God has chosen to display his faithfulness in the form of cancer in the life of my wife, Ruth. In God’s gracious plan for Ruth, three years ago he brought the most lethal type of brain cancer Into her life – Glioblastoma Multiforme. The Lord has chosen to, at least temporarily, remove her ability to write and edit. Her short-term memory has been impacted. This is striking because she is among the most literate and articulate of biblical thinkers. Her passion remains to bring the power of God’s word to children and youth in a way that challenges them to love God and live for him. She is currently undergoing a period of occupational and physical therapy. When the occupational therapist asked Ruth what her goal was for the therapy, she immediately said, “I want to write.”
Ruth has fully grasped that the skills that she most values have been removed from her, at least for the moment, by the God that she loves. When she is troubled, she is comforted by knowing that God is actively, faithfully caring for her. Her faith has never wavered. At this point there is no cancer present. However, as you would expect, her body is weak from the treatments and related medications to attack the cancer. And there is no medical guarantee that the cancer will not return.
I share this with you because Ruth is an example of what it means to be “all in” for God. The cancer is not the reason for her attitude of faith and courage. The cancer has only demonstrated what was the condition of her heart. She has said many times that God’s people are held back for loving him because they love too many things that don’t matter.
Ruth’s life is in God’s hands. We can all clearly see that. The great truth is that all of our lives are equally in God’s hands. Ruth embraces this good and hard reality. I pray that I would also have the courage to embrace this truth for my life. And I pray that each of you would come to see that this is reality for your life as well. May all of us take hold of the life that is truly life.
I am grateful for Ruth and to God beyond measure.
We all live, move, and breath at God’s pleasure.
Ruth has drawn deep comfort from this precious thought of God:
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.