“Guess mine is not the first heart-broken, my eyes are not the first to cry, I'm not the first to know, there’s just no getting over you
I know I'm just a fool who's willing, to sit around and wait for you, but baby, can't you see there's nothing else for me to do? I'm hopelessly devoted to you
But now there's nowhere to hide, since you pushed my love aside, I'm out of my head, Hopelessly devoted to you
Hopelessly devoted to you, hopelessly devoted to you
My head is sayin', "Fool, forget him", my heart is sayin', "Don't let go, Hold on to the end", that's what I intend to do, I'm hopelessly devoted to you
But now there's no way to hide, since you pushed my love aside, I'm outta my head,
Hopelessly devoted to you
Hopelessly devoted to you, Hopelessly devoted to you”
Wow, what a powerful love song! Can you imagine being so zealous or ardent in your attachment, loyalty, or love for someone that it totally consumes your heart and soul? Synonyms for devoted include dedicated, steadfast, and faithful. If you are hopelessly devoted to your love interest, your affection for that person is so over the top that you experience feelings and emotions like you have never felt before. It is a crazy kind of love!
The preceding lyrics are for a song titled “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and they were written by John Farrar for Olivia Newton-John’s contractually titled solo in the movie Grease, which was the film adaptation of the famous Broadway musical. Grease, which was also critically acclaimed, would become the highest-grossing musical film ever at the time. After Newton-John died of metastasized breast cancer last month, musical experts have suggested that this song was the signature moment in that #1 rated movie and the signature moment in Newton-John’s career. Why? Newton-John’s celebrity status SKYROCKETED after she starred in that film in 1978. She went on to sell over one hundred million records and was awarded eleven gold records (two were platinum) over her incredible career. Fourteen years after she catapulted to superstar status by singing her lovesick ballad called Hopelessly Devoted To You, Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she would battle it off-and-on for the rest of her life until she passed away from her third bout with breast cancer on August 8, 2022.
Olivia Newton-John is best known for her role as Sandy in the hit 1978 musical Grease, but her lengthy career saw her involved in everything from folk music to medical marijuana advocacy. According to Rolling Stone, Hopelessly Devoted To You is one of the greatest lovesick ballads of our time. Here is how Wikipedia describes Hopelessly Devoted To You:
"Hopelessly Devoted to You" is a song recorded by English-born Australian singer, songwriter and actress Olivia Newton-John for Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture (1978) was written and produced by John Farrar and originally performed by Newton-John in the film version of the musical Grease (1978). The song was released in Australia in August 1978 and peaked at number two. It reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number seven on the Adult Contemporary chart. On the country chart, "Hopelessly Devoted to You" peaked at number 20 and was her first top twenty country hit in two years. Newton-John performed the song at the 21st Grammy Awards in 1979. The song received an Oscar nomination as Best Original Song, losing to "Last Dance" from Thank God It's Friday at the 51st Academy Awards.
Newton-John was first diagnosed with cancer in 1992 and she received that diagnosis the same week her father passed away. She eventually recovered from her first bout with breast cancer, only to see it return in 2013, when it metastasized to her shoulder. In late 2017, she found out that her cancer had returned a third time when she revealed that she had a tumor attached to the base of her spine. Thirty-years is a long time to battle cancer and, when she was not undergoing oncology treatments or fighting for her life, she utilized her celebrity platform to raise breast cancer awareness and to promote fundraising causes with the goal of finding new ways to fight cancer. For example, she became a champion of raising money for cancer research and her cancer fundraising efforts eventually resulted in the brand-new Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia being built and named in her honor. The Centre, which opened in 2012, has played a huge role in cancer research. As depicted on the website of the facility named in her honor, below is a description of the work they do:
“The facility’s core philosophy is to treat the patient’s mind as much as the person’s body. In addition to helping hundreds of patients with care and therapy, the staff also researches groundbreaking treatments on pain management, conducting up to two hundred trials at any given time”
News.com.au reported in 2019, a little over a year after the Grease star received her third cancer diagnosis, she began selling most of her real estate around the world so she could invest more of her money into cancer research.
