It is amazing how ones life can change in a heart beat or in this case a cough…
My brother had just retired and was on his way to his ‘Most Excellent Adventure’, a trip across the United States. He and his wife and their 2 dachshunds were off in their RV when at their first stop he coughed…up blood. The Most Excellent adventure came to an immediate halt. A trip to an emergency room verified a mass in this lung and prompted an immediate return home.
Diagnosis is small cell carcinoma in one lung. When he called me with that news I was stunned. I had just spent time with him the weekend before and he appeared so normal and healthy. After getting off the phone I just sobbed. Once I wiped the tears I knew I needed to be strong for him and asked God what that would look like now that my life path includes my brother’s illness. I rise early in the morning and during my quiet time with the Lord I ask him for a word for my brother which He faithfully provides. I then text this to my brother and his response to me is that what I sent is exactly what he needed that day. The faithfulness of God always amazes me. I am in awe.
Last night my brother called me. He is on a chemotherapy schedule with radiation starting soon. For now he is feeling well and was walking his dogs yesterday morning when the thought came to him that this cancer could kill him But then his next thought was that God had him in His hand which flooded him with peace. When he returned home he saw the text I had sent. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) He has a new mission field now in the cancer center where God can use his faith to encourage and minister to patients that have lost hope or even to overwhelmed staff. His oncologist told him that it is very rare for this type of cancer to be caught early before it spreads. My brother knows now that he has been given a gift. He and his wife have been planning their Most Excellent Adventure for a couple of years. Their focus was on retiring and on what they wanted to do. God got their attention as they began this trip saying He has business with him first before the trip. An apparently random cough with blood that could have been ignored but he heeded the Uturn sign that God sent him. God spoke and my brother is learning to totally let go and let God lead his life. So his words, “Whatever the outcome…God is in control”.
To be continued…
newmerciesforme 