Florida; bjgabrielsen photo
This communication is long overdue. Recently, this website has surpassed 115,000 hits. Two years ago, I would have never imagined I would write this blog post, but I write it with an overwhelming sense of gratitude to God, to my physicians, to my supportive and loving wife and to those of you who have visited this site. How did I get to this point? Please allow me to review highlights as it unfolded. In addition to writing this post for website readers, I also write this to myself as a remembrance and review of past challenges, blessings and lessons learned.
In 1994, at the age of 53, I was experiencing typical middle-age BPH problems usually associated with an “enlarged” prostate gland. My PSA consistently ranged between 3.5 and 4.5. A biopsy in 1994 showed no cancer. However, an ultrasound showed that my prostate was not enlarged. It occurred to me that a medium-smaller prostate gland would be expected to produce less PSA but my gland seemed to be producing too much PSA for its size and that troubled me. About that time, I learned that a measurement referred to as PSA density (the amount of PSA per unit volume of the gland) was being used as one criterion for performing biopsies. My PSA density of 0.23 led to a second biopsy at Johns Hopkins Hospital in October, 1995. The biopsy revealed cancer on the right side only. So in December, 1995 at the age of 54, I underwent a successful radical prostatectomy. My Gleason score was 6 (3+3) and my stage was T1C. Margins and lymph nodes were negative for tumors. Physicians informed me that my cancer was detected so early that “if they couldn’t cure me, they couldn’t cure anybody.” I was fortunate to have very few resulting side effects from the surgery which I found I could easily live with. In the intervening years, I had been anointed with oil for my healing (according to James 5:14-15), and had experienced the most dramatic personal experiences with God and Jesus Christ which are described in the January 11th, 2004 and March, 2005 entries on my website narrative. And so life continued for seven (7) years until November, 2002 when the PSA no longer became “undetectable” indicating some cancer still resided in my body. Subsequent radiation therapy in 2004 did not eradicate all of the cancer. Following the course of radiation, my PSA doubled every three months or so, a factor which still troubles my physicians and seems to indicate an aggressive perhaps genetically-modified cancer. Since 2006, I have been on intermittent hormonal therapy which eventually decreased my PSA to undetectable levels while resulting in very manageable side effects. The return of the cancer was devastating and shook the foundations of my faith but intervening events have resulted in a spiritual maturation which could not have occurred by other means. It is noteworthy that the Bible states that the purpose of trials is to “perfect” our faith. My day-to-day spiritual journey prompted my surgeon to suggest I chronicle them in a book about spirituality and prostate cancer but after keeping a diary of my experiences, God had other ideas and the website was born. At the beginning of this journey, I could anxiously anticipate becoming resistant (refractory) to hormonal therapy, followed by chemotherapy and its notorious side effects and then a painful death. However, the last years have produced a dramatic change in this potentially unpleasant scenario with the availability of new treatment regimens resulting from the approval of a number of therapeutic agents such as Zytiga and Provenge among others which has brightened my personal outlook and those of other prostate cancer survivors overwhelmingly.
But the website is called Godandprostate.net. What does God have to do with all of this? Had God not allowed the cancer to return, I would have never written this website. We must look beyond our own experience to focus on the big picture of what God is going to do. I am not the same physical, mental or especially spiritual being I was in 1995. I also would have not learned many lessons. We just celebrated the Easter season. The most intense suffering ever recorded was that of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew that by bearing the sins of everyone whoever lived and the penalty thereof, He was about to endure a gruesome crucifixion but in addition, He would experience the full force of God’s wrath, anger and separation. Jesus’ most earnest prayer to His Father God was to plead with God that He “take this cup from me”, loosely paraphrasing, “if possible I’d rather not experience the isolation, pain and suffering involved in paying the penalty for the combined sins (past, present and future) of all mankind; but if I must, then “not My will but Thine be done.” May Jesus’ Gethsemane experience be our example in times of trouble as with prostate cancer. May we have that same intimate and personal relationship with God as Jesus did, trusting God fully and accepting His perfect will for whatever the outcome may be.
