Victory Over Cancer and Fear

As I thought about writing this book, I thought of all the people who have received a bad report at the doctor’s office and the fear that runs through them when they hear the words “you have cancer” or “you have a terminal illness.” The doctor goes on to tell them what kind of cancer or disease they have and the statistics about survival rates. He lays out the plan of attack to give the best chance possible for survival, and then they sit in stunned silence and utter shock.

Great majorities of us go through life from challenge to challenge and do our best to use our wisdom, life experiences, resources and friends to help us get through. But sometimes we find ourselves thrown into the middle of circumstances that are way over our heads. We can’t see around it, we can’t go through it or climb over it, and no matter how hard we try, we can’t make it go away.

Sometimes it takes a life threatening crisis, a bad doctor’s report or a great loss of some kind to let us see that we need help greater than ourselves to get through it.

This book is about a season of great challenges that I had to walk through brought on by breast cancer, and the healing process that taught me how to live life fearless and victorious!

Sample:

Survive and Thrive

“For out of Zion will go the survivors! They shall take root downward and bear fruit upward. The ZEAL of the Lord shall perform it.”

(Isaiah 37:31-32)

Cancer survivors are known as survivors of a mighty battle. Survivors against death and destruction; what could have happened did not happen. But I became acutely aware of a mindset among cancer patients as I went through the cancer healing process and even years afterward.

I had been speaking God’s Word and promises over my life daily and I saw myself as healed. But when I met people who heard about me going through cancer, especially other cancer patients, they would inevitably ask me questions like “How long have you been a survivor?” and my answer was always “I’m not counting, I am healed.”

After this happened a number of times, I began to realize that a large number of people who have gone through cancer and live to tell about it seem to gauge their lives around how long they have been a survivor.

There is nothing wrong with this in that it reminds them to live each day fully; it reminds them that they survived a huge whirlwind storm that many people do not. But once we get to the place of surviving the storm of cancer, I believe God has more for us. In the Scripture at the beginning of this chapter, God speaks of survivors and how He sees them. It is a picture of taking root and bearing fruit; a picture of a THRIVING! As I pondered this, I believe God said in my spirit, “You will not just survive, but now you will THRIVE.”

It is true, we must survive all the hardship of cancer before we can thrive; but I also believe we must get past the mindset of just being survivors. When people ask me how long I have been a survivor, now I answer “I do not just survive, I thrive! Cancer is in my rear view mirror and I am healed!” A survivor mentality keeps focusing our lives around the cancer season. It keeps us in a “cancer aware” mentality rather than a “completely healed” mentality. When the doctor says “Congratulations, you have now been cancer free for five years” or seven years that is something to celebrate. But we must move on from an attitude of just surviving and into an attitude of how to start thriving. Speaking words of life and God’s promises in Scripture is a great part of transitioning to thriving mode and maintaining that new position.