I’m skimming through an old book about Georgi Vins in available moments here and there.   He was a man of great honor and faithfulness in the face of persecution.   He includes a letter from his father Peter who actually died in a Siberian prison camp.   What is it about Jesus that takes wimpy, comfort loving, self-preserving mankind and makes them willing to suffer anything rather than deny Him?   Peter Vins wrote “It is better to be with Him in prison than at liberty without Him.”  

He also wrote a gripping statement in a New Year letter to encourage the believers in Christ.   As a man who understands suffering and distress, he spoke to my heart, and I wanted to share it with you.

“Yet another year has come to it’s end.

A year which seems to have begun only yesterday.

A year which has brought to many of the Lord’s faithful no little grief, suffering, and hardship.

A year when more than one tear was shed.

A year when the Lord like an eagle destroyed through circumstances more than one nest of cherished hopes, dreams, and private plans, but then caught us up and bore us on His wings, to teach us to walk by faith and not by sight, that is, by senses and feelings.”

I heard someone on the radio last night talking about “senses and feelings.”   They were saying that when you are at the bottom of a situation, you must climb up the ladder of your “knowings.”  The things you know to be true, but may not feel so certainly.  

So here are a few rungs on the ladder of my knowing.   As I wrote in my very first blog post about cancer, I’ll start there again...

1. -God is good.   He was before cancer, and He still is now.
   

2. -God is trustworthy, though not understandable
   

3. -God is working on a bigger canvas than I can comprehend
   

4. -He weeps with us as we suffer (This is a new realization for me. Watch Jesus at Lazarus’ tomb, weeping and groaning three different times even though He knew the end was great!  He hurt to see the toll of evil on those He loved.   After my surgery I asked while looking in that awful mirror, “Does this even matter to You that this had to happen to me?”  I got my answer while reading about Lazarus’ tomb.)
   

5. -Better to be facing Cancer as a child of God than healthy without Him
   

6. -Every day has the opportunity to rejoice
   

Add a few rungs of your own, and let’s climb!