Today's post will be a little different than my normal posts.  When I began blogging I told everyone that the purpose of this blog was to update you on my cancer, decisions, and treatments.  So far I have stuck with that for the most part, although I admit the last couple of posts have not been so much about my cancer treatment and updating everyone as much as they have been about what I've been learning along this journey.  Today, however, I am not posting about my cancer or anything I've learned along the way.  Today's post is about the hope I have in spite of my cancer.

Most people, when they get their diagnosis of cancer, are afraid.  I admit many times over the last year and a half or so I have been afraid.  It is easy to fear when you don't know what's going on.  You get the biopsy done and the result comes back that you have cancer, but at that point the testing is only beginning.  They have to stage you.  They have to test whether you have cancer in your lymph nodes.  They need to know if it has spread to any other parts of your body.  All of these things require tests.  Each time a test is done there is more cause for fear--more things you just don't know, and more waiting to find the answers to the unknown.  On top of that the doctors push you through to have those tests run.  There are appointments on top of appointments.  Sometimes there are two or three different appointments all in the same day.  The fear grows.  You find out very quickly how much you don't know that you don't know.

The one thing I have not feared this whole time, however, is death.  While death is a natural consequence of cancer, I am not afraid of death because I know that even if cancer were to be the cause of my death here on earth I will have a life in Heaven for eternity. 

You see, back in my early elementary years I was in children's church on a Sunday morning.  The invitation was given and I went forward.  When I went back with the lady, she showed me in Romans 3:23 that I was a sinner.  In Romans 6:23 she showed me that the payment I would receive for my sin was death.  Then in Romans 5:8 she showed me that Christ died to pay the punishment for my sin.  Finally in Romans 10:13 she told me that if I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive my sins and come into my heart He would save me and I would go to Heaven to live with Him forever when I died.  I did that and in the years since then my relationship with Him has grown. 

It is this relationship with my Savior that has given me hope throughout this ordeal.  Do I fear?  Yes.  I fear the unknown.  Every time I have my bloodwork checked or an ultrasound to see what size my tumor is, I fear.  Every time I get the results back I fear.  I fear the tumor growing more.  I fear that even if the tumor is getting smaller today it might not continue. But I do not fear where I will spend eternity.

How about you?  Even if you haven't been diagnosed with cancer, do you know where you will spend eternity?  Do you know the One who died for you?