As the leader of a cancer support group, I have a passion for researching, reading about, and studying how people respond to a lengthy cancer trial and Newton-John’s very public comments about her thirty-year battle against breast cancer have certainly caught my attention. Since hearing the news of her death and researching what she said publicly about her cancer trial before she passed away, I want to examine some of her public comments about her thirty-year cancer trial and analyze some of her perspectives on terminal cancer. Before I review some of her comments, I would like to say that it is refreshing for me to read how open and honest she was about her multiple breast cancer diagnoses and the difficulties she experienced along the way in her lengthy cancer trial. Why? There are so many celebrities who try and hide their cancer trials from the public view and share little about their experiences. Furthermore, Newton-John is to be commended for all she did to boost overall cancer awareness while utilizing her fame to promote cancer research fundraising. Unlike so many other celebrities who have a similar public platform to utilize while navigating their own cancer trials, Newton-John did not utilize the public access her fame granted her to dwell on her challenges to ask for sympathy. Instead, she utilized her platform to try and find new ways to beat cancer. Yes, Newton-John should be applauded for all the positive things she did in response to her multiple cancer trials.
The following excerpt from an August 8, 2022 NBC News article (Olivia Newton-John battled breast cancer for 30 years), is how the author Dennis Romero outlines, on the day she passed away, her perspectives on her three-decade long cancer trial:
“For 30 years, Olivia Newton-John publicly shared her fight with breast cancer, her treatments, and her never-ending hope. Newton-John, who was first diagnosed in 1992, focused on building a life outside the disease and embracing a mindset that prioritized family, enlightenment, and the promise of alternative medicine. “Cancer can engulf your mind and engulf your being,” she told NBC’s “TODAY” show in 2020. “And I try not to live my life with that in my mind all the time.”
Do you find several of her comments in the preceding article to be a little perplexing and counter-intuitive? For example, what do you think she meant by her never-ending hope? As we will see in her comments which I will quote later, she never really explains or clearly articulates why she is so hopeful. For example, did her treatments, doctors or family members provide her with never-ending hope? If not, what exactly was she referring to here that made her so hopeful? I am also struggling to come to grips with what she meant by “I try not to live my life with that in my mind all of the time.” In my experiences as a two-time cancer survivor, once you are diagnosed with cancer, it would be exceedingly difficult to live your life and not think about it routinely because it is such a life-changing diagnosis. I am not sure what “enlightenment” means so I googled the term and I still do not have any real clarity on what “enlightenment” means and I am not sure she did either.
In an August 9, 2022 article in the Christian Post called “Olivia Newton-John made a pact with God to save her daughter's Life” by Jeannie Ortega-Law, here is how the author summarized some of Newton John’s last public comments before she passed away:
"I remember when I was pregnant with Chloe, and I was close to losing her. I went to bed and asked God to save her, and if he did, I would say the Lord's Prayer every night for the rest of my life, and so I have," Newton-John said. The movie star shared about her faith and was asked if she ever contemplated her "death." "I have quite a few times that it was a possibility sooner than I wanted it," Newton-John responded. "We all know we are going to die. ... I think we spend our lives denying it. It's extremely personal. I find it hard to put into words. I feel we are all part of one thing. I have had experiences with spirits or spirit life and felt the spirit world and have heard things that I believe there is something that happens," Newton-John revealed. Although she is identified as a Christian, the actress has expressed views in the past that align with elements of mysticism. The actress said she knows there is life after death. "It's almost like we are parts of the same computer, and we go back to the main battery," Newton-John described, adding that she didn't "have a definite definition of what it is." "I think there is a great knowingness out there we become part of it. I hope that the energies of the people you love will be there. ... I think all the love will be there. ... I'm sort of looking forward to that, not now, but when it happens," she concluded.”
Wow, Newton-John was all over the place with her “faith” comments in the preceding article published in the Christian Post. I am struggling, once again, to summarize what she said in this article as there are so many portions of her preceding response which I simply do not understand. If this article accurately summarizes her faith and beliefs, I am not able to discern what it is she believed from a religious perspective. For example, her faith comments are not supported by what is clearly stated in the Bible. Furthermore, I do not comprehend the computer-battery analogy and I am not sure she did either as evidenced by the fact she starts of those comments with “it’s almost like.” I researched mysticism, and, after completing my brief research, I do not know what it means either. Additionally, I find her comments about the spirit life to be a little disturbing, and, if you read carefully what she says about the spirits, it seems like she is trying to convince herself in her own comments about the validity of these comments. However, it is interesting that she finally acknowledges in this article that death is a possibility and that we spend our lives denying it, which sort-of contradicts her earlier comments in the NBC News article about trying try not to live her life with that on her mind all the time. She also acknowledges that there is life after death but is not able to clearly articulate how eternal life is achieved. Finally, I must admit these were her last public comments I could find; however, she may have had different views or perspectives which she shared privately with family and friends. Furthermore, her metastasized cancer may have affected her critical thinking when she was interviewed for this article.
