#26 How To Successfully Travel The Trial Road Of The Unknown

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First I want you to think about a time in your life when you went through a difficult trial.  One where you had no clue how you would get through tomorrow let alone know what the outcome would be.  How did you react?  Were you full of fear or doubt or just want to run away and hide?  Did you have peace trusting God to help you through it? Did you really try hard to trust God, but fear kept creeping in?

The fact is we all go through trials in our life.  Being a Christian doesn’t exempt us from that.  However, being a Christian allows us to rely on the Lord to help us successfully go through trials.

I believe God allows us to go through trials for many reasons.  One of the reasons is so that we can minister to others and comfort them because of what we have been through.

2 Corinthians 1:4 (NLT) “he comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.  When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”

That why I’m sharing.  I have gone through several very trying circumstances in my life.  The last was a major cancer journey.  I believe God has shown me some things that I have learned, and he wants me to share them with you.

The journey we travel when we go through these difficult trials…. where we have no idea how we can face tomorrow or know how they will turn out, God has given me a specific name for them.  I call this journey “The Trial Road Of The Unknown.”

So the title of this message is “How to Successfully Travel the Trial Road of The unknown”.

My Story began like any other day except I went for my annual mammogram.  I sat there waiting like any other woman who had just had the procedure done.  I waited for the nurse to say everything was OK and I could go about my day.  Finally the nurse came and motioned for me to follow her.  She said they found something suspicious.  She said they needed to do an ultrasound to make sure what it was.  So she ushered me to another room where I had to have an ultrasound.  I was then told that the ultrasound confirmed that something was there. 

Then I was escorted to the nurse navigator who began to inform me that she was scheduling me to see a surgeon the next day.  I could not believe what I was hearing.  I had no symptoms or warning that anything was wrong.  I was in SHOCK!  I could not believe this was happening to me.

My husband went with me to the appointment with the surgeon.  The surgeon said I had to have a biopsy in order for them to know for sure what it was.  I was scheduled for a biopsy the following Monday. 

In the meantime, I prayed and prayed and prayed asked God to have the results come back negative.   When I received the biopsy results, I was told I had breast cancer.  I emotionally was in disbelief.  I was scared and did not know how I was going to handle this situation except but to rely on the Lord.  I had no other hope.

#1 How To Successfully Travel The Trial Road Of The Unknown- JESUS MUST BE MY ROCK!

I believe it’s essential to have Jesus as my rock meaning he is my savior, my friend who will be by my side to guide me through life.

Psalms 18:2 (NLT) “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock in whom I find protection.  He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.

If God is my rock, then I can have the confidence that he will guide/protect and give me safety to go through trials.  If you don’t have Jesus as your rock, you can do that right now.  All you have to do is acknowledge that you aren’t living God’s way.  Repent and ask Jesus to come into your life as your savior and friend.  It’s that easy.

#2 How To Successfully Travel The Trial Road Of The Unknown- HAVE TO HAVE FAITH!

Faith is believing for what you don’t see yet but hoping that it will happen.

Romans 10:17 (NLT) “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the good news about Christ.”

We have to know the word of God in order to build our faith.  I read as many healing scriptures as I could.  Then I listened to healing testimonies on YouTube.  Testimonies are so important.  When we hear how God has worked in someone else’s life, it helps to grow our faith to believe he could do the same for us.  I especially listened to Smith-Wigglesworth.  It’s amazing to hear about the faith he had and the miracles he experienced.  As I did this, my faith grew extremely strong to the point that I thought I literally could move mountains. 

I prayed really believing that God was going to miraculously heal me, so I didn’t have to have a lumpectomy.  God did not give me my miracle.  I was devastated.  My faith was squashed.  I felt hopeless.

After multiple tests, I finally faced reality that I had no choice but to go through with the lumpectomy surgery.  I thank the Lord surgery went very well. They got all the margins.  After it healed, even a doctor could not tell where the incision was.  They also removed lymph nodes under my arm and the results came back that two of them had cancer.  I could not believe more bad news!  As a result of that, I was told I would have to have a more intense treatment plan.

