The Lord is My Rock

Updates: 

• My medical team has put a pause on my chemo treatments until they can discover the cause of my cough. I had a PET scan this past week, but the results are not conclusive. I need more testing to be done to inform my situation and see if any adjustments need to be made to future treatment.  
• I am thankful for my doctor and his desire to be thorough. Although I was anticipating getting chemo this week, I do believe it is best to be informed with the most accurate information instead of just proceeding as normal. 

Prayer Requests and Praises:

• Please pray for any future tests and the results. Pray that tests would be conducted quickly and would come back clear. 
• Please pray that whatever is causing my cough would be completely healed. 

What I am Learning: 

• I keep realizing suffering is an opportunity to trust the Lord. It is tempting to view this as a setback and be discouraged by it. However, there is nothing to do except wait on the Lord as I wait for more test results. 
• During the first part of a PET scan, they inject you with an isotope. They instruct you to sit still in an isolation room for about an hour. During that time, I listened repeatedly to Psalm 62. (I use the Dwell App which is a wonderful app for Bible reading)
• This Psalm has been a real source of comfort for me. God knows the outcome of every test and he is my rock. 

         For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. (Psalm 62:5–7)

What Has Been Encouraging: 

• Each time I get a scan, I try to use it as a test for my Bible memory. For PET scans, they wrap you like a burrito and place you in this machine that looks like a giant donut. As the scanner hums over, it is a good time to rehearse the Bible. This focuses my mind and my heart.
• This time I started with the book of Genesis and tried to recount as much content as I could from each chapter. I was able to make it all the way to chapter 11 by the time the scan was complete (Which is a good thing because I couldn’t remember anything from chapter 12!). 
• Each chapter of Genesis is filled with God’s lovingkindness to his people who are rebellious and broken. God is so kind to us. He promised a Messiah who would be the one to die in our place and take our sins upon the cross. Jesus is our sure rock because he died and rose again.