Things I've Learned....(Part 5)

...Things I've Learned while Living with Cancer and in Recovery

Part 5: Temptation is as Strong now as it was Before!

I always thought that if a person was facing a major or catastrophic illness like Cancer, that making good spiritual choices would be easy. I suppose my perception was that the constant awareness of the disease would be the fence rails that would hold one on the straight and narrow. Well... not so.

I've been a person guilty of sin for my whole life -from unjustifiable sinful actions as an out of control adolescent, to poor choices I’ve made as an adult. I have hurt my wife, my family, and my God. Even in the last year I’ve made lots of mistakes, committed lots of sins, and I’ve not enjoyed a peaceful relationship with God. The fact that I was sick with cancer didn’t keep me from sin.

In short, what I’ve learned is this. I am just as tempted to sin now as I was before I got sick. Just because I had cancer this last year did not mean that I would make healthy spiritual choices. God wants to see me make good choices in my spiritual walk regardless of what condition my health is. And, God will help me (us) make those choices if we’ll just reach out to him for help.

Thanks for reading.

Grace & Peace,
Bob

Things I've Learned....(Part 4)

“THINGS I’VE LEARNED IN RECOVERY AND LIVING WITH CANCER”
Blog Post #4

4. Without FAITH, God’s GRACE means nothing.

I know that God’s grace is the spiritual transfusion that makes us whole, but for it to work at its maximum level, we have to believe in it! I have always had a hard time with my faith. I allow myself to fall into questioning and anger toward God. So, when there are issues that fully expose God’s wonderful Grace, I try to capitalize on it. This last year I have had many, many opportunities to allow my faith to capitalize on God’s Grace. For example, the chemotherapy that Dr. Keefer (“oncologist to the stars”) gives me has really worked well!!! The blood work where they track my T-Cell reading has dropped from the 1.6 to below the .06 that they can read. BUT, I have to share the most recent “GG” (God-Grace) I’ve had… Two weeks ago my doctor told me that he wanted me to have a PET scan, because he thinks I might be in remission from the cancer! I’ll tell you… it doesn’t get any better than that when we are talking about God’s Grace.

Again, as in every blog, thank you for reading. Thank you for caring. And thank you for praying for us.

Grace & Peace to you all…

Bob