Week of July 9 - 15

July 9
 
The darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
     1 John 2:8b

The fact is God is already at work answering our prayers and meeting our needs even before we know them or ask. God is already showing us the way to healing, the way to hope and the way to relief before we can even begin to understand our circumstances. God’s light already shines upon us. God’s light already shines within us. God’s light already shines around us because God will never allow total darkness to overcome us. We need to look for that light, the many lights that God provides for this journey. They are always here to illuminate the way.

Don’t let the darkness overwhelm me, O God. I’m inclined to let it descend on me and I think it will always stay. I need to be reminded that your light is eternally lit so that I may see a better way. Thank you for reminding me today. Amen.


July 10
 
I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
     3 John 4

So much information. So many opinions. So much to understand. So many conflicting words of advice. We often don’t know what truth is and what is not. This journey we’ve been thrust upon causes us to question, doubt and fear. We need the truth more than ever right now. Don’t give up on finding it. Don’t be afraid to question, to research or to look in different places. Don’t despair that the answers aren’t obviously there. The truth does reveal itself. Sometimes we need to be open to unexpected voices to hear it and looking in unanticipated places to find it.

Reveal your will for me. Reveal you way for me. Reveal your truth for me, today, O God. Amen.


July 11
 
Let that day be darkness!! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it.
     Job 3:4

Like Job, there will be days we will want to curse; there will be times we will want to condemn. It’s human nature. When distress happens we call out to decry its entrance into our lives. But even though Job looked at God and wondered why, he ultimately never walked away from God and finally acknowledged that God walked with him through the doubt and despair. Job may have wavered. But he never gave up. He may have questioned. But in the end he knew God was caring for him in his desperation and need. In our distress, may we understand that too.

I certainly do doubt and I often complain, O God. Yet I know you are right here with me as I walk this path. In that I ultimately know comfort and strength. Amen.


July 12
 
Let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it.
     1 Peter 3:11

Resolving to seek a higher purpose is a vital key to finding a reason for living well this life we have been given. Recognizing that we were created to make a difference for good, to make the world better for our having been in it and to form peace out of trouble is a great motivator for engendering passion and meaning in this life. Such purpose can bring richness and joy to our lives. In understanding that purpose we make each day more wonderful and contribute to a healing environment more than we can imagine. 

Help me to create a healing environment for each new day, dear God. Help me to define my purpose so I may live more richly and fully with this day you have given me and with each new day to come. Amen.


July 13
 
We love because he first loved us.
     1 John 4:19

Love is what gives meaning to our lives. Its rich blessings and deep feelings are tremendous gifts that all of us need. We need love especially when cancer enters our lives. We need to know we’re important. We need to know others care. We need to know we are not left alone in our fear and distress. Love’s power to satisfy and sustain us is a very powerful key to our survival. Reflect today on the love you have been given and on the love you desire to share. Allow that love to motivate and strengthen you for today and each day that comes ahead. Love is a profound affirmation that life is worth fighting for.

When I take the time to reflect on and recall the love I have been given and the love I have shared, I am profoundly grateful, dear Lord. That love will motivate and inspire me today. Amen.


July 14
 
What are human beings that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them?
     Job 7:17
 
Job, like so many before and after him, wondered what our life is about. What is our purpose? Why are we here? How are we to live and believe? If we acknowledge that a higher power, a divine and eternal God created and gave meaning to us, then we must ask the same questions too. And in our asking and our seeking what begins to be revealed is the reason for our life and the significance of days. It is important, too, to ask what purpose cancer has for our lives. In the asking and in the seeking we can discover a way to give it relevance. In understanding that relevance we gain power over it and can use it to transform our lives to a greater purpose.

I want to understand why I am here and what I can do to make sense and meaning out of this cancer. Dear Lord, help me to know how to use this for transformation and for good. Amen.


July 15
 
For you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 
     1 Thessalonians 5:5

When the darkness that is cancer invades our lives, we are often tempted to allow it to overwhelm us. It is too easy to give in to despair, negativity and defeat. But we have a light, powered by God, which can burn brightly in the darkness around us. We do not have to allow the descending darkness to remain. Instead we can turn to the light of hope, positive attitudes and gratitude to dawn in our spirits and lives.

Dear God, you are the light that brightens the moments and days of my distress. When I am inclined to give into dark thoughts and emotions, help me to turn to your illumining flame in their place. Amen.