Meeting at the crossroads

Much has transpired in the last month, many prayers were made by us and for us by others.

Early last Sunday morning I was at a loss what to do, I could feel inside my body that things were not going well. On January 1, I was forced to quit Chemotherapy treatments due to severe side effects. I had a 19 day break, longer than normal. On January 19, I started a new round of Chemo treatments that were to be easier on the body but still with some side effects, this round was to last 60 days no break. Twelve days into the treatments I again was forced to stop due to worse side effects than before. I truly believe it would have ended my life if I would have kept going. My heart raced, my blood pressure went through the roof and a host of side effects appeared, so I quit because I could not go on, I really felt that these treatments were tearing my body apart.

On this Sunday morning I asked God what he wanted me to do. Show me Lord the way and lead me. As I spent time with God in prayer and as I opened my Bible I read the story in John 21 where Jesus appeared to His disciples. As Jesus stood on the beach He called out to the disciples, "Children, do you have any fish?" No, they did not have any it says, they had fished all night and had not caught even one fish. So Jesus tells them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." "So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.

It is that very text that made a deep inpression on me and gave me much to think and pray about. It was faith that made the disciples cast the net on the right side; normally they would do that on the left. It was faith that made them try again; normally fishing was done at night, now it was day. Yet they had faith in what Jesus told them, they listened and saw immediate results. No waiting was required. That is how Gods amazing Grace can work if we believe what He tells us.

As I struggled with thoughts of continuing Chemo treatments or not, it was becoming more and more clear to me that God wanted me trust Him even more than I had before.

Today a close friend stopped by to share with me his devotion of this morning from Samuel 4 where the Israelites go to battle against the Philistines. The Israelites lose about 4000 men in this battle. They go home and question why God let the Philistines defeat them. The Israelites think they have the answer for this loss and make plans to have the Ark of the Covenant with them the next time they go to battle. According to plan they proceed into battle again, this time with the Ark, this time their loss is even greater and they are slaughtered and lose 30.000 soldiers and loose the Ark to their enemies. A loss beyond comprehension and they don’t understand why God did not help them. It took some 20 years before they realized that they did not trust God but served idols and the Ark instead of God. The next battle was won because they looked to God and trusted Him and there was peace for many years. Thanks for sharing Pete.

Henrietta shared with me today a text that had been much on her mind from Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Who can argue that beautiful promise? 1 John 5:4 it says in few words “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.

What I am trying to say with all these things is that I believe with all my heart that God is saying to me, trust me, let me hold your hand and have faith and peace in your heart. It is also becoming very obvious that Chemo treatments at this time are not the answer because I have had to quit early three times now and no positive results are accomplished lately.

With this I am going to make a big step of faith that I have never made before, and that is that I will quit my Chemo treatments for now or at least for a month and cast myself at the mercy of God. Henrietta and I have peace with it because we know that “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7)

I am only going to continue with a Homeopathic remedy and a product that is called DCA, something I have been doing on my own for about 1 month. DCA is product that does not make me sick. For those interested what DCA is, you can read more about it here.  I totally believe it was God’s intervention that made me come upon this product.

I read an interesting quote recently, “If God is your co-pilot, you better switch seats” It is so true, and we think too often that we have control of everything, while we don’t. If you want to hear a good sermon on anxiety free living and giving your life into Gods hands then I suggest you listen to this sermon from John MacArthur. I could not say it better.

Thank you all for your uplifting emails calls and visits. It is a blessing to know that I am not the only one bringing my needs to Christ.

 May God bless you richly.
John