Week of February 2 - 8

February 2

 

You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.

     Acts 2:28

 

There’s a lot about life we don’t easily understand. There’s certainly a lot about cancer that we don’t comprehend very well either. There will always be mysteries and circumstances too veiled to know. Yet, even in our incomplete view of the world and our place in it, we are given assurance after assurance that God is watching over us in ways too great to recognize from our human perspective. This unflinching care for us can be enough. It can be enough to show us that even though we don’t know everything we can rest assured in the certainty of God’s protective, loving presence in everything we need to face.

 

When I finally grasp that I don’t need to know or control everything I really do feel freer to rely on you for guidance and support. It’s amazing how good that can make me feel, O God. Knowing that you have things under control, and I don’t always need to, gives me a tremendous confidence and serenity. Thank you. Amen.

 

 

February 3

 

What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?

     Ecclesiastes 1:3

 

Many of us often wonder why we got cancer. We ask, what is cancer’s purpose in our lives? What does it mean? What are we to do with it now that we have it? How can we make sense of it? Those are important questions to ask. Cancer can be used for a good purpose – to reprioritize our life, to take a look at our attitudes, to reassess our relationships, to reexamine our goals, to refocus on healthier eating, to recapture joy, to renew a passion for something, to rejuvenate the connection to our spirits. When we use cancer in this way, and refuse to allow cancer to use us, it will have a healing purpose. The effort will not be in vain.

 

Rather than looking at this disease as the bane of my existence, I want to look at it instead as an opportunity to change my life for the better. Dear God, I need your help to see what I can do with this. I’m looking for your guidance to show me a purposeful way. Amen.

 

 

February 4

 

Stay awake and pray that you will not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

     Matthew 26:41

 

Most of us have a lot of good intentions when it comes to seeking good health again. Most of us resolve to stick to one plan or another, one regimen or another, yet we quickly and easily stray from our plans and promises. It’s important to commit to a well-informed plan for renewed health and healing. But it’s also important to be gentle with ourselves when we falter along the way. What’s essential is to keep moving in a positive direction, even when there are detours along the way. What helps is to pick a plan that is reasonable, feasible and possible to accomplish. Then make a daily commitment to yourself to follow it. A plan that you have the main hand in developing and that you can see yourself following is the best one to apply.

 

I seem to fail a lot at trying to be healthy again, O God. But you keep giving me more chances to try again. I am grateful for that. And it inspires me to try even more to travel in the best direction I can. Amen. 

 

 

February 5

 

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?

     Habakkuk 1:2a

 

It’s a basic need of every human being – to be heard, to have others listen to us and value who we are. We all want to know that we matter, that our feelings, thoughts, experiences, dreams and desires have significance. And especially when we are knocked down – in pain, sick, discouraged or feeling alone - we need to know that God, the author of life and healing, understands and is concerned about our distress. We need to know that God in divine mercy holds us closely and is taking care of us. It is devastating when we feel as if no one hears or no one cares. Sometimes it seems that is the case. Sometimes the silence of God is hard to take. But sometimes God seems silent because our human ears are not attuned to God’s profound and healing voice.

 

I too often decide what the answers should be, dear God, and then I close my ears to the better answers you provide. I need your help to hear you more clearly in every way. I pray to recognize your voice plainly and unmistakably. Amen.

 

 

February 6

 

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?

     Romans 8:24

 

It is hope that gives us promise and potential on the cancer journey. It is hope that gives us energy and encouragement. It is hope that gives us courage and commitment to create wellness in our lives. It is hope that saves us from despair and delivers us from giving up when disappointment overwhelms us. It is hope that reminds us that we have something to live for. It is hope that strengthens us to make the resolve to take control of our healing and health. It is hope that gives us life.

 

Hope is my lifeline, O God. Hope is what gives me power and determination. I know that you are the one who puts hope within me, the one who makes hope real. Amen.

 

 

February 7

 

Rise up, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God!

     Psalm 3:7a

 

Impatience. It continues to be a constant pressure in our lives. We demand answers. We cry for attention. We stipulate what God should and must do. Our human impatience can get us in trouble; it often does. But even in our impatient expectations God is already at work answering us and taking care of our needs. Thank God we don’t always get what we ask for. Thank God instead that we get what we need.

 

I do thank you God for saving me from myself. I know that I make demands on you. I know I’m disappointed sometimes that you don’t do exactly what I say. But in the end I am always grateful – eternally so – that you answer as you do. I’m far better for that. Amen.

 

February 8

 

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

     Romans 8:26

 

There are many times along the way when we cannot even begin to express the way we feel. There are fears too complex, worries too deep, thoughts too uncertain and requests too profound to know how to share. But we can rest in this – God already understands, God already knows what we need and God already is at work taking care to meet those needs. We don’t need to worry that we cannot express our thoughts and needs adequately enough. Because God has already discerned our unexpressed desires and is soothing them with compassion and love.

 

Not only can I not express my concerns sufficiently enough to you, O God, but I cannot even begin to express my gratitude deeply enough for your incredible understanding and care. Yet I know you can read the depths of my heart. Thank you. Amen.