John Hendrix
In mid-January of 2025 I underwent a stem cell transplant. Some of my stem cells had been harvested a couple of days before. For the next step, I would be injected with a poison to destroy my bone marrow and then given my harvested stem cells back.
First a poison to destroy my body’s ability to produce any type of blood cells, then the stem cells that would hopefully – over time – rebuild my body’s immune system and blood supply.
This was going to be hard. The previous six months or so since my diagnosis had been extremely difficult already. So, you might imagine, the night before this injection I was a bit apprehensive. I was visited by the Hospital chaplain. He asked a bit about me and about the difficulties I had been through since my diagnosis. Then he asked, “How has your faith helped you in these difficulties?”
I started out answering in some vague generalities. Something like, “I do have faith, my faith is very important to me, and I would hate to face something like this without faith.”
He interrupted me mid-vagueness, “How has your faith helped you in these difficulties?”
It startled me. Hey! I’m the patient here! You’re supposed to indulge me.
I must acknowledge that I wasn’t really answering his question. And he apparently wasn’t going to let me skim over his question.
So, trying again, I mentioned how good it was to pray and know that God listens and cares. I go to God’s word and read about His care, His concern, and His promise of everlasting life. Because of my faith, I have good brethren who I know are praying for me, and I know that He is listening to them.
That answer seemed to satisfy him.
Instead of simply offering me his kind words, the chaplain had encouraged me to put my faith to work. This was something I needed to do on the eve of this very difficult medical procedure. He had me using my faith to comfort myself over what had happened in the last 6 months and to prepare myself to face the multi-month difficulties of the near future.
Faith is not just something for us to have, it is something for us to use. Faith isn’t passive, it involves an act of will. Jesus calls believing in Him a work (John 6:29) and promised that – by performing that work – we can see the glory of God (John 11:40). That belief can and should be of great help to us in our difficulties. I’m sure that everyone reading this has difficulties that they are going through. Life is wonderful, but it is often also hard. How is your faith helping you in these difficulties? Be intentional in putting it to work.
