#10 HOW TO WALK THE TRIAL ROAD OF THE UNKNOWN

Welcome back!  This is the most powerful lesson of any of my posts so far.  What I am going to share today sums up the major lessons I learned from God through my cancer journey. 

We often go through trials in life and have no idea what the end will look like or where we are going.  That’s how I felt during this journey.  God gave me a powerful message that answers how we can travel that trial road of life when we can’t see the end; when the end just seems totally unknown.  The answer actually is very simple but that does not make it easy.

God showed me five important steps to accomplish traveling that trial road of the unknown.

1.  Most important, we must be saved…..have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Psalms 18:2 (NLT) says “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.”  To successfully make it through the trials of life, we must have Jesus Christ as our rock.  If we do that, then we can have the confidence that he will guide, protect and give us safety to go through life’s trials.
2. God knows all and works everything out for good for his children.  In Romans 8:28 (NLT) it says “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 brought revelation to me.  If God is my rock and His word says he causes everything to work together for good for me.  Then I can have the confidence that whatever I go through in life, God has allowed.  Because God has allowed it, then I know He has a purpose for it and in the end, all will work out for my good.  When I would emotionally get low during this journey, the Holy Spirit kept confirming this revelation.  God is not going to leave me or forsake me.  My journey may be tough but because I’m living my life for His purpose, I can make it.  I will be honest, there have been times, I wondered if taking all of this chemo and radiation was worth it.  Would I be better to do nothing and die?  When I get my mind focused on this revelation, I command those evil thoughts to leave.  My God has His purpose for this trial and He will bring good out of it.

This ministry actually has been birthed out of His purpose.  If I had not traveled this cancer journey, I would not be sitting here right now sharing to you like I am.  I would not have the knowledge about cancer that I do today, if I had not traveled this cancer journey.  So even though this road at times has been extremely treacherous, God has His purpose.  I’m excited about Faith Walk with Debbie.  It makes the rough road worth it.  Hopefully somebody will receive encouragement from what I share.

3. We have to just trust God and believe that He knows best even though we do not understand.  Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT) says “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.”  I spent years trying not to use harmful chemicals so I would not get cancer.  When I was told I had to have chemotherapy and radiation my whole being rejected that fact.  I finally had to rest in the reality that God knows the path that He has chosen for me to walk.  Even though I don’t understand it, and don’t like it, I just have to trust that He knows best.  I can have the confidence that He will be there walking with me through it.
4. Trials test our faith to mature us.  There are two verses that greatly show this.  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.  It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.  So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” 

It seems crazy to think about getting excited and full of joy when we go through horrible trials.  Yet that is exactly what the Word of God tells us.  We can get excited because we know that God uses the trials to grow us, refine us in order to become a better person; more like Jesus.  Trials test our faith in order to show if it is genuine.  Trials help our endurance grow.  Trials mold our character.  We need to remember and recognize that when we go through trials God has a purpose to mature us, therefore that should get us excited and full of joy.

5. God getting Glory is the ultimate purpose for our trials.  The last part of John 9:3 (NLT) states “…This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”  So 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. 

I’ve asked the questions, “Why have I had to go through this cancer journey and will have to continue to deal with it for the rest of my life?”  God has revealed to me that only He knows the whole purpose of this trial.  I know he wants to build my faith through it.  He has taught me so much as I have walked this rough road.  However, he mainly wants glory.  Even in the midst of disappointment and frustration, I tried to praise God and state that He was my source of strength and help through it. 

In summary, we need to remember that we can make it through any trial especially those where we do not understand why or see the end result.  We first need to make sure God is our rock and we have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  If we have that, then we can have the confidence that whatever we go through in life, He has allowed it.  Since He has allowed it, then we know He will help it all work out for our good in the end.  We also need to make sure we trust Him even though we cannot understand it and it does not make sense to us.  Don’t forget to get excited and full of joy when those trials come because God uses them to strengthen our faith and mature us.  Finally, through the trial, we need to make sure that God gets glory along the way.

Again, I thank you for coming along on this journey.  I’m going to leave you with a verse I’ve already sited above.  Romans 8:28 (NLT) says “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.”  I want to encourage you as you walk down the road of life’s trials.  Make sure that God is your rock.  Be encouraged that as long as you are His child, He will make everything in your life work together for His purpose.  We may not understand the road he makes us travel.  Yet we can have the confidence that His purpose may be greater than we could ever imagine and He will work it all out for our good.  So be encouraged!

Next time I will share what I Learned through this journey.  I learned so many things beyond just the facts of cancer and treatment details.