As documented in a news article (How Olivia Newton-John’s cancer campaigning inspired millions) in the Irish Examiner dated 8-9-22, the following is how she responded to a question on is she is fearful of her cancer trial:
“When asked in a September 2018 interview with Australia’s Channel 7 if she was scared following her third cancer diagnosis, Newton-John said, “I believe I will win over it” and vowed “that’s my goal” But in a typically candid admission, she added: “I’d be lying if I said I never go there. There are moments; I am human. If I allowed myself to go there, I could easily create that big fear. But my husband’s always there, and he is there to support me.”
As you can see from her quotes in the preceding article, she did not directly answer the “are you scared” question which the reporter asked her. Rather, she chose to respond with “I believe I will win over it.,” which suggests that she did not think she would die from it. Even though she never openly admitted she was fearful, she concluded by saying I am human; I have my moments and I could create big fear if I allowed myself to go there.” In other words, she was in denial about the seriousness of her cancer trial condition. In all my years of cancer ministry, I have yet to meet anyone who was not at least somewhat scared or fearful of their cancer trial. Therefore, Newton-John was not being totally honest with expressing her emotions when she answered the reporter’s question in this 2018 interview. Did she really think she was never going to die, or did she just not believe that she was going to die from her long breast cancer trial? Perhaps she avoided talking about her fears of her cancer trial since that would lead to a discussion about death, which she later admitted in the Christian Post article referenced earlier that “we spend our lives denying it.”
I wonder if Newton John ever realized Hopelessly Devoted To You is a very succinct way to summarize the message of the Gospel. More specifically, the Bible tells us we are all hopeless because of our sin, and we need to be completely devoted to Him (Christ) if we want to live. Becoming completely devoted to Christ means you are so zealous in your faith in Him that that it totally consumes you, causing you to trust Him entirely in all circumstances and trials. Romans 6:23 tells us:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
Yes, by putting our faith and trust in Christ, we can conquer death or cancer and spend eternity with Him in Heaven. 1 Peter 5:10 tells us:
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast”
A cancer diagnosis has a unique way of bringing the cancer patient’s own mortality to the forefront of their mind. When you are told by your doctor that you have cancer for the first time, it is a common response to envision your hopes and dreams for your life running down the drain while you contemplate your chances of surviving your cancer trial. Newton-John battled cancer three times over thirty-years, so she certainly had time to think about and ponder her own eventual death.
One of the blessings of a cancer trial is it usually gives the cancer patient time to ponder their eternal destiny and what will happen to them after the pass-away. I was listening to Pastor Danny Schillero, a pastor at Parkside Church in Ohio, preach recently. He was teaching on James 4:7, which says: “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” In all my years of cancer ministry, I have seen people come to saving faith in Christ during their cancer trials, but, as Pastor Schillero pointed out in verse 4:7 of James, it requires the Christian to completely submit to God’s power and authority in their lives. He compared it to a tap-out move in wrestling, which is tapping on the mat to admit to your opponent, who has you in a chokehold, that he has defeated you. In tapping-out in a wrestling match, it takes a tremendous amount of pride swallowing to admit that your opponent has defeated you. Why do wrestlers tap-out then? Because they realize they are in a hopeless situation, wrestlers decide to tap-out to remove the pain and suffering associated with the choke hold they are in. Similarly, when you come to faith in Christ, you realize you are in a hopeless situation because of your sin and you tap-out by committing your life to following Christ as your savior and Lord. The difference between tapping-out to God and tapping-out in the wrestling analogy is that God becomes our friend and will draw near to us when we willingly submit to Him. The problem is so many people do not opt to tap-out and submit to Christ when facing an excruciatingly painful cancer trial.
