Cancer is the disease of Paradise…
I have been reflecting on cancer because I have recently heard it called the disease of Paradise…
And I have been reflecting on what it really means when a person is diagnosed with such a disease…
After all, cancer is the sort of disease that is very black and white. People either respond to treatment and recover, or they die.
And as I have been reflecting on this and considering the very “black and white” nature of this condition, I have been trying to see the goodness of God in all of this.
You see, I have a very firm belief – through Grace and no merit of my own – that God turns ALL things to the good. And what this means in practical terms, is that there is nothing bad that could ever really happen because everything that looks bad is actually GOOD… And I know this because when He created Adam and Eve and saw that everything was good, God decided that we humans would live in a sort of paradise here on earth. And int that original plan, when our earthly lives were done, we would travel painlessly and without fear into the next life to love Him and be with Him eternally in Heaven. There was nothing included of suffering, pain, sickness or disease in God’s original plan. However, through Original Sin, this perfect plan for creation was disrupted. When that happened, God GAVE us suffering so that we could sacrifice it to make atonement for the sins that we commit in our fallen state on Earth so that we could atone for our sins and merit eternal life in Heaven.
During Medieval times, people believed that if a person was sick or suffering that this was evidence of their sinful nature. In other words, they believed that only sinful people were called to suffer and that if we suffered it was evidence that we were sinful. Thankfully, we have come to realise the error of such thinking and we no longer consider that a person who is sick or suffering is a person who has merited such a thing due to their sinful state. In fact, what we have come to realise – through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit – is that a suffering soul is a soul who is very very close to God and beloved of the Creator. And we know this because we know that God’s heart breaks at the disruption of His original perfect plan for that soul…
And because I know that my Beloved loves all souls with His broken heart, I also know that He provides all souls with an opportunity to merit Paradise. And this means that everything will actually be better after cancer. Because live or die, this disease of Paradise changes a person and those around them. And God works only goodness through the change… Even if we struggle to comprehend it with our earthly eyes.
And the truth is simply as black and white as that…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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