A Christian bishop visiting the US from Africa was asked to compare the differences between the church in America with that in Africa. He cited the title of a familiar hymn entitled “Blessed Assurance” when he said, “In America you have ‘blessed insurance’ while in Africa, all we have is ‘blessed assurance'”. The deepest knowledge of God comes from those who have had to trust Him the most. As the ancient Job exclaimed, (see Job 13:11-19), “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” My own trust journey is still evolving. Instead of placing confidence in plans and medical scenarios of my own making (though I believe that God still heals cancer today according to His will), we are called to be available for God’s purpose (be it a website or other possibilities) and to trust God when He leads. We may never understand why God does what He does, but if we know Him and believe Him, that is all that is necessary. May we learn to know and trust Him for who He is. This trust journey is predicated upon having a personal relationship with God only available through His Son, Jesus who clearly proclaimed “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6).
Through the years, worry and anxiety have been problematic for me in spite of my memorization of Philippians 4:6-7 (below) which tells me clearly to “be anxious for nothing.” We all have needs, concerns and desires and the Bible teaches that God knows them all. But He commands us not to worry. Consider the following. Would God ever command us to do something and then not enable us to do it? Absolutely not! As Christians, we are called to live a life of faith; believing God’s promises even when our circumstances confound us and troubles surround us. He wants our trust and if we allow Him, He will prove that worry is unnecessary. Therefore we can put our full confidence in the words of Philippians 4:6-7,which admonishes us to “be anxious (careful) for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that passes all understanding shall guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” We can all bring our anxiety level down by remembering and trusting in the fact that Jesus paid the once-and-for-all price for our sins. Having this assurance and the gift of eternal life, calms our spirits, worries and cares that often plague us. We can now live as if on an island where time and aging are no object. Knowing that our future contains a promise from God of a new cancer-free body, in a new heaven and new earth for a never-ending period of time, we can savor our earthly time with family and friends, enjoying and using it to glorify and praise God in all we do and experience.
Dr. Joseph Stowell, a college president has recently stated that when we look back on our lives, we can all see that it has its seasons depending on our ages, circumstances, health status and abilities. As life’s seasons change and we age, we are often uncertain or fearful as to what they might hold for us. As with every season of life, we have to make a choice. We can waste the season in fearful thoughts or as the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 5:15-16, we should make the best use of the time, “walk circumspectly, redeeming the time because the days are evil.” Regardless of our season, we can count on God’s faithfulness. He says “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” We can confidently say “the Lord is my helper, I will not fear.” (Hebrews 13:5-6.) Because we have God’s protection and provision, we can make the most of our time in every season by following Jesus closely, spending time with Him in His Word and prayer, loving and forgiving more freely than ever before, and serving others with joy and generosity. God has blessed us with our present season of life – make the most of it. If we have a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus, then regardless of our present trials or triumphs, we can embrace the following truths as encouragement for all seasons of life. 1) God will be faithful to us because that is His very nature. His “mercy is in the heavens and His faithfulness reaches unto the clouds.” (Psalm 36:5.) 2) God knows all about our situation. We are never alone in any season of life (Psalm 139:7-12). 3) God is omnipotent, so He has the power to meet every single need. He knows how to move us through the various seasons of life. Romans 8:28 promises that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose.” We will all change with the passage of time and our seasons will change but our wonderful God and His Son Jesus are always the same. God won’t fail us, waver on us and won’t vary- we can fully rely on Him. He will never forget about His own- great is His faithfulness.
So what does my future look like? It has been eighteen years since I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. We humans don’t learn lessons when times are good, but we learn best in times of crisis. Will I outlive my cancer and die of another cause? I pray this will be the case or that Jesus will return as He promised and take His children home. But I can now say with more conviction than ever before “may God’s perfect will be done. I must look beyond my own experience to focus on the big picture of what God is going to do. In fact my recent health checkup revealed that my general blood test results have never been better in my life. Isn’t that just like God???? Lastly, we hear daily of “viral” internet stories and videos which result in millions of “hits”. I am personally overwhelmed and gratified for the interest in the relationship between God and prostate cancer which has led to 115,000 hits for this website. We who have experienced prostate cancer share a special bond. May we continue to “redeem the time” we have remaining in our earthly lives, serving God and those around us with an eternal perspective, focusing on fulfilling, joyful experiences.
P.S. Lots of new medical news; more blogs to be written in the very near future.