I heard an old hymn on my I-Phone this week which reinforces the biblical theme of submission. It is a hymn called “Blessed Assurance”, which was written in 1873 by BLIND hymn writer Fanny Crosby. She was an American mission worker who wrote over 8,000 hymns and gospel songs in her lifetime. If you want to hear a modern version of this Christian song, go to Spotify, and listen to Carrie Underwood (along with 100’s of others including Alan Jackson & Randy Travis) sing this glorious hymn. Here are the lyrics:
“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine O what a foretaste of glory divine Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood
This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long
Perfect submission, all is at rest I in my Savior am happy and blessed Watching and waiting, looking above Filled with His goodness, lost in His love”
Did you catch the part of the preceding lyrics which says, “PERFECT SUBMISSION, all is at rest, I in my savior and happy and blessed”? Dictionary.com defines submission as “yielding control to a more powerful or authoritative entity.” Can you imagine how hard it was to be blind and write over 8,000 songs and hymns and can you imagine how hard it must have been to be blind in 1873? Fanny Crosby had every reason to be mad at God for her physical limitations and for the trials she experienced in her life because of her blindness. However, despite her physical challenges and her associated trials, she realized the Bible instructs us to submit to God’s will in our lives, trusting in His promises in His scriptures. Therefore, despite all her physical limitations, she realized SUBMISSION would cause her to be happy and blessed if she persevered in her faith. James 1:12 ESV tells us:
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him”
I must admit that reading Fanny Crosby’s story while also studying the words she utilized in composing this hymn encourages me yet also humbles me. Unfortunately, submission can be a hard pill for people to swallow. Why? From a worldly perspective, these biblical instructions are offensive, outrageous, and objectionable because the world tells us that we should be able to control our own destiny. In other words, the world tells us that we should be able to pick our religion(s) and associated beliefs. Exodus 20:3 tells us:
“You shall have no other God’s before me”
Because the world tells us that we should be able to choose what we believe or don’t believe, it is a quite common occurrence for cancer patients to run the other way from God and look for their own solutions to their cancer trials.
Only God knows all the reasons why cancer patients are unwilling to tap-out and submit to Christ’s sovereignty in their lives. However, three of the more common reasons are because they either do not believe the gospel message, they have not heard the gospel or do not understand it, or they are unwilling to give up control of their lives. We spend our lives lusting after control in all aspects of our lives. Therefore, it is not easy for most people to be willing to admit that they need to tap-out and commit their lives to following Jesus. In all my years of ministering to people with cancer, the hardest thing for me to witness is when someone is facing a terminal cancer situation and they look to the doctors or anyone who can save them or offer them hope, but they never turn to God for His promised salvation.
If you are a Cleveland Browns fan, you may have seen their newly drafted kicker, Cade York, kick a 58-yard field to win the game in the last seconds of their game against the Carolina Panthers on September 11, 2022. For his overall performance in that game, Cade York was awarded the honor of AFC Special Teams’ Player of the Week. York was the fifth rookie in NFL history to win Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 1 of his playing career. The day after he kicked the game-winning field goal, Kristina sent me a picture of Cade York on the field that day with his helmet off and it showed him with his arms raised and you could see John 16:33 tattooed on the inside of his left bicep. Here is what John 16:33 says:
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Wow, what a verse! Isn’t it interesting that Cade York must raise his arms for others to see his tattoo of John 16:33 on the inside of his left bicep. In raising your arms in the NFL, it signifies a made field goal which is a metaphor for the victory referenced in the preceding verse. Cade, who picked the verse and placement of it very purposely, realizes his NFL celebrity status gives him a unique platform to share the gospel and he is utilizing his body and his God given skills to share his faith in Christ. Cade York wants everyone who sees his tattoo to look up and study that verse. More specifically, he wants his adoring fans to know that Christians may have peace because Christ has overcome EVERYTHING in this world including cancer. If you are currently facing a difficult cancer trial, do you have the peace or never-ending hope which Cade York is referencing with his tattoo? In other words, the Christian who is facing terminal cancer may have peace because Christ promised us in His scriptures that He has conquered or overcome both the world and cancer.
If you have ever had cancer or known someone who has endured a lengthy cancer trial, it can be a very painful trial. For cancer patients, it can be the most difficult suffering they will ever endure in their lives. During her third trial, when her cancer metastasized to her bones, Newton-John ended up with painful bone lesions and experienced severely elevated pain levels. These excruciating experiences were one of the main reasons she became so enthusiastic about alternative medical treatments, including using cannabis oil to help with her pain management. Because of Newton-John’s suffering during her cancer trials, her daughter Chole purchased a cannabis farm in Oregon to help further support her mom’s efforts to promote alternative medical treatments.
