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What to Do When You've Been Given a Difficult Diagnosis · Daily Devotions for Busy Lives

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  Bart Leger: Dr. Ivan Park had spent his career teaching other
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  people about God. He was a Bible professor at Mississippi College,
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  the kind of man who could explain what the Bible teaches
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  about faith when life falls apart. Then, in early 2025, life
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  fell apart for him. The doctors told him he had ALS, the disease
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  that slowly shuts the body down. There's no cure, and everybody
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  in that room knew what that word meant. For a man who'd taught
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  the promises of God for a living, this would test what he'd been
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  teaching in his lectures. Everything he'd told his
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  students about trusting God was now his own to live. We'll come
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  back to what he did with it, but first,
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  welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger. This
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  one hits pretty close to home for us. A few years ago,
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  Catherine was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, an
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  autoimmune disease that inflames the spine. There's no cure for
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  it, and the pain is part of most of her days. We came out of that
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  appointment with a word we had never heard before and a future
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  neither one of us had planned on. What I've learned since then is
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  that grace comes one day at a time.
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  diagnosis changes the shape of your life in a moment. You went
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  into the appointment with the ordinary worries about parking
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  and getting back to work in the afternoon, and you came out with
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  something that reorders everything. The drive home is a
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  strange thing all by itself. The radio might still be playing,
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  but the world around has no idea that yours has just changed.
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  Then come the days after. You're making phone calls, and you've
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  never rehearsed, and reading things at midnight that you
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  probably shouldn't be reading on the internet. Somewhere in there,
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  you have to work out how to tell your family. Everybody wants to
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  know how you're doing, and you have no answer for them because
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  you don't even know yourself yet. The church is sometimes slow to
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  know what to say to somebody in that week. People mean well. Oh,
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  they may send a verse. Others say nothing at all because
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  they're afraid of getting it wrong. There