Valley Of Weeping

Valley Of Weeping

When I was taking chemo and attending the local hospital’s cancer support group, a woman there shared that her church was praying for her and she hadn’t been sick at all during her treatment.

Everyone in the group smiled and seemed to really appreciate her story, but it ticked me off!

Why? Because my church and lots of churches were praying for me, and I was sick all the time!

So I’m the last person who’s going to promise you that if you just pray, your or your loved one’s treatment will be a piece of cake. However, I do know plenty of people who have basically waltzed through treatments without any serious side effects. My friend Blaine had chemo and radiation for esophageal cancer and did so well he was even able to eat spicy chili with no problem. My friend Anne, an RN, never missed a day of work during the time she was bombarded with three chemos and a month of radiation for small-cell lung cancer back in 1994.

I hope and pray that your or your loved one’s treatments go exceedingly well. The vast improvements in anti-nausea medicine since I was treated in 1990 are wonderful, and I can honestly say that the vast majority of patients in our office never get sick from chemo.

But just in case you or your loved one has a difficult time during treatment, I thought I should share about a friend for whom things didn’t go so well. Before you stop reading, remember that it’s a story of hope and it has a very happy ending!

Terry, a successful businessman, was diagnosed with tonsil cancer at the age of fifty-four. The diagnosis was a shock, and Terry admits to being filled with fear, especially of dying. He had his tonsils removed and then started thirty-five radiation treatments with some chemo added in.

“Gradually the eating just got worse and worse,” Terry recalls. “At first I could eat chicken noodle soup, but then I had to switch to chicken and stars because the stars were smaller, and then I couldn’t even eat anything but the broth.”

The pounds kept falling off, and a feeding tube was inserted into his stomach so Terry could get the nutrition he so desperately needed. He was unable to work, and not surprisingly, depression set in.

Meanwhile, his wife, Pam, found her way to my cancer support group.

“Terry was too depressed to come with me, so I decided I would go by myself because I needed some support,” Pam recalls.

Our group began praying for Terry to feel God’s love for him and to reach out for His touch. It wasn’t long before that prayer was answered.

“I remember I was really upset and wailing,” Terry recalls. “I was so upset that Pam even called [my sister] Jackie and she called you. But then you called me and prayed for me on the phone. That really helped me.”

Soon afterward Jackie shared the gospel with her brother, explaining how he could have his sins forgiven and be transformed by the power of God. Terry prayed with Jackie for that salvation, and my husband baptized him a few weeks later.

“I didn’t have God in my life before,” Terry says. “But after that, things changed. I started to attend church and put my whole situation in the Lord’s hands.”

As he prepares to celebrate his five-year cancer-free anniversary, Terry says he sees many blessings that have come from his difficult cancer journey.

“The biggest thing is being saved and turning to Christ,” he explains. “And now being able to pray for people with cancer is really rewarding. It feels really good to encourage others and help them through their tough times.”

There’s a wonderful verse in the Bible that I think perfectly describes Terry and Pam’s journey with cancer:

When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,

it will become a place of refreshing springs.

The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.

Psalm 84:6

Are you in the Valley of Weeping today? Will you dare to believe that God can make it become a place of refreshing springs? That He can clothe you with blessings in spite of the trial you face today? Read His promise in Isaiah 43:2 from The Message:

When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.

When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.

When you’re between a rock and a hard place,

it won’t be a dead end.

God can make a way for you. Please let me pray for you as I did for Terry many years ago:

Dear Lord, it’s so hard to walk through the valley and not see any way out. Please give my friend hope today that nothing is too difficult for You and that You can bring refreshing springs and even blessings from this trial. Give my friend the perseverance to hold on while waiting for that answer to prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.