I just read that professional golfer Phil Mickelson’s wife was recently diagnosed with cancer. Man! That’s tough. I am sorry for he and his family.
Cancer is just one, bad, insidious, unpredictable beast isn’t it?? I have known many people who have struggled with the sickness. I have watched (literally) people die from it. I have watched people overcome it. I have watched people endure it with incredible grace, strength, confidence and sheer determination. I realize it is just one among many ways that we can be physically harmed, impaired or killed, but it seems more prevalent these days than ever before. Honestly, it is on my list! You know, “the list” we are all making of questions we have for God one day when the “roll is called up yonder” and we get to sit with Him and get this whole deal figured out. I look forward to that. It is helpful to know in the midst of tragedy, abuse, cancer, the loss of a baby, etc. etc. that God understands our pain and questions. He knows that we don’t have complete, perfect knowledge that makes the dark clouds of uncertainty blow away. Paul said it best in 1 Corinthians 13:12,
“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
One day we will see God and understand Him clearly. But, for now, we are left with that sometimes murky and always critical practice called “faith”. It is tied directly to hope and is what helps us endure the craziness of this earthly life.
Rusty, I. too, have a couple of questions on my list. The first, why our 16 year old nephew had to die in 2000. The other, why did our 17 year old niece have to die in 2004. Kelley has been on my mind, she would have turned 23 today. I know that with both of these tragic deaths God has a plan, we just cannot understand it. Your blog made me think of these tragic losses in our lives. Thanks. Brenda