– Terri Fornear
This is the 2nd in a series of excerpts from Terri Fornear’s new book, Abiding Through the Shadows, A Caretaker’s Struggle with God’s Goodness.
On the Costa Rica trip, Joe seemed tired and did not want to go on any excursions. This was odd. He loves nature and crocodiles and exotic jungle animals and he passed on them all. He did not even eat all of the great food. He kept feeling at a lump under his arm. He had a sonogram a week earlier and the tech had said the lump was lymph nodes and not a cyst, like his doctor had kept saying. When Joe called the doctor for the report, the receptionist told him the report confirmed it was just a cyst, and he could get it drained later. But it was still growing, and I think Joe was beginning to wonder if the tech was right.
We came home to a birthday cake and celebration my kids and sister had put together. It was a great trip, but there was a gnawing feeling entering in, “Lord, are you going to give us something hard to balance out this good time?” A couple weeks later, Joe took Amy, our 15-year-old daughter, to the doctor because she was sick. While he was there he wanted to ask the doctor about the lump under his arm, as it had grown still more. The doctor left the room and came back with the sonogram report from weeks before. He must have misplaced it because he had never contacted us. The doctors next words were, “Joe, you need to get a biopsy immediately; it looks like it is a problem in your lymph nodes.”
This was the beginning of not trusting doctors. We were going to have to be very aggressive about his health and figure out what to do ourselves, a duty for which I was not equipped, but I had no choice. I felt inadequate and alone. I was a little angry at God for letting this happen to Joe. How could God let the doctor and receptionist miss this? Time became more precious with each step we took.
Mind Renewal
Lie: Man’s mistakes have more power than God and prevent Him from working.
Truth: Romans 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him have been called according to his purpose.
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*Terri Fornear has published her caretaker side of the story of the Fornear cancer battle. Abiding Through the Shadows, A Caretaker’s Struggle with God’s Goodness, is not about her courage and strength, but rather how God met her at her weakest points. She pulls back the curtain to transparently reveal her false concepts of God, which created extra turbulence during that hard time. She shares how the Lord graciously and gently walked her through it all, setting her free from lies about Him.
If you are, or have been, a caretaker of a cancer patient or someone who is in crisis, we believe you will benefit from this book! Stronghold Ministry has joined with Terri and I to offer this book to you free. Simply reply to this email with your full name and address and we’ll send it to you. If you insist, you can make a donation to Stronghold Ministry here. Or you can purchase the book here.
We invite you to acquire this book and abide in our tremendously good God together with Terri.
