Hello My Chickadees,
What do you do when life hurts; when it seems like before you can get through one thing, there’s something else just as bad if not worse than what you’re currently dealing with? Life is unpredictable and one of the things Jesus warned us about is that in this life we will have trouble and tribulation; but He didn’t put a period at the end of that sentence. He went on to say, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
What allows us to hold on when the storms are raging in our lives? The answer is Faith. Faith allows us to put one foot in front of the other when we can’t see what the end is going to be. I have often commented to people while going through my own personal storms, that I don’t know how people who don’t believe in God make it. If I only judged by what I saw, or how I felt, I would probably have thrown up my hands and given up a long time ago. Faith allows us to believe and proclaim what we don’t see until it becomes visible and tangible. The ancestors would say, ’We are standing on the promises of God our Savior.’
Our family was recently hit with another blow regarding my grandniece Talia, who was attacked with stage IV renal cancer when she was 14 years old. Getting the news about this bright, bubbly, bouncing, beautiful girl, who was blindsided by the news of this monster that formed a 5-pound tumor on one of her kidneys, was more than we could wrap our minds around in the moment. I hit my knees to call upon God before calling everyone I knew to pray, as the doctors gave us little hope about her survival. We were told that the tumor was so large that it was touching her aorta. As we all prayed, we witnessed the miracle working power of God carry her through a 6 ½ hour surgery which left her with only one kidney. Her road to recovery was not an easy journey for her and her parents, but through it all Talia remained positive as the rest of us prayed. At 14, her life drastically changed from being a carefree, popular honor student who was looking forward to her high school prom, graduation, and college; to having to look forward to and celebrate medical milestones and news that the cancer was arrested. I watched her fight the good fight with a smile on her face, as she was deprived of most things teens her age take for granted; and I admired her strength and courage as I marveled over God’s miracle in our midst.
I would like to say that surviving the surgery was the end of her journey and fight for her life, but it was not. With a humble attitude and a grateful spirit, she endured four months of chemotherapy, a month of daily radiation, and had to forgo in-school learning with her peers, to homeschool with a teacher assigned to her by the school system. Through all of these losses, the belief that God could heal her and restore her anchored her, and allowed her to still have joy while her parents, family, and friends offered words of reassurance that she would get through this and be ‘all right’. I watched her cling to those words, rooted in the belief that the God that snatched her from the mouth of death, would heal her and turn this around for her good and His glory.
Talia desperately wanted to return to her life before cancer and we all continued to keep a watchful eye on her as she returned to school, graduated high school with honors during a pandemic - which robbed her of the experience and memory of a prom and a graduation with all the bells and whistles, as well as the luster of college life on campus - but still she rose. Not wanting to allow cancer to rob her of her goal of becoming a teacher, she decided to attend a local college while working as a receptionist in a dentist’s office while she underwent dialysis three days a week, five hours a day.
There were times in which she wanted to ask, and did ask, “Why me? Why is this happening to me” as tears flooded her eyes, but she was able to release her confusion, grief, and sometimes anger, as she grappled with what only God knows: WHY?
Why becomes a neon stop sign that prevents us from moving forward. If we stay there too long, it leaves us resentful and bitter. Why prevents us from seeing the situation with a spiritual eye, and seeks answers which wouldn’t change the situation even if we knew the why. Why allows the enemy to get a foothold in our minds and sows seeds of doubt, which when they have taken root, can even cause us to doubt whether God hears us, or worse yet, loves us. Why is one of those stumbling blocks that delays us in our journey to the other side of the storm. Often when we don’t know the why it’s easy to become angry with God and say, ‘God is not fair.’ You’re right. Thank God He’s not fair since none of us are perfect, but He is just. He promised that whatever the enemy hurls our way, not only will He turn it around for our good and His glory, but the enemy has to pay back seven times what he stole from us (Romans 8:28 and Proverbs 6:31); but it requires faith to hold on one, and a belief in the fact that God’s word will not return void. It must accomplish what God said and sent it to do (Isaiah 55:11).
We all encounter our wilderness experiences in which we find ourselves walking as we put one foot in front of the other to make it through another day. During those wilderness experiences, we must REMEMBER what God has brought us through in the past. He is “the same yesterday, today and forever,” (Hebrews 13:8); and if He brought you through your last trial by fire, He is well able to bring you through this present darkness. Not only is He able, He’s willing, and He promised not to leave you or forsake you while He is in the process of delivering you through.
What do you do when you’re walking while blind? You do what Talia does. You hold on and trust that, “In due season we shall reap a harvest if we don’t give up” (Galatians 6:9).
Talia’s journey has been one of peaks and valleys. As a result of all the chemo and radiation, the good remaining kidney was damaged, which made it necessary for her to incorporate a dialysis regiment of three days a week, five hours a day into her schedule. In 2019 we were elated to learn that her aunt Janee was a perfect donor match and in September 2019, with tears of joy this time, Talia was blessed with her aunt’s kidney. Leaving her dialysis chair for a seat in a classroom, we all assumed the nightmare was over. Although she continued to be monitored closely by her doctors, her daily regimen of anti-rejection medications enabled her to have the freedom of living life free of tubes and interruptions created by dialysis that hampered her from the carefree, spontaneous life most of her peers enjoyed. Grateful as we were and are for the blessing of a perfect match and the respite it gave her, heart wrenchingly I must convey that her body rejected the kidney, and Talia was recently hit with the devastating news that she would again have to make dialysis a part of her routine. Angry, disappointed, frustrated, and consumed with sorrow, her mother consoled her while struggling to understand and accept what was out of her control. God did not tell us that living this life would be easy, but if we put our trust in Him, and hang on for the ride; it will be worth it. We will have the victory.
I don’t know what God has in store for Talia. She desires to be a teacher, but I am certain that whatever God has laid up for her will be something greater than we can imagine; and will touch and transform more lives than our finite vision enables us to see today. Perhaps one day she will be the Secretary of Education, having fought the good fight and holding fast to her faith, her tests become a testimony for the world to see how God delivered her just like he delivered Daniel.
Life is unpredictable, but God remains the same. He is our light in the midst of those dark times; and when we can’t see our way, He reminds us that He is the way. Anchor in! Hold on! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and you will make it through the storm if you faint not.
In closing my message, I leave you with a poem by Johnny Ray Ryder, Jr. entitled: ”The Oak Tree”
“A mighty wind blew night and day.
It stole the oak tree’s leaves away.
Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark
until the oak was tired and stark.
But still the oak tree held its ground
while other trees fell all around.
The weary wind gave up and spoke,
“How can you still be standing, Oak?’
The oak tree said, “I know that you
can break each branch of mine in two,
Carry every leaf away,
shake my limbs and make me sway.
But I have roots stretched in the earth,
growing stronger since my birth.
You never touched them, for you see,
they are the deepest part of me.
Until today, I wasn’t sure
of just how much I could endure.
But now I’ve found, with thanks to you,
I’m stronger than I ever knew.”
Peace and Blessings My Chickadees,
Gail
Hold on My Chickadees. It’s at the publishers.