While the Bible tells us to endure in our suffering by focusing on our relationship with Christ and the eternal hope, which only He can provide us with, the world provides a totally different perspective on suffering. The world tells us that we are all in total control of our lives and that our own actions can sometimes limit our suffering. If you go on Facebook or CaringBridge to read about someone who is going through a difficult cancer trial, read the comments from the readers and see what people are saying to encourage the cancer patient. Examples of the comments you might often see include the following: “You got this!” “Be strong and you can do it,” “Sending positive vibes your way!,” and “You will get better soon”. I do not think that most people realize how absurd these comments are. What exactly are positive vibes anyway, and how can someone know that their friend or acquaintance will get better soon if they have no real understanding of the person’s medical condition? Recently, I saw a post on a The V Foundation for Cancer Research Facebook page about a young man who recently announced he was in remission, and the poster said “The power of Positivity; Keep being positive. You have to know; Hey I am going to beat this.” Is the The V Foundation for Cancer Research post really suggesting that your positive attitude determines your cancer outcome? Seriously? Not only do these types of comments suggest a lack of fear towards a holy and sovereign God, they are also suggesting that we can all be our own gods. These types of comments are all over social media and elsewhere and assume that the cancer patient is in total control of their cancer trial destiny while the Bible tells us we are not in control of our eternal destiny. Isaiah 41:10 tells us:
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Suffering is real, it is extremely hard to endure, and I am not going to try and downplay the role of suffering in a painful cancer trial. While I have not experienced the kind of extreme suffering which cancer patients often endure, I have experienced very painful suffering in my own personal health trials. For example, I had over half of my colon removed in my rectal cancer surgery in 2007. I was supposed to be recovering in the hospital for four to six days and ended up being in the hospital for eighteen days due to unusual complications from my surgery. Because of the trauma I experienced during my colorectal surgery, my colon shut down for sixteen of the eighteen days I was in the hospital. When my colon finally opened, it only partially opened which caused my suffering to continue. I was I not able to eat anything for sixteen days and I also almost passed from the extreme and severe gastric pain which no pain medicine could address. It was the most severe pain I have ever endured in my life. I was in so much pain that I could not even talk to people when they came to the hospital and tried and visit with me, so I told people not to visit me. Because I was throwing up constantly from the pain caused by my gastrointestinal issues, the hospital staff ended up having to put a nasogastric tube or NG Tube down my throat via my nose to help drain the fluids and gases from my stomach until my colon finally opened from the post-surgery trauma. Because this medical device was so uncomfortable due to the fact a tube was jammed down my nose and throat, I was praying that they might be able to take the NG tube out of me sooner than they did because I was so miserable. When I was finally well enough to go home, they ended up sending me home from the hospital with a PICC line, which is a long, thin tube inserted through a vein in your arm and passed through to the larger veins near your heart. They used the PICC line to pump me full of fluids to keep me hydrated and healthy while my colon and small intestine continued to heal after I left the hospital. I had to have a home health care nurse come to my house two times per week to check-up on me and assist me with my PICC line maintenance. I ended up losing over thirty-five pounds, endured nine more “plumbing” related surgeries over an eighteen-month period and missed over five months of work with my short-term disability. Fifteen years later, I am still taking codeine every day as I would go to the bathroom over twenty times per day without this medication. In other words, my rectal cancer surgery changed my digestive tract so dramatically that my bowels will never be the same again. While I am currently healthy today and cancer-free, my daily codeine pills and unusual bathroom habits are a daily reminder of my painful cancer trial. They are also a daily reminder that I am a fragile human being who will one day pass-away. In looking back on it all, my lengthy cancer trial has given me a whole new appreciation for enduring a painful and difficult medical trial and those experiences have also made me more keenly aware of my own mortality.
Do you think Newton-John ever realized that her overall appearance, her voice, her world-wide celebrity status, and all her worldly successes were the direct result of God’s providence in her life? We often fail to realize during the good times, when everything seems like it is going our way, that God is sovereign over all things, and that He may choose, for whatever reasons, to bless us during our good times. As counter intuitive as this biblical concept may seem, the feelings of pride and self-satisfaction which swell in our hearts during prosperous times, are a tremendous challenge. Why? Prosperous circumstances in our lives makes us feel good about ourselves, but they often fail to bring us to our knees before God. Alistair Begg, from TruthforLife.com, said: “neither age nor experience are a safeguard against pride.”
As I mentioned earlier, Newton-John said that cancer can engulf your mind and your being but that she tried to NOT live her life in that way. Was she suggesting that she tried to forget about her cancer trials so they would not engulf her mind? If she was trying to forget her cancer, was she running from her cancer trial or was she running from the potential outcome, death. Furthermore, when you look at how she lived her life after she first found out she had cancer, she lived in a way which suggests that her cancer trials were at the forefront of her mind. For example, she was the founder of a cancer research center in her native Australia. In other words, she invested her time, talents, and treasure on cancer related causes over the last 30 years of her life. Her post-cancer diagnosis actions suggested she was not running away from cancer, but she was trying to find a cure to beat her cancer. In her 2018 interview, which I mentioned earlier, the interviewer asked her if she was scared about her cancer returning for the third time. In her response, she avoided the reporter’s question and said, “I believe I will win over it (cancer) and that is my goal.” In other words, she stated that her desire to be cured of her cancer disease was her primary goal, meaning this ambition appeared to be the never-ending hope she was referring to in the NBC News article I quoted earlier. While it is only natural to want to be healthy and to continue living our lives, God designed each of us to fear death more than anything in this world. When considering how God designed humans, Newton-John’s 2018 response to the reporter’s fearful question suggested, even though she did not directly say she was scared or fearful, that she was VERY SCARED and FEARFUL when her breast cancer returned for the third time in 2017 and attached itself to her spine. Why? Avoidance is one way we can deal with our greatest fears and Newton-John clearly avoided answering the reporter’s remarkably simple and direct question as evidenced by the fact that she talked winning and never directly admitted if she experienced feelings such as being scared or fearful. Proverbs 9:10 tells us:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight”
For someone who had been fighting breast cancer for 25 years when it returned for a third time in 2017, she knew that once cancer attaches to the bone, it almost never leaves. Therefore, did she really believe that she would win her fight with stage 4 breast cancer? Furthermore, did her severely elevated pain levels, which she experienced during her third and final cancer trial, make her realize she was NOT winning but she was losing her physical battle? If she really did not believe that she would win, why did she respond to the reporter’s fearful question in the way that she did? Perhaps she did not know what else to say, but her unwillingness to discuss her fears is concerning. The preceding verse in Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but Newton-John was unwilling to publicly discuss her fears. Why? Perhaps she was not willing to give up her fight yet because she had spent most of her life after her initial cancer diagnosis trying to raise money or find a way to beat her cancer. For someone who had battled cancer for 26-years when the reporter asked her the “are you scared” question in 2018, I am surprised that she did not seem to be more prepared for her own eventual death. Why? I mentioned earlier that God wants us to turn to Him in our darkest hours. Since Newton-John had 30 years to ponder her own mortality, did she ever want to cry out to God during her lengthy cancer trial like she cried out to Him when she was pregnant with Chloe? Did the severe pain she was experiencing during her second and third bouts with cancer ever cause her to break down and ask God for mercy and help? Did her extreme and painful circumstances make her realize she was hopeless if she did not survive her cancer trial? If she did realize she was hopeless, did those painful circumstances ever create a desire deep within her soul to ‘tap-out” and submit to Him? If she did cry out to God in this fashion, she never made such pleas public.
In our darkest hours, God wants us all to cry out to Him for help. Cancer trials are wake-up calls to make us realize that we need Him, perhaps more than we ever realized before. God uses trials to make us realize that we are not in control of our ultimate destiny, but He is. He uses trials like a cancer trial to make us aware that we are fragile humans who are all going to die and that we need to put our faith in His son, Jesus, if we want to conquer cancer and live. God utilizes trials in our lives to test our faith and to give us an opportunity to persevere in our faith so that we become completely devoted to His son, Jesus. I know I am repeating myself with my “he uses/utilizes trials” comments here, but this is especially important, so my repetitiveness is intentional here. Sadly, in my fifteen years of ministering to people with cancer, I have seen both Christians and unbelievers facing terminal cancer repeatedly miss or ignore these important biblical truths of submission and persevering in our faith. Only God knows if Newton-John, during her agonizing pain levels experienced in the last few years of her thirty-year cancer trial, ever admitted that her cancer trial circumstances made her hopeless and only God knows if these excruciating circumstances eventually caused her to become completely devoted to Him. Therefore, only God knows what happened to Newton-John’s soul after she passed away, but the biblical themes which underpin her signature song remind us that we are hopeless and that we need to be completely devoted to Him (Christ) if we want to conquer cancer and spend eternity with Him in heaven. If you can remain completely devoted to Him during your cancer trial, God will, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10 ESV)
Jim Risk, a two-time cancer survivor, is the volunteer Ministry Coordinator for the Cancer Support Group (CSG) at a non-denominational church in NE Ohio. Jim and his wife, Kristina, have participated and served in CSG, a Christian ministry, since 2007.
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