A Woman of Faith

I regularly read a blog by a woman named Robyn Openshaw She is the infamous Green Smoothie Girl. Her most recent mission is to explore the country's alternative health centers and discover what's happening in them. She posted this today about a man she met at a treatment center in Arizona:

"Dave has been at Oasis of Healing for 6 weeks. He’s fighting on two fronts, since he cracked two discs in his back and couldn’t walk when he arrived in Mesa. But feeling is returning to his legs and he is feeling better. He is taking IV hydrogen peroxide, Vitamin C, sodium selenite (Dr. Lodi is one of only two American docs using it) and IPT.

He said: “Cancer is more than a sickness. It has a spiritual side. It reaches right into a person. It’s like a darkness, like you’re sinking into a hole.” (The other cancer patients in the room all began nodding as he said this.)

He said: “I was once shot, and my lung deflated. Once I was hit by a train. I wasn’t supposed to live, either time. With this, I’ve fought hard. I’ve come this far. I’m not going to quit now.”

Dr. Frank Shallenberger said to Dave, “There’s no reason you have to lie down for this. You’ve got a really great chance of something else getting you before cancer does.”

Dave repeated this quote to me a few times, in the beautiful story he told me of a rich, abundant life: of his parents, a wife and children, a professional career, dual citizenship on this continent, harrowing experiences he triumphed over…a life well lived. I told him about my grandmother beating Stage 3 cancer, with her diet. He asked me one thing: “She was a woman of faith, wasn’t she?”

Indeed she was."

When I got to this phrase, my heart moved. To me the testimony of hope in life is evident in these valiant souls who face death without fear or despair. Alma says "therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." Sometimes the things we hope for are only on the other side waiting to be shown to us but always we must press forward. My mom recently told me that I needed to boldly claim the blessings that I have the right to claim. The claiming of blessings comes from hope. Hope to be healed, hope to change, hope to grow. These things come through acts of faith that require us to step into the unknown with surety and with courage.