He took a deep breath and they slipped the IV needle into his arm. His face paled and his breathing stepped up, as it always did, when the chemo drugs began to penetrate his system. But, he was resolute. My son had decided to fight for his life; he wanted to live.
That was my life 20 years ago; watching my son absorb the nauseating and painful chemotherapy that would save his life.
Since that time I have continued to marvel at how my son and I were able to survive the 13 months in a cancer research center. I remember his courage and his determination to beat the stage 4 lymphoma that had invaded his 14-year-old body. I ask myself even now, ‘How did Mark have the courage to submit month after month to the poisons that wracked his immune system?’ “How did I have the courage to watch him do it?’
I also remember other children, other mothers who went through the hell of cancer and I ask myself where did our courage come from?
In quiet moments, I reflect that life is made up of a great deal of joy and still more impossible challenges. Part of the earthly journey is learning to overcome the hard things of life. It is from pain that we grow stronger; it is from disappointment that we learn perseverance and hope. And, it is from the crises of life, that we gain enough compassion to love others. But this kind of courage has to come from somewhere outside of our own strength.
My first hours in the children’s cancer hospital were fraught with both despair and anger and these emotions lasted a long time. Days. Weeks. Months. As people prayed for me, I found myself able to endure sleepless nights, long car journeys, the tears of other parents whose children did not live. I found that the same strength propelled my son into the chemo ward and enabled me to enter the fight with him. Where did this courage come from?
The book of 1 Samuel in the Bible records the trials of King David. In chapter 30, verse 6, we find these words: “David was greatly distressed… But David found strength in the LORD his God.” Courage to walk through life’s deepest valleys comes from God alone. In the 23rd psalm the same David writes: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”
Simply stated courage comes only from God.
Is godly courage available to everyone? Yes and no.
It is available if we ask; it is available if we have the relationship with God that enables Him to inhabit our minds and hearts. You know already whether you have that close relationship to God or not. If you don’t, you can have. It requires sincerity, belief, and willingness to learn. It requires commitment.
If you want to know the God who is able to walk through life’s valleys with you, you have to build a relationship with Jesus. Pray to God and tell Him you want Him in your life. Start reading the Bible–the Gospel of John is a great place to start.
Look for a church where the Bible is strongly taught. Pray and believe and EXPECT God to give you enough courage to face your life. Real courage, sufficient courage, only comes from a relationship with God.
