Cancun!! 🌴
I am in Cancun with my bestie. 🤗
Believe me .... It is as fabulous as it sounds! There is sunshine, ocean air, beautiful views, and all the things that make Cancun feel like Cancun.
But we are not here for the usual vacation reason. We are here because she had a follow-up appointment at the Hope for Cancer Center. That changes the weight of the trip a little.
It is still beautiful. It is still precious time with my friend. But it is also a reminder of everything she has walked through, everything she has changed, and everything God has done in her life over the last couple of years.
When someone you love receives a terminal diagnosis with a timeline, you start paying attention to things differently.
At the Hope for Cancer Center, every patient has a protocol.
What to eat.
What to avoid.
What vitamins to take.
What minerals their body needs.
What toxins need attention.
What therapies are part of their plan.
Every patient’s protocol is a little different because every patient’s body and situation is a little different. But every person here is doing immensely more than the average person does on a normal day.
Multiple pills. Multiple therapies. Holistic practices. Diet changes. Substitutions. Eliminations.
Discipline. Routine. A level of intentionality that is honestly humbling to watch.
Alternative medicine can sometimes get labeled with a little “hooey-hooey” vibe. But when your best friend was given a diagnosis that felt impossible, and two years later she is labeled disease free!!, it is worth noticing the changes she has made.
I'll admit, I am not sure I could follow all of those protocols if my life were not at stake.... And maybe even then.
Intentional choices are everywhere. Even the food here tells the story. Things you do not necessarily expect when your brain hears “Cancun vacation."
All with out salt... 👀
... These are the choices patients make to change their situation.
Change is not always glamorous.
Sometimes change looks like taking the vitamins. Sometimes it looks like drinking the thing you would not have chosen.
Sometimes it looks like saying no to what feels normal or trading the thing you want for the thing you need ...
There is a weariness to it. A brutal kind of daily discipline. And yet, here are patients doing it with joy because the reward is not small. The reward is healing. The reward is life.
As I engaged in all of these people's stories and thought of my friend and all the changes she has made, I kept thinking about small steps. Because big changes do not usually happen all at once.
And changes that are right for one person cannot be forced on someone else.
You can only change you.
You can live with conviction, make better choices, and follow the protocol you have been given.
You can let your lifestyle, decisions, testimony, and fruit speak for themselves.
But you cannot force transformation onto someone else.
If I meet someone who does not hold the same standard I hold, I should not expect that standard from them as if it already belongs to them. But if they see me living faithfully, and one thing in their life changes for the better because of what they witnessed in mine, then my choices have mattered.
And the same is true in reverse.
When I see someone doing something good, disciplined, wise, or healing for themselves, it encourages me to ask where I may need to do the same.
Not because I believed all the same things before I met them. Not because they forced me to believe their beliefs, but because faithful living has a way of quietly influencing the people close enough to see it.
That is what I have seen in my friend. Her obedience, discipline, faith, and willingness to do hard things have not just affected her. They have affected the people watching her.
I think that is how our walk with Jesus is supposed to work too. Not forced.
Not a checklist we use to feel superior. But a life so surrendered, so steadily changed, that other people begin to notice the fruit and wonder what is different.
I keep thinking about our human condition. The truth is, we are all terminal apart from Christ. Maybe that sounds dramatic, but Scripture is clear:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
— Romans 3:23
And also:
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
— Romans 6:23
We are all in need of healing, of rescue... Of redemption.
And Jesus is the answer.
But here is the good news: Jesus does not call us to instant perfection. He calls us to Himself. He walks with us through the process of becoming more like Him.
That process is sanctification. A slow, holy, lifelong becoming.
One step.
One surrender.
One conviction.
One obedience.
One faithful choice at a time.
The Lord is not asking me to wake up tomorrow and magically have every part of my life fully matured, fully healed, fully disciplined, and fully surrendered. He is asking me to wake up and take the next faithful step toward Him. And it's not always easy, we're not going to do it perfectly. But each choice counts and when we stumble, He is there to steady us.
Scripture gives us such tender picture with Thomas. We often call him Doubting Thomas, which feels a little unfair considering he had already spent years following Jesus faithfully and most of us would probably like to examine the evidence too.
But after Jesus rose from the dead, Thomas struggled to believe what the other disciples had seen. When Jesus came to him, He did not shame him.
He did not say, “How dare you doubt Me. You are no disciple of Mine.” Instead, Jesus invited him to draw closer.
“Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”
— John 20:27
He did not excuse the doubt. But He also did not reject Thomas for it. He met him in it and invited him closer. When Thomas drew close to Jesus, his doubt was not only forgiven. It was completely erased.
This gives me so much hope. Because Jesus’ protocol is "draw near to me" .... not make yourself perfect.
It is coming closer. It's choosing everyday several times a day to surrender our choices for what we want for what is better for us ... It is letting Him touch the places where we doubt, fail, resist, and need healing. It is allowing Him to show us the next small change that brings us more in line with His heart.
It's not, “Can I fix everything today?”
Or, “Can I become perfect by tomorrow?”
Or, “Can I make everyone else follow what God is showing me?”
But simply:
Lord, what is my next faithful step?
Is it a habit, a boundary? Maybe it is forgiveness or confession. It could be prayer or choosing peace. Maybe it is taking better care of the body He gave me.
Maybe it is letting go of something that has been feeding what God is trying to heal.
Maybe it is just one small act of obedience that does not look dramatic to anyone else, but matters deeply between you and Him.
Because small steps matter. They mattered for my friend. They matter for patients at Hope for Cancer who are walking through a daily protocol toward healing.
And they matter in our walk with Jesus too.
We may want instant transformation, but God is often doing a faithful, steady work one surrendered step at a time.
It is important to remember that my walk doesn't have to look like anybody else's. It's a personal journey for each one of us.
We live it.
We walk it.
We let the fruit speak.
We let our testimony be honest.
We let our lives point to the One who heals.
If someone near us takes even one step closer to Jesus because they saw that He was doing something positive in us, then that is a gift.
Healing and growth starts with just the next faithful step!
What is one small, faithful step Jesus may be inviting you to take toward healing, obedience, or becoming more like Him?
Lord, thank You for meeting us where we are and lovingly inviting us closer. Help us not be overwhelmed by all that needs to change, but to be faithful in the each step You place before us. Teach us to live in a way that reflects Your goodness without forcing our journey onto others. Make our lives a testimony of Your healing, grace, and patient work in us. Amen.
Until next time, keep following the Plott, and I will be praying for us all. 💛
Comments
Post a Comment