Days of darkness still come o’er me; -
Sorrow’s paths I often tread;
But the Savior still is with me,
By His hand I’m safely led.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Remember, my friends. Saludos, it's better to look good than to feel good." (Fernando's Hideaway...Billy Crystal)

As a cancer patient, I am quite certain that I could talk to many to feel sorry for me. However, I will not, nor am I able to. I am driven to a natural propensity to walk in a way that pleases Him, while hopefully influencing others to better their lives. And with His grace and strength, He is allowing me to exercise the gift that He bestowed upon me (1Timothy 4:13-16).

Allow me to share the following story:

“It was indeed a bewildering case. After a lifetime of holy and devoted service for God and the people, to be cut down by cancer! And the hearts of many were filled with strange questionings. But not so the sufferer – she was calm and quiet in soul and buoyant in spirit…and to visit her was a real means of grace. Someone had set her a leaflet, and she handed it to me, assuring me it was indeed her own experience. It was called “Pillows of Comfort,” and was as follows:

“An aged sufferer dying from cancer, had been made more comfortable by three pillows being placed under his head. A friend, calling and inquiring, ‘How are you to-day?’ he replied, ‘Very comfortable indeed. See! I lie on three pillows. They remind me of three pillows on which my soul is resting.’ Putting his hand on the undermost one, he said, ‘This is the pillow of God’s Infinite Wisdom; the second is the pillow of God’s Infinite Power; and the third and top one is the pillow of God’s Infinite Love.”

One of my favorite heroes in life is the late Dr. Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist who was imprisoned in a concentration came during WWII. From his experiences he wrote:

“…I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, though these things which cannot inspire envy.”

Likewise, St. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians praised his God by writing...

“…who encourages us in all our trials, so that we can encourage others in whatever trials they may be undergoing with the encouragement we ourselves have received from God. For just as the Messiah’s sufferings overflow into us, so through the Messiah our encouragement also overflows (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

And “Rejoice I this”, Peter wrote...

“"though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:6-7).

With warmest regards and love,

ajh