WHAT GOOD CAN COME FROM THIS?
My destination was just over an hour away and though I had prepared for months, my apprehension of the encounter was palpable. Desirous of arriving in the right mind frame, I sought for and found a gospel radio station and set down one of America’s many motorways to meet my friend. A kind hearted and compassionate doctor who I had known for over two decades, she had spent the greater part of her professional life fighting to reduce infant mortality and increase maternal survival rates. Selflessly giving of herself, she was striving to make a difference in the lives of others even when it meant her home suffered at times.
The news she had been diagnosed with Cancer came as a rude shock to me. It didn’t make sense and as I looked at her husband, sitting across from me, I was left wondering how he was able to function, for in his wife was the true description of a virtuous woman as listed in the book of Proverbs. So here I was, going to see a friend, undergoing chemotherapy and battling to beat a disease known to take the best of us. What comfort was I to bring and what words could I share that would not connote pity, would not carry fear, not be flippant and condescending? The miles passed quickly and as I drew up the driveway, I was no better prepared then as I was heading out.
The All knowing Creator, it is said, never permits us face anything we can’t bear. As we talked that day, I discovered I was in the presence of someone I hadn’t quite known existed before. It was like her whole life had been prepared for this eventuality and the news of her illness was the catalyst needed to bring out the deep store of courage to face what lay ahead. With eerie calmness, she related her ordeal and we delved into why it was her, of all her siblings, that was diagnosed with Cancer. The Almighty surely knows best for in this young lady now lay the hope of generations to come as waiting back home are millions of unsuspecting souls, who would have needlessly passed on simply because no one cared enough to educate them of early detection and treatment of cancerous cells. Is the news really a death sentence? May God grant us grace to fulfill destiny today.