We Hope On

Tonight I had the privilege of sharing a meal with a Sister in Christ who is suffering from Leukemia. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing a bit of her story, because the four of us, at dinner, had a conversation that was very encouraging to me, personally.

This woman is a junior or senior in University, I don't know which. She was diagnosed in mid-April with Leukemia...less than four months ago. In addition, she was told this week that she was not responding to chemotherapy. She has a choice to make, in a week and a half, whether or not to begin undergoing intensive treatment for her condition or to do nothing. This seems like a no-brainer, right? However, she has some of the best doctors in the world telling her that there is a 95% chance that even if she goes through with the intensive treatment, the cancer will not respond. Chemotherapy is horrible to go through. I can't even imagine the torture it must be, in hope of a cure. So, her choice is not just one of treatment, it is one of quality of life. Should she go through the tortuous chemo, only to find that it did nothing to stop the cancer from taking over her body? Or should she choose not to endure the chemo, and live a fairly normal life for who-knows-how-long, until such a seemingly inevitable day that she does succumb to the disease?

Some may answer a whole-hearted YES! If there is a 95% chance she won't respond, then there is a 5% chance she will! 5% is more than zero! Fight while there is still a chance to fight for! As long as there is a chance then there is hope! I understand this perspective. As long as there is a chance there is still hope. However, it is not actually her choice that I want to focus on here.

During our conversations over sushi, I asked her some very pointed questions about her condition. I know that if I were in her place, I would want people to talk to me straight, not attempt to dance around the subject, ignore the elephant in the room.

(I have had two good friends battle cancer, in the last few years. One died twice and lived to tell about it. He is baffling doctors today with his recovery, and baffling everyone else with his unshaking faith in The Lord. The other only died once, and when she did it was for good. She went to be with the Lord. After much doubt and questioning, she died in peace, in faith, in Christ.)

I asked her how all of these things were affecting her spiritually. She looked at the others at the table, shook her head, and said he's good. He's really very good. I really didn't know if this would strike a chord. After all, this was only the second time I'd ever spoken to this girl. But apparently it did.

She went on to tell me that there are good days and bad. Some days it is easy to trust The Lord with all of this...some days it is difficult to believe in His goodness, and feel His presence.

Hope. Hope.

Hebrews 11 says that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." I went on to encourage my friends that this hope is just as real for us today, as it was when we first came to faith. Our hope is in a Jesus that we cannot see, that we could never see. Our hope is in a Heaven that we cannot see, that we could never see. Our hope is in an afterlife we cannot see, that we could never see. We couldn't see God the day we first came to hope in Him. Why would that change, just because we've been in the faith for a few years? Are we surprised now that we do not see Him? No! We couldn't see Him to begin with! That is why it is faith! It doesn't matter if you're 15 or 55; whether you're suffering from Leukemia or in the peak of health. Our hope does not fail us. This hope is the same today as it always was. We didn't come to faith so that we could see miracles today. It wasn't so that we could have hope of an easy life here and now...it was so that we could have a hope for the future! A hope in an afterlife! A hope of Heaven!

I think I worded it better tonight, in the moment, led by the Spirit of God, but I hope my thoughts encourage you tonight, even poorly worded.