Next, they had me have a PET Scan to make sure the cancer had not traveled anywhere else.  The results showed something in the middle of my chest area.  They had no idea what it was.  Therefore, I was told I would have to have another biopsy.  This time I was told they would insert a long needle through my lung to get to the tissue.  I freaked out.  I didn’t want another biopsy, let alone a long needle through my lung with a 50% chance of my lung collapsing.  I will never forget the phone call from the oncologist telling me the biopsy discovered I had an additional rare cancer completely separate form the breast cancer called Thymoma Cancer.  I had to figure out how to endure when God did not answer my prayer my way and the circumstances continued to get worse. 

About this time, God used the following verse to bring me new revelation that helped me whenever fear tried to overtake me.

 Romans 8:28 (NLT) “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

This verse showed me that if God is my rock then I can have the confidence that whatever I go through I can know God has allowed it.  Because God has allowed it, then I know he has His purpose for it.  Because of that I can have the confidence He will help me through it and all will work out for my good in the end.

#3 How To Successfully Travel The Trial Road Of The Unknown- NEED TO RECOGNIZE WHAT IS “TRUTH”

I learned we need to be careful not to give the devil credit for causing every circumstance we go through.  Not everything is Satan’s fault.  We live in a fallen world which causes hurricanes, disasters, sickness etc.  Other times we go through what we do because we have just messed up and made a mistake.

The key to remember is that Satan has a plan to come into our circumstances and turn them into a battle between him and God for our heart and mind.

 John 10:10 (NLT) “The thief’s purpose (Satan’s purpose) is to steal and kill and destroy.  My purpose (God’s purpose) is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” 

Satan makes our mind think things that are not necessarily true which causes our emotions to get out of whack.  We need to not allow our thought and emotions to get sucked into believing Satan’s lies.  He uses many defective tools such as fear, unforgiveness, despair, bitterness, shame, guilt etc.  We need to recognize that he will do whatever he can to throw our thoughts off track to defeat us.  We need to control our mind and how we think which affects our emotions.  In other words, we need to ask ourselves if something is really truth or is Satan trying to deceive us into believing a lie. 

For example, I was to share this message at a church.  That morning I woke up full of nerves and fearful people would not like it and that I was going to make a fool of myself.  I recognized Satan put those thoughts in my mind.  I spoke out I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST THAT GIVES ME STRENTH.  I also reminded myself that God called me to share this message and all that matters is that I am obedient to what God called me to do.  It does not matter what people think of me.

#4 How To Successfully Travel The Trial Road Of The Unknown- RESPOND LIKE JESUS DID!

When Jesus was tempted from Satan he did not engage in conversation.  He just answered back it is written and then quoted God’s Word.  There is power and authority in the Word.

Hebrews 4:12 (NLT) “For the Word of God is alive and powerful.  It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.  It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” 

We must know the Word, speak it out because there is authority in it.  Something else I have found to really help when fear tries to overtake me is to just speak Jesus, Jesus, Jesus….  When I do this peace begins to follow over me.

#5 How To Successfully Travel The Trial Road Of The Unknown- TRUST GOD

Once I recognize the truth of my situation and don’t let Satan’s lies influence my thinking or emotions, I just need to trust God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

Sometimes we don’t know what is really best for us.  Therefore, our prayers aren’t answered the way we want them to be.  This can be difficult to trust wen we don’t understand why we are going through what we do.

That why we just have to trust that God sees the big picture and does not answer our prayer our way but the way that is best for us.

To help encourage me, I typed up scriptures about what I was believing for.  I taped them to my bathroom mirror and my office bulletin board.  I would read them to help encourage me when I did not understand why.

#6 How To Successfully Travel The Trial Road Of The Unknown- PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD.

