Update: December 12

White as Snow

Today has been a good day and a day to praise the Lord and bless his holy name.   I went to my oncologist today and received my report from my recent x-ray and PET Scan.  Both test showed no sign of cancer and at this time I am cancer free! That was sweet music to our ears today and we are trusting God for a continued healing and I am looking forward to what is next for us.

I still have a few minor issues to work through.  I have had a few sores in my mouth and one of them did not heal and a small area of bone is exposed on my lower jawbone.   I am seeing a dentist, an oral surgeon and my ENT doctor to see what can be done.

Also, for some reason I have low iron and we are not sure what is causing that, however I did have a horrendous bloody nose last month that would not stop and it required a trip to the ER and they packed my nose to stopped the bleeding. I will be doing a few tests to eliminate the possibility that I might be losing blood somewhere else. I was hoping to eliminate the feeding tube, but since I can’t swallow huge pills I will be putting some iron medicine down my tube the next month.

I believe God has healed me and that he has removed the cancer. The word that continues to pop up in the reports is “resolved”.  In other words what was once there has been resolved and is no longer present.

I started thinking about God’s redemptive plan and how He has also removed our sin through His Son Jesus Christ.

I don’t believe that a specific sin caused my cancer. We live in a fallen and broken world.  Bad things happen to our bodies sometimes and has nothing to do with our spiritual status.  But,  everyone in this world has a sin problem that needs to be addressed. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior our sin problem has been resolved.

That is what God does with our sin when Jesus comes into our lives. Please read the following scripture:

Isaiah 1:18

¹⁸    “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:

       though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow; ^[1]

Isaiah 53:6-8

⁶  All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

       and the Lordhas laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

⁷    He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

       like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.^[2]

The prophet Isaiah is clearly talking about the promised Messiah who would come on purpose to this world to be a living sacrifice so that our sin problem can become “white as snow”.

Jesus took our sins and laid him upon himself on the cross.  I do not fully understand God’s plan.  I trust and place my faith in God’s plan. When I look at how ugly my sin is, I wonder why God would love me so much to give his only Son to make me white as snow.

We all are sinners and the only way for us to become righteous is through his grace….a gift of eternal life.

Romans 3:23-24

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,^[3]

Redemption is in Christ Jesus and only in Christ Jesus; only He can make us white as snow.  Only he can remove our sin and make us just and holy. We will never be able to accomplish holiness on our own merit.  We are not free to continue in  sin once we come to Christ.  We become free from sin because of Christ.  We continue to live for His glory, not ours. We are to pursue holiness.  Once we come to Christ, we are sealed by his precious Holy Spirit and he lives in us.  The Holy Spirit is unable to sin.  He is God.  So we spend the rest of our earthly lives with this spiritual tension and battle with fleshly sin versus our holy pursuit.  Praise God, the victory has been won through Jesus Christ and our faith in Him.

So today I can celebrate life in two ways.  One, a deadly cancer has been removed from my body and I still have time to continue to honor and glorify God with my life.  And second, I can celebrate because Jesus has removed my ugly sin and God sees my life through the lens of Jesus.  I have been given a gift of eternal life through the grace of Jesus.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and for the many notes of encouragement I have received through my blog, through social media and mail.  I love each and every one of you and if I can stand in the gap and be a prayer warrior for you please let me know.

I will continue my blog as I still continue this journey with my oncologist and other doctors. However in the days ahead I may go to another format and do a blog on a regular basis based on my daily Bible readings.

^[1]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Is 1:18). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

^[2]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Is 53:6–7). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

^[3]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ro 3:23–24). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.