Life Abundant

"Is it a tumor?" I asked as I stood in that surgical alcove. The doctor before me, still in her scrubs. 

"Yes" she replied, "I've seen this numerous times before and from the appearance of it, it's cancer"... at least that's how I remember it.

The weight and feeling of some alternate reality came upon me. He was only 44; not quite old enough to start screening for such a thing.

The hand that came to rest on my back - well intentioned as it was - felt like it must have weighed a hundred pounds. 

Questions about referrals and medical centers loomed. 

I only wanted one thing at that point - to see him. He didn't know yet what was found or what it was thought to be.

We entered the recovery room and turned the corner to see him laying on the hospital bed. 

The doctor came along his right; I, his left. 

I took hold of his hand as the doctor shared again what she found and her impression of what it was. 

It is written, the thief comes to steal, kill & destroy. 

This had claimed a lifeline of its own, demanding nutrients and even its own blood line for its own selfish gain. 

It came not to give life, but to take it.

Not to contribute anything of worth, but to take. 

Not to care, but to exist selfishly.

He had been faithful to God his whole life, following His Word like nobody else I had ever met.

Patient, gentle, kind and humble are but a few words that describe him. 

An incredibly and naturally gifted musician, he gave of his gifts to the body selflessly.

He didn't deserve this.

But cancer doesn't care.

Cancer only cares about growing, spreading, taking.

It reminds me of one so deep in sin, they can only think of themselves.

As a form of obsession, there is no consideration for the lives impacted or even destroyed, nor the people that are hurt in the process. 

This is the opposition of life and leads down a path of destruction.

But God.

He comes to bring LIFE.

Life ABUNDANT.

He is the Good Shepherd that cares for His flock.

I once thought being "a sheep" was a form of weakness,

a follower,

incapable of independent thought.

That was before I knew the heart of The Father.

Being amongst His flock is a position of empowerment,

of protection,

of life,

of joy,

of lacking for nothing needed.

But lacking that which we don't - 

fear and anxiety, to name but two.

Not to say they never rear their ugly heads.

But when I turn to my God, the giver of this abundant kind of life,

He is faithful to lift off those things I was never meant to carry.

By: Stefanie Jacobs, Reflections in the Secret Place Blog