God Doesn't Work in Mysterious Ways

Ever heard the expression “God works in mysterious ways”? Well that’s not the case for me and here’s why:

People constantly exclaim “God works in mysterious ways” but that hasn’t been the case in my life (recently at least). What does ‘mysterious ways’ even mean anyways? Does it mean that we cannot comprehend what God is doing in our lives? Does it mean God always has something up his sleeve for us? Does it mean you receive blessing without realizing they are blessings? I’ve never really understood the expression. I will let you be the judge of those questions and answer them, but I know for certain that God hasn’t worked in mysterious ways for me, personally at least.

The reason I say he hasn’t worked in mysterious ways is that his work is evident in my life. His ways are easily distinguishable to me. God has blessed me with family and friends that love me dearly and would do anything for me. He has blessed me with a healthy mind, soul, and even body. He blessed me with intellect from a young age. He has blessed me with two wonderful parents, three beautiful sisters, and two amazing grandparents. He has blessed me with ample amounts of opportunities in my life. He has blessed me with plenty of food to eat (yes that is a blessing especially ice cream).  God has blessed me beyond measure and it isn’t hard to see it. God has blessed you tremendously as well, you just have to be willing to dig deep into your soul to find the blessings. They aren’t hard to find. The hard part is completely surrendering yourself to God and realizing that it isn’t you who does anything, but Him in you.

Blessings come in all different types and I cannot sit here and tell you what your blessings are or are not, because a blessing to me could be an affliction for you. Cancer has been a blessing to me. Most people might think of it otherwise, but to me it’s a blessing. We must crack our shell to find the blessings that are just waiting to be discovered in our life. Truthfully, it took me getting cancer for me to find some of the blessing in my own life. It might take a heartbreak for you to find your hidden blessings, but trust me, they are out there just waiting to be found. Just look at me.

Throughout the past few months I have been living a somewhat normal life with no thought of cancer. In fact, I forget I have cancer most of the time because I am such heavily blessed. When you’re surrounded by blessings, the pain goes away. When you’re surrounded by light, the darkness fades. Cancer is not something you can forget, but I live like I do. I live as if I don’t have cancer so that I may return to normal. I still go to class, church, and extracurricular activities. I still hang out with my friends and do stupid stuff because I’m young and wild. I know, however, after this experience is over nothing will be normal again. I’ve come to accept that normality will never exist in my lifetime again and I am completely fine with that. Normality is overrated.

Through all the recent events I graciously received a bookmark hidden inside of a book that someone gave me, and I would like to share with you what it says:

            “Cancer is so limited…

            It cannot cripple love.

            It cannot shatter hope.

            It cannot corrode faith.

            It cannot eat away peace.

            It cannot destroy confidence.

            It cannot kill friendship.

            It cannot shut out memories.

            It cannot silence courage.

            It cannot reduce eternal life.

            It cannot quench the Spirit.”

This hit home for me. While God works miraculously in our lives, it’s sometimes hard not to think about what cancer is doing to you. Cancer is a disease beating me physically and mentally. Physically it is destroying and taking over my body, while mentally it leaves me without words most of the time. My body feels like it has just been run over by a freight train and my mind feels like someone put my brain in a blender. It doesn’t feel good to fight cancer, but it is a part of the process and it must be done. Cancer can destroy the body but not the soul.

My blessing is my cancer. It has opened my eyes to blessings I would not have even seen or noticed if I had not been diagnosed with Lymphoma.

           

Again, I ask what are these “mysterious ways” God works in? If you soak up every blessing and immerse yourself in his righteousness, there should be no mysterious ways, because every ‘way’ should be evident already. Keep your mind on the Father at all times.

“Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

-Hebrews 12:1b-3

Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.