Over the years, Sandy ministered to many people. She was a nurturer and she mothered people and pointed them to Christ. An outgrowth of her job was helping to take care of the employees from Central America. Sandy had a big heart. One time she took on the local justice system when one of the workers wound up in jail. If Sandy thought something was wrong, she would go to great lengths to make things right; she was a tigress.
THE SHOCK
It was quite a shock when what Sandy was diagnosed with breast cancer. The doctor at first thought it was just an infection, but after an unsuccessful course of meds further testing was done and she was given the diagnosis of cancer. Sandy had a mastectomy and then started the dreaded chemotherapy. She would have a course of chemo, get quite ill, start to feel better and then have to go for more chemo. The chemo was followed by radiation.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALL THERE IS LEFT, IS GOD?
During the course of these therapies, Sandy’s lovely red hair fell out and her skin developed nasty painful rashes. She had always been strong physically and now found herself imprisoned in a sick and alien body. Through the relentless progress of the disease, Sandy endured. That final summer of her illness we discussed the question: “What happens when all there is left, is God?”
JEREMIAH IN THE PIT
Have you ever thought about Jeremiah of the Bible? The dumped him in a slimy stinking mud of a cistern. It had not been a winner season for him. A look at Jeremiah 38 bears witness to a most disheartening progression of events. As a preacher, Jeremiah faced a audience that didn’t pay any attention to his message. God turned up the heat on Israel with an invasion by the Babylonians. Falsely accused of being a turncoat, Jeremiah was beaten and imprisoned in a dungeon for a lengthy period. Then came the terrible cistern. The narrative tells us that he was so mired in the mud. When finally released it took thirty men pulling on ropes to lift Jeremiah out of the mud’s suction.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALL THE LIGHT IS GONE?
What did Jeremiah find in that dark cistern? Stuck and in the dark, all he heard was the dripping of water. All light fades. During her final weeks of life, Sandy found her sight deteriorating because the cancer had spread to her brain. The encroaching darkness was frightening. Her body had betrayed her and the only place of safety was in the arms of the Savior.
WHO IS WITH US
Psalm 46 paints a picture of a world in which the mountains are quaking, the seas are surging, and the earth is giving way. Everything depended on in the past falls away. Yet, verse seven says, “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” It is one thing to consider God as with us and quite another to consider God as actually being our fortress.
GOD IS ENOUGH
In that dark cistern, what did Jeremiah find ? What did Sandy discover when her eyes lost sight? Stability has flown the coop. All constants disappear. One thing remains: God. In that moment, God is enough. Ask God to open your eyes to His fortress of love.
