HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2011 / JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER / EDITOR'S COMMENTS

July August September 2011
VOLUME 12, ISSUE 3

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D E P A R T M E N T S

Editor's COMMENTS

On MRI's and trusting God
Colleen Tinker

 

"Pray about it—just trust God," used to sound like fingernails on an old-fashioned chalkboard to me. Within my Adventist framework, "trust God" implied "do your best, and God will do the rest." In other words: study hard and trust God for good grades; get a marketable degree and trust God for a good job; enroll my kids in an Adventist school and trust God that they'd grow up "faithful"; save money and trust God that I'd have a comfortable retirement; eat vegetarian and trust God that I wouldn't get cancer—and so on. My "trust" was directly proportional to my contribution to any given situation.

Since embracing the Lord Jesus and His finished atonement and being born of the Spirit, however, trusting God has changed. Now I have to give up trying to control the unknown. I have to rest in the middle of problems too big for me and trust Him to shape the future, to be my true and perfect Father. This new way of trusting is possible because God is no longer "out there". He lives in me because of my faith in the Lord Jesus, and whatever I go through, He goes through as well, because His Spirit will never leave me.

This year has tested my trust. In January I had two abnormal mammograms; in February I had an inconclusive ultrasound with a recommendation for an MRI. Praying that God would glorify Himself and keep me calm, I nervously positioned myself on the MRI table. The tech explained that the protective headphones would transmit music throughout the study. When she placed them on my head, the first thing I heard was Jeremy Camp singing the words, "I will trust in You, and I will not be afraid."

I had to choke back my tears because I could not wipe my nose—but Jesus personally comforted me. I realized that even though I might have a bad diagnosis, I was commanded not to fear because He was in the future, and He would never leave me. Nothing could happen that He did not permit, and He would comfort, strengthen, provide, and carry me no matter what the outcome—and all for His glory.

The result was not good. My physician referred me to a cancer clinic and said the MRI results showed suspicious spots bilaterally, that the diagnosis might be a pre-cancerous condition that would best be treated by having a bilateral mastectomy.

Philippians 4:6-7 held my head and heart in reality over the next months. Be anxious for nothing. Pray with thanksgiving. The peace of God will guard my heart. I realized God commanded me not to be anxious because He keeps His promises. My worry is a lack of trust in His faithfulness. Even if I were to have a prolonged illness that might kill me, I had to trust that He was allowing my suffering for His glory and for my good. He would reveal Himself to me deeply.

Moment by moment I rolled my uncertainty and fear onto Him, asking Him to keep my heart resting in Him—and He did. I realized that if God's promises depended upon my doing my best, I could not trust Him. In other words, if I had cancer, it would not be the result of my eating chicken—and if I thought it was, I would have no basis for trusting God in this consequence for my indulgence. Scripture says I am to trust God because He says He's in control, not because I've "done my best" so that He'll reward me.

The cancer clinic redid the MRI a few months after taking me off a medication. In July, nearly seven months after the first abnormal report, I learned that the follow-up MRI was "completely normal".

I also learned that the indwelling Holy Spirit makes the presence of the Lord Jesus real. He is my peace. He makes it possible for me to rest in Him even when my life is threatened.

In this issue, in addition to our regular columnists, Stanley Rouhe shares his confidence and trust in the Lord Jesus just eleven days before he died. Delina McPhaul explains what Scripture says about the new birth, and Dale Ratzlaff challenges us to be loyal to our husband, the Lord Jesus. Richard Peifer calls us to worship God because He Is, not because of what He does, and Nicole Stevenson shares her story of being born again into Christ.

Trust God. When we have become alive in Jesus, those words mean something. The future is secure; we have nothing to fear. Our Father keeps His promises. †

 

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