cancer and belief?

[june 7th]

Originally Posted by blue62

My daughter had 3.4 stage Hodgkins disease when she was 17 and a senior in high school..I had dropped out of the church we attended due to problems not appropriate to this thread.(except that h was not in the home)...I remained a believer, but, well lets just say a lukewarm believer..I was struggling to help raise two grands and give their mom a home..Money was very scarce..I had no friends and was too proud to let my own family (who lived in another state) know my circumstance..That was when I really discovered that if I prayed sincerely and hard enough for God to hear and help that he would..He never sent me a check for groceries, or gas to travel the 300 mile round trip twice a week for my daughters chemo and other treatments.. He placed certain people in my life who would pay a visit to the house and leave a twenty in a place where I was sure to find it, or slipped it in my purse or beneath my daughters pillow at the hospital..I spent lots of nights sitting in a hard chair in waiting rooms when she was in the ICU, many times I didn't have money for a cup of coffee, but many times a stranger would bring an extra cup and hand it to me..There are many other instances of kindness of strangers, but the main point is that I grew very close to God at that time and could feel his presence and peace no matter how bad things were..I learned that the spirit had never left and was stirring in me for years, but I was ignoring it, I was aware of it, but did not nourish it with faith and prayer until I had no one else..God/Creator Jesus and the Holy Spirit are in my life daily and I acknowledge them many times during the day..In rl I am pretty silent with words about my belief.. I guard my relationship with God from those who would say I am not a "real christian" because I don't believe what they do but I hope it shows them that I am in my actions and deeds..Coos, yes, I found the true power of faith through caNCER..

Wow.

Now this is one beautiful post.

[june 7th]

Coosjoaquin, I genuinelly hope your mother experiences a true recovery!

As for cancer, faith, etc., June can only say this:

I somehow can't help but feel that depending on the event and the individual, significant life traumas can cause us to go in either direction. I have heard of believers who in experiencing a tremendous loss reaffirmed their belief, while for some, the opposite was true. The same goes for the atheist: In the midst of an overwhelming trauma or loss, they seek out and find the presence of God.

There is this one individual who became extremely depressed in the aftermath of her husband's death. She had apparently prayed and prayed and prayed for God to intervene and not let her dear husband die. --But he did. What came to pass was the fact that her depression was not just an emotional or psychological state of affairs. Rather, for her, it was a spiritual one. She was angry at God, and felt that her prayers had not been acknowledged and answered. Her depression was more rooted in more of an existential, spiritual angst, and her sense of betrayal and anger by God was absolutely real.

It was only in coming to terms with her own faith, her acceptance of how God had worked in her life that she truly addressed the source of her depression. It wasn't a matter of needing "analysis," it wasn't a matter of needing medications, but rather, it truly came down to her overcoming a crisis of faith. --But when she did, she was able to go on, accepting both the loss of her husband and her renewed faith in God.

And that is part of the reason why June acknowledges that yes, there does exist a spiritual aspect to human beings...

Cancer, loss, death, and significant traumas all have the capacity to challenge who we are and what we really believe about about ourselves and our existence. I think it's very individual; personal.

There is no right or wrong. It is in our capacity to endure, resolve, and accept our life situations that speaks the loudest to the spirit which all of us seem to possess, regardless of what one calls it.

--So long as we can eventually find peace in ourselves, with ourselves, and acknowledge that.

I believe it's called "hope."

Take gentle care.