Looking To The Guide

Going through cancer is very frightening.  Lots of unfamiliar territory.  Sometimes the journey may take years with lots of trips and turns.  I know my journey became absolutely chaotic when I was undergoing chemotherapy.  My nausea was so severe that I ended up being hospitalized five times with dehydration. I was also anemic.  I tried to work as much as I could but it was difficult being hospitalized so much.  A couple of times I went to work even when I felt extremely bad and ultimately was admitted to the hospital FROM work.  On one occasion, I went into a patient's room and felt like I was going to pass out.  Now that would have been impressive!  Nevertheless, I ran outside the room and told my coworker how I felt.  She graciously took over the work while I went to the emergency room and was subsequently admitted to the hospital.
 
In addition to nausea, I learned how bad chemotherapy is from a fatigue standpoint.  I have never felt so tired in my life.  I felt I was like a cigarette butt being ground in an ashtray.  Grounding, pounding, unrelentless.  Furthermore, the tiredness never seemed to get much better.  I was always tired, always felt bad.  Every task that I performed, whether working around the house or going to work, required significant effort on my part.  It wasn't until the chemotherapy ended that my energy level improved significantly a couple of weeks later.

However, I don't write about these matters to get sympathy.  I also hope that the reason I wrote my book was not to get sympathy.  No, not at all.  Having gone through cancer, I feel I have much to share about getting through it from a personal standpoint.  Things that worked, things that didn't.  In other words, I want to be a guide to anyone going through cancer.

Perhaps the greatest guide in hard times  is the Lord God Himself.  Isaiah 58:11 proclaims, "...the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail."  Wow!  Great promise...great comfort.

A wise old hymn writer, William Williams, also looked to God as his guide.  Consider the precious  words of this hymn, "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah".

"Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land. 
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
hold me with thy powerful hand. 
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me till I want no more;
feed me till I want no more.

Open now the crystal fountain,
whence the healing stream doth flow;
let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through. 
Strong deliverer, strong deliverer,
be thou still my strength and shield;
be thou still my strength and shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside;
death of death and hell's destruction,
land me safe on Canaan's side. 
Songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to thee;
I will ever give to thee."

Don't try to make it through life on your own.  Look to the guide.  "For such is God, our God forever and ever;  He will guide us until death" (Psalms 48:14).