Ephesians 6:10 (NLT) “…Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.”

We need to remember we are in a battle.  If we are a child of God, He gives us the armor to fight the battle and he gives us the power and provision to be victorious. 

Back to my story….. it was time for the intense treatment plan.  I had 16 chemotherapy treatments.  The first 4 were very harsh.  Here is a picture of the first day of chemotherapy. 

I sat in a recliner with a warm blanket.  They hooked me up to an IV through the port I previously had inserted in my chest.  That made it a lot easier.  As I sat there, I would feel weird from different session to another session.  Sometimes I had head pressure.  Sometimes I just felt creepy weird.  It is hard to describe. 

They also gave me pre-meds to help reduce any side effects from the chemotherapy.  The last 12 treatments one of the pre-meds was Benadryl.  I could instantly tell when it entered my body because I got so tired and groggy.  Here is a picture of me curled up in the recliner resting because it made me so sleepy.

I experienced a lot of side effects such as nauseousness, mouth sores, metallic taste in my mouth, fatigue, diarrhea, finger & toenail nails separated from the quick and very painful at times.  The doctors were amazed even though I had side effects, I did not get them as bad as some of the patience.  I never threw up ones even though I felt nauseous.

Within 10 days of my first chemotherapy treatment my hair began to fall out.  That was very devastating to me.  Here is a picture showing how much hair fell out with just one swipe of the pick through my hair. 

My hair was very long before chemo.  It was devastating to lose it knowing it probably will never be that long again or that color.

In order to help me emotionally through this, I wore head coverings that color coordinated with my clothes. 

I also bought 4 different wigs to make me feel a little more normal. 

As my hair began to grow back, I wore baseball caps as much as possible.

Doctors were amazed at how well I handled treatment and how well I did especially working 40 hours a week.  They could not believe I actually did that.  From June to November 2020 all I did was work 40 hours a week, go to all of my medical appointments, do my laundry and then rest.  I could not do anything else. 

I could not have done it without my amazing husband, my caregiver.  He learned to cook and had to take care of everything else because I just did not have the energy.

I got to a point that I had no energy to pray or read the bible.  My prayer warriors were like Aaron was to Moses in his battle.  When he was weary, Aaron held his arms up in order to give victory to the battle.  I had at least 4 different churches praying.  Their prayers were my Aaron in my battle.  I am thankful for all of the prayers that went up for me.

November 2020, I finished chemotherapy.  They scheduled me for surgery that December where they planned to remove the now dead Thymoma tissue.  They weren’t sure if they would be able to do it microscopically because they were not sure if the tissue was connected to the lung.  Praise the Lord, they were able to do the surgery microscopically with just 3 small incisions.  Praise the Lord, it was not in my lung.  They told me I would be in the hospital 4-5 days.  Praise the Lord, I got out the next day.  They also told me that the pain level would be a 10, worse than open heart surgery.  In the hospital, the highest the pain level got was a 4. 

About a month after surgery, I began radiation.  I had 30 radiation treatments over a 6-week period.  I went every weekday for sick weeks.  This is a picture of the radiation machine. 

They positioned me as comfortable as possible on this table.  I had to lay completely still sometimes as long as 15 minutes.  It was very uncomfortable at times.

The main side effect I had was radiation burns which I’m showing in this picture.  It burned, itched and hurt.  I had to put special lotion on it to help it.

I also continued to have 12 additional infusion treatments.  They were not near as harsh as the chemotherapy.  The main side effect was minor diarrhea but that was a lot better than all of the chemo side effects.

I finished all of the treatments September 2021.  Praise the Lord, I am healed!

#7 How To Successfully Travel The Trial Road Of The Unknown- RECOGNIZE GOD HAS HIS PURPOSE

Trials can test our faith in order to mature us.

