In His Grip is a weekly e-mail intended to provide inspiration and hope to those fighting cancer.
A ministry of Stronghold Ministry.          Subscribe here.

*If you’re fighting cancer, please write and let us know how we can pray and support you.
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“For by their own sword they did not possess the land, and their own arm did not save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, for You favored them. You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. Through You we will push back our adversaries; Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, Nor will my sword save me. But You have saved us from our adversaries, And You have put to shame those who hate us. In God we have boasted all day long, And we will give thanks to Your name” (Psalm 44:3-8).

Some days just seem… evil. Days when the messages in my head are so negative. I can’t seem to fight them. I think this is what Paul meant by “the day of evil” (Ephesians 6:13). Days of rejection, inadequacies, confusion. Days when I realize I am so vulnerable, weak and losing my grip. Feeling overwhelmed.

Yet He never said I had to fight my own battles. In fact, He said if I did, I would lose. I cannot truly trust in my bow, my schemes, ideas, medicine, doctors, friends, family; it is Him alone. My cry to Him brings my victory. He comes through as I hide myself in His Word. He is my refuge and protection.

I am going to snuggle up in Your right arm, Your Son, and watch as You show Your glory today.

In His Grip is a weekly e-mail intended to provide inspiration and hope to those fighting cancer.
A ministry of Stronghold Ministry. Subscribe here.

*If you’re fighting cancer, please write and let us know how we can pray and support you.
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A while back I was working with one of my students, and in the middle of the lesson he said to me, “Ms. Terri, did you know that we are made of more nothing than something?” He proceeded to tell me how science has proven that cells have more empty space, than filled space. More nothing than something. At first I laughed at him, and then I got excited because in Colossians 1:17 it says, “In Him all things hold together.” And in Ephesians 1:23 it says Jesus, “Fills all and is in all.” Made me think maybe there is more of Him in me than me, which opens up all kinds of possibilities.

The invisible is becoming more real; especially since what I see is often overwhelming and out of my control. Talking to an invisible God, Who holds everything together, is a faith walk into the invisible. So, reading Psalm 32:7, I say His words out loud to Him, “You are my hiding place; you preserve me from trouble, and surround me with shouts of deliverance.”

I want to hear His “shouts of deliverance.”
How do I do that?
I have to quiet my heart to hear.

He says they are “shouts.” Listen to these shouts.
*Nails pounded into His hands and feet (delivering me from punishment for my sin).
*Thorns placed on His head (a reminder that He bears the thorns we deal with everyday).
*The vinegar He drank (drinking the comfort He gives in the middle of letting go of all my dreams).
*His tears of blood (bearing the anxieties, worries and fears of future trials). 
*Dragging His own cross (so that we could benefit from His Resurrection Life today).
*Then finally His last shout, “IT IS FINISHED.”

In His Grip is a weekly e-mail intended to provide inspiration and hope to those fighting cancer.
A ministry of Stronghold Ministry.    Subscribe here.
*If you’re fighting cancer, please write and let us know how we can pray and support you.

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You know the saying, “That changed my life.”
Only once in my life was I ever able to say it, the day Jesus came into my heart to live.

Until Joe’s cancer.
That changed my life too… mainly in the area of battling thoughts.
I now have days I am assaulted with fears. I realize my life could change in a day with some unforeseen tragedy. I had thought my life was pretty much under control… but that was before.

I’m having to face God with the real “faith” I have, or don’t have. It has been humbling. But I can cast myself on His abundant grace while I am trying to set my feet on solid ground. His grace is my safe place right now.

I had thought my faith was about trusting Him to answer my prayers, hear my worries and help me be a “good” Christian. Now…
I’m hearing Him say He wants my friendship. He wants to tell me how He is thinking and feeling about stuff.

I think of what was said of Moses in Exodus 33:11, “The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.” Do I want that type of friendship? I realize it won’t be all about me.
It will mean more listening. It will be His voice I long for — His presence.

There might be long bouts of silence, where He is just with me, with no entertainment, or big mission to accomplish. He might share with me His heart and His perspective on suffering… which makes me wait for His timing to rescue, because He has a bigger plan.

Prayer changes for me… It comes from His point of view, and I know He hears me because He is sharing His heart and I am asking the things that delight Him.

This has changed my life… I have a Friend I’m learning to know and love, because He has loved me first and has chosen me to be His friend.

John 15.13-16: “Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”

In His Grip, is a weekly e-mail intended to provide inspiration and hope to those fighting cancer.
Subscribe here.
*If you’re fighting cancer, please write and let us know how we can pray and support you.

January 8, 2010
During Joe’s chemo treatments, I remember asking nurses, “Has this chemo worked for others?”  They would answer, “Take it a day at a time.”  Or, “Just enjoy every day you’re together.”  And, “We are all dying.” Somehow at the time, those words weren’t very comforting. How do I focus each day when my life is filled with sickness and fear of losing him? Living with his pain, and thinking of him as dying rattled my world. I often felt guilty thinking of myself, after all, I wasn’t the one who was “suffering.”

Jesus is so cool. He allowed me to ask the hard questions. He let me struggle with those true, but pat answers. He allowed me to hurt and be myself without having to pretend to be okay. Actually, He was waiting for me to see my helplessness, because He is “the God of the valleys.” This valley was surrounded by mountains of cancer which seemed immovable. They cast shadows; shadows of death; shadows that seemed like prison walls… no way out. They told me there was less than a 6% chance of getting out. In Hosea 14:5, Jesus Christ is likened to a lily that springs up in dark valleys. “The Lily of the Valley” springs up wherever He pleases.

Jesus was to me a beautiful flower. He was tall, strong and bright white. How did He get there? He was there in that place all along. He whispered in my ear as if He had a secret. This Lily is in you! This Lily is My Son, who is the way out of the valley. He sprung up in you long ago when you first believed. Look to Him, He is the Mystery that brings Life in helpless places. I looked to Him, learned to behold Him and hope started rising in my spirit. How this works I can’t really say, but I know that the Lily, JESUS, pulls me through and triumphs over the valley. This Lily is still IN ME TODAY… seven years later. Now I “BEHOLD” Him as I walk through new valleys. In the midst of your valleys, behold, the beauty of the Lord.

Stronghold Ministry