If you are genuinely a fearless Christian, then I want to meet you! I want to be just like YOU!
Up until yesterday, I was too scared to get a mammogram. I had put it off for four years. Why? My mom had breast cancer and a single mastectomy. My grandma had a double mastectomy.
And now I’m the age my mom was when she had it. Both lived through it, but I do NOT want to go through any of that – at all. So every time I go, I am scared to death.
I can hear some of my sisters now: “Oh NO, girl. You get that checked out. Early detection!” — And you’re absolutely right.
By the way, I had to go back for more imaging (as usual – more stress), but everything was okay. WHEW!
There is one good thing that comes from having to walk through life’s unpleasant “have to”s. You have to work with God. You have to rely on His word. And you have to exercise those faith muscles.
That’s a great place to be.
Every time I have to do that, I come out victorious on the other side. It builds my faith.
It also helps to be in community with other believers (who hard-core believe.) I shudder every time I hear a believer say they can do life without going to church. Come on, we need each other.
What to do
Today let’s talk about what we can do to prepare for that doctor’s appointment. How do we avoid walking into the hospital in tears? Or worse, avoiding the appointment altogether? Once again, we go right to the Scriptures.
The Lord led me to Matthew 14:17-20 [ESV] from Biblegateway.com
Jesus Heals a Boy with a Demon
14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon,[b] and it[c] came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.[d] 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” [e]
When I read that, I was moved by how grieved our Lord Jesus was to see how little faith the disciples had (verse 17). My first thought was, “I don’t want to burden the Lord like that!”
I zeroed in on verse 20 and held onto it for dear life before my appointment. Meditating on this verse about having faith the size of a mustard seed helped me so much. Here were Jesus’ own words, right there in red.
If you don’t know, scripture is the ultimate truth. If you can’t rely on that, you can’t trust anything in this world. Spending time in scripture helps you to see that it is reliable and useful for all situations in life. You have to experience its power, and you can’t do that if you don’t spend time in it.
Next, I spent time moving this mountain. In other words, the thought of having a negative result at the doctor – to me – was a mountain!
Jesus said, “if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Do you know that a mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds in the world? Now I KNOW I have at least that, and so do you! So there is no excuse for us to snivel and shrink back in the face of adversity (or what you’ve been enticed to think is coming your way).
If you’re scared right now, I want you to know that you have the most excellent tool in the world: Scripture. And God wants you to have that sword of the spirit in your hand to use and to fight fear.
Take that verse and hold it up before God.
Here’s what I said to Him:
God, YOU SAID that if I have the faith the size of a mustard seed, which I at LEAST have, then I can say to this mountain (I put my hand on my right breast) MOVE from HERE to THERE (and I pointed away from me) and it shall move. Any infirmity in my body right now – MOVE out of me and into a dry place – a desert place where you cannot harm me or anyone else.
I spent time there for a while. I didn’t know if there was anything wrong with me at the time, but FEAR will tell you all kinds of lies. And when you wait four years to go to the doctor, FEAR has all kinds of time to plague your mind. Let’s fight fear together, sisters! He’s a lying thief.
On my way to the appointment, I made the decision to praise the Lord all the way there. It was 8:15 in the morning, so I wasn’t sounding particularly great, but sing – I did. “Praise the Father, Praise the Son, Praise the Spirit, three in one. God of glory, Majesty, praise forever to the King of kings…” I sang that all the way to the hospital.
I walked in with a smile on my face and said good morning to everyone. I kept saying to myself another scripture verse I use in these situations:
Isaiah 26:3 [ESV]
“You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.”
The hard part is waiting for the results after the test is over. That’s the time I kept praying and asking God to honor the “work” we did in preparation for this appointment.
And when you have done all, STAND.
Ephesians 6:13 [ESV]
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”
Aren’t you thankful for the authoritative Word of God? Listen, I know if you’re too scared to even crack open your Bible right now, if all you do is whisper a prayer to God right where you are, He is there for you.
If I can pray for you, leave me a comment.
Blessings – Until next time…
JoJo