My Testimony

At the beginning of this year, I started having disabling pain in my right elbow. It was diagnosed as tendonitis from playing the harp too much. I loved playing the harp and would do it for as many hours as I could every day. I had to stop playing (and using my right arm altogether), and I questioned why God would afflict me when I only wanted to serve Him with my music.

In the meantime, I had a nasty looking mole on my left arm that I had been meaning to get checked out some year when I met my insurance deductible. I had it for several years and never met my deductible, because I never go to doctors. After seeing a chiropractor for five months for my elbow, the deductible was met, and I decided to get that mole examined. The doctor removed it and tested it, and it turned out to be the most dangerous kind of skin cancer (melanoma). Immediately, my right elbow was completely healed, and I finally understood God’s good purpose. If my elbow pain hadn’t forced me to meet my deductible, my cancer would have gone undetected. God sees the big picture, and just like Romans 8:28 says, He works all things together for our good!

Someone from church read Psalm 91 to me, and she suggested that I write a worship song. I politely agreed, but I was thinking, “I can’t possibly write a worship song. Other people have that gift, but not me. I can barely PLAY music, let alone WRITE an original song.” But when I got home, God led me to my harp and my Bible. I opened the Bible to Psalm 91, and my fingers played a song I’d never heard before while I sang (and I am NOT a singer!!) the words of the Psalm, which fit perfectly. I have no doubt that God wrote the song, because I know I couldn’t do it on my own. Since I don’t know how to write music, I have played that song almost daily so I don’t forget it, and it has brought me much peace and comfort while waiting for test results, etc.

Paul says to give thanks in all things, and I thank God for allowing me to have cancer. I never thought I would say that, but I can see how He has used it in many ways in my own life and others’. Before my diagnosis, I was going through a crisis of faith. I was involved in a discussion with a college professor who had all kinds of intellectual arguments about his lack of belief. I was trying to lead him to faith but instead was swayed by his arguments and seriously doubting my own faith. As I was on the edge of this slippery slope, I had my cancer trial and saw God’s sovereignty again in my life, and my faith was restored. Also during this time, our pastor preached a sermon about how it’s a good thing when God’s hand is on you, but that He will remove His hand of protection from you when you stray too far from Him. I strayed, and God’s mighty hand of protection was lifted from me, and cancer creeped in. I repented and returned to God, and then had another mole removed that the doctor suspected was melanoma. Praise God, it was not!

In addition to the spiritual blessings I received from this ordeal, it also served as a wakeup call to protect myself and my kids from the sun’s damaging rays. I used to be outside all day, every day with my kids. I never sunbathed or used tanning beds, but we were just outdoor people. We would go out early in the morning and eat, read, work, and play outside all day. I never gave a thought to wearing sunscreen, because I thought that was only for pale people, and I never burned. I regret my foolishness, especially knowing that I didn’t protect my children as I should have. Now I use sunscreen every day, and I put it on my kids and even tell complete strangers that they should be using it. I hope that my newfound “ministry” will protect someone else from skin cancer.

So I thank God for all the trials I’ve had this year, because He demonstrated His healing power, strengthened my faith, spared my life (physically and spiritually), gave me a new song and a way to help others. Like the psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:67, I can say, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.” God is good and faithful all the time!