James 1:2-4 (NLT)  “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

1 Peter 1:7 (NLT)  “These trials will show that your faith is genuine…”

We need to remember and recognize that when we go through Trials God has a purpose to mature us, refine us and test our faith to see if it’s genuine and to mold our character.  Therefore, that should get us excited and full of joy because God is working on us to help us become more like him.

#8 How To Successfully Travel The Trial Road Of The Unknown-  GOD’S ULTIMATE PURPOSE FOR OUR TRIAL IS FOR HIM TO GET THE GLORY. 

The last part of John 9:3 (NLT) states, “…This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” 

Whatever we go through, we need to keep our focus on God.  We need to give Him praise through the midst of the storm.  He wants to get the glory as we go through the trials of life.

All through my cancer journey whenever I had opportunity, I spoke of God to the doctors and nurses or whoever I came in contact with about how God was helping me through this very trying journey.

What was God’s purpose for my cancer journey?  He had a lot of purposes. I did not know much about cancer at all before my journey.  I have really learned what it is like to experience cancer, the tests, the procedures, the surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation. I also understand the emotional anxiety associated with this journey. I understand the victim’s needs as well as the importance of having a care giver.  I also recognize the caregiver’s needs.

If God would have healed me in the beginning, He would not have refined me to the degree he has.  My attitudes have been softened in many areas.  I am more in tune to God and the heart of people’s needs.  Never would I have wanted to go through the cancer journey or do I want to experience anything like that again.  However, I can honestly say I’m thankful for the experience.  I am a changed woman because of it.

Another very unexpected thing came out of my cancer journey.  Dr. Brandenstein mention that there is a lot on the web about cancer but not how God has helped people through it.  She suggested I get my own YouTube channel.  I was shocked when she suggested this, but I pondered on the idea.  My son is a web developer and I discussed it with him.  He said that was a great idea and that I also should have my own website.  As a result, FaithWalkDebbie.com was created.  As of this post, I have 26 posts relating to my cancer journey.  Most are only 15 minutes long, so it does not take up much time.  Through my posts, I have shared in detail my cancer journey which is ministering to others.

As a result of what I have been through, God has used it to prepare me for how he wants to use me next.  As a result of the trials I have been through in my life, God has put a burning fire deep in my soul to help others travel down the trial road of the unknown.  God has given me a vision of speaking in front of others sharing a message from God.  In fact, I saw a vision over 25 years ago where I would be speaking in front of a large group of people.  I believe when I spoke at Living Faith Church of God on February 27, 2022 that was the beginning of God manifesting the vision. 

I want to encourage you that if God has given you a vision of how he wants to use you to not give up hope.  He will open the door in His time and in His way.  God has also specifically given me a vision of speaking at Living Faith.  I did not know how that would all come about.  Pastor Henderson spoke at my church a few weeks back.  He knew my husband and me and knew about my cancer journey.  I shared how God has given me a desire to share.  Pastor Henderson said when I am prepared to let him know.  I did that and God just opened the door for me to minister that night.  I didn’t have to push a door open.  God did it in His way and His time.

I hope as I have shared that you have learned from it.  I give God praise for bringing me successfully through this very difficult cancer journey.  I hope the next time you go through a trial, no matter what it is, that this message will help you trust God more to get through it.

In summary remember to successfully travel the trial road of the unknown.

1. Jesus needs to be your rock.
2. Need to have faith to believe for what you are hoping for even though you cannot see it.
3. Recognize what is truth vs lies from the enemy.
4. Respond like Jesus did.  Speak the Word and have it take authority of the situation.
5. Trust God even though your situation doesn’t make sense because God knows what is best for your life.
6. Put on the Armor of God because it equips you for the battle.
7. Recognize God has allowed the trial for His purpose.  Get excited because he is using it to mold you.
8. Don’t forget God wants glory through the trial.

Also don’t forget……no matter what we go through in life.  God has allowed it.  If God has allowed it, then he has His purpose for it.  If He has His purpose, then we can be confident that He will help us walk victoriously through it.  As a child of God, be encouraged you already have the victory!