I remember asking Lori after I preached the opening message on Job, “I wonder who is going to have one of those storms crash into their lives like ‘lightening out of a clear blue sky’?” Little did we know it would be our own family, specifically our daughter Claire. (Claire is the one who painted the Genesis panels in the stairway at our Sprecher Road Campus.)
Two weeks ago, Claire underwent surgery to remove a large tumor. Then came the blow that the tumor was malignant. The statistics say 90% of Phyllodes tumors are benign! Last week, we braced ourselves for the results of a scan that would show if the cancer had spread. We were ecstatic when the result showed no other cancer, but at the end of the day, Claire’s life and our lives have a new reality. Claire is fighting a very rare and aggressive type of breast cancer. The reality of cancer must not ultimately define things. As my friend Chris prayed, “God is bigger than cancer.”
Lori and I are so thankful for your prayers. We have been riding them as we have been tossed about in this storm. They have been a part of God’s gracious provision for Claire and us. Claire would attest that your prayers are making a real difference in this chaotic season of her life.
Yesterday at the church we attended out of town, the pastor read from Romans 5 which says this about suffering:
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that
suffering
produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
(Rom 5:3-5 NIV)
Claire’s calm courage is one sign of her perseverance that is shaping her character and producing hope. That hope is rooted in our good and loving God. That hope is contagious. It moves from suffering hearts to the hearts of others.
May Christ’s Spirit in us fill us with the reminder of God’s great love, and with that, real hope for whatever we are going through.
