God Provides

Next week I begin round two. Here are a few things that I learned from round one. As I approached treatment, I must admit that I had a little bit of fear. I had heard all the horror stories of people on chemo and radiation, and I wasn’t sure how I would be able to handle all of that. Finally, however, I was given a definition of fear that seems appropriate for this situation: fear is letting what hasn’t happened yet and what may never happen, govern how you live today. The first round wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t horrible either. The first round reminded me of how the Christian walk often looks. For the first two weeks, I take a pill every day and have injections two times a week. To help me through the first two weeks, I also take a lot of steroids. The steroids give me the extra strength that my body needs to process everything going on. I still take the pills every day in the third week, but no steroids and no injections. Without the help given by the steroids, my body reacts to the pills by giving me a full-body rash. Then comes the fourth week. In the fourth week, I have no treatments at all. I have a week to let my body rest, recover, and get ready for the next round. As Christians, we all face trials of many kinds. There are times when we face those trials, and we have help. Our help is not a steroid; it is more powerful than a steroid. Our help is The Spirit and the brothers and sisters. They walk with us, hold us up, encourage us, and, if needed, correct us. It gives us great encouragement to know we are not alone. Then there are the times when we seem to face some trials alone. We suffer, and we wish the trial would go away. We may even carry scars and wounds that nobody can see, but the test's duration is limited, and we have a time of rest when it has passed. God blesses us with a time of recovery and strengthening because the round is about to start. My encouragement to you today is – Do not give up. He knows your trial, He knows your name, and He cares for you. He will send help at just the right time, and He will hold you in the tough times. In Him J. Tom Washburn Fully Rely On God