Never A Friend Like
Jesus
by Kelly Moncofsky
All your anxiety, all your care
Bring to the
mercy seat, leave it there
Never a
burden you cannot bear
Never a friend like Jesus.
Do you have a best friend? Someone who you can count on,
tell your secrets to, be real with, “unload” your burdens to? I do. His name is
Jesus. This song means more to me now, and in the past year and a half, then it ever did before. I’ve sung it many
times in church, but the words are dearer to me now. When you hear from the Dr.
that you have the “C” word, life changes and Jesus really does become your
dearest friend. In August of 2015 I was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.
At the time, I was only 37 years old. Not something many 37 year olds hear.
With a husband, 5 kids, and a church to take care of, this news was hard to
bear. Put me into shock, actually. I knew something was going on because I
hadn’t felt good for about 2 months prior. I still had no idea I was about to
embark on a journey that would turn my world upside down. Millions of questions
and scenarios raced in my head while my husband and I sat in the Dr’s office
that day. I was literally waiting for someone to pinch me so I could wake up
and say it was just a bad dream. However, it wasn’t. It was real, and I was
scared. I remember sitting there, watching my husband with tears coming down
his cheeks. It almost hurt more to see him hurting so badly. All I could do was
pray. And pray I did! Unless you’ve experienced something like this yourself,
you probably won’t understand completely what I’m about to say next. The peace
that swept over me in those next few hours of tests and poking and prodding was
absolutely unbelievable! “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3) I didn’t lose it. I
didn’t panic. I didn’t even cry which for me, is a miracle in itself because I
normally cry over everything The Lord was with me. He was my rock (Psalm
61:2). He was giving me the grace I needed. He was bearing my burden!! To make
a very long story short, I chose to go the natural route after all my tests and
biopsies came back confirming my illness. I had no treatment for almost a year
after, just a big change in my lifestyle and diet. The testing that I had done
each month from the naturalist I was seeing showed that I was improving and
that the cancer was going away. However, about 10 months into it, I started
feeling terrible. I had no energy, I was losing weight, couldn’t even climb the
stairs of our house. I was basically on the couch or in bed all day long. After
several family members urging me to get blood work done, I finally agreed. My
husband had to carry me to the car that day. We went to the ER and had blood drawn.
Turned out, I was severely anemic…like, deathly anemic. My hemoglobin was 2.8.
That is NOT normal. In fact, it’s considered critical. The nurses and my ER Dr.
were in shock that I was still alert and awake. That was God! So of course I
was admitted and given a blood transfusion shortly after. From there, they had
to determine the cause of my anemia so again, several tests were done. The
entire time I was going through these tests, the Lord was there, giving me
peace again. He was once again, my best friend. I told Him I was scared. I told
Him I was nervous, burdened and anxious. He knew. He took care of me. “Then
they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their
distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still”
(Psalm 107”28-29) After many hours of seeing Dr’s, giving my blood away,
getting new blood, having a heart monitor, etc. an oncologist met with me and
told me that my cancer had spread and was now in my bone marrow, which was
causing my red blood cells to be destroyed as well as my platelets. I was also
at risk for bleeding. Yeah….that’s a big load to carry!! But Jesus said, let me
carry it, child. “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (I
Peter 5:7). My hospital stay ended up
being almost 2 weeks. I had one oncologist tell me when it was just her and I
in the room that I had about 6-18 months to live, with this diagnosis. Um…say
what?! Boy was this a time to cast all my cares upon Him; to bring my burden to
Him. I heard a lot of bad news in the hospital during those 12 days but
honestly, I also felt the peace of God that truly “passeth all understanding.”
(Philippians 4:7). Unexplainable peace.
I’m so glad I had Jesus as my best friend at this time. I’m so glad He was
there with me during the MANY tests, biopsies, Doctor visits, blood draws,
transfusions and scans. Friend, is Jesus your best friend? Can you take all
your cares and burdens to Him? Are you? Or are you trying to bear them alone?
It’s so much easier when you give them to Him. I’m ashamed to say it, but up
until my diagnosis, I don’t think I really relied on Jesus to carry my load. I
think I tried doing a lot of it myself. I trusted myself to get through the
hard times and challenges of life. Maybe God put me through this to show me HE
ALONE is the one to trust. My earthly friends are wonderful. I have some of the
best of friends here on earth. But none of them could have helped me through all
of this like Jesus did. None of them could have given me that peace. None of
them could have sustained my spirit like He did. Psalm 16:11….in his presence
is fullness of joy. Amen to that! So, its been 5 months since I came home from
the hospital and to God’s glory, I have been making remarkable strides in my
health. I went from having blood transfusions every 10 days, to not needing one
now for 2 months! I feel great, have had encouraging Doctor appointments, and
just feel like a new person, praise the Lord!! He is so good to me. I’m so glad
He taught me to lean on Him more. One of my favorite verses while going thru
this trial was, and still is Isaiah 41:10! Such powerful words! My story is
nothing special. I know there is so many others who have experienced something
like this, or who are going through it right now. I just wanted to brag on my
Jesus for a bit, and let you know that you’ll never find a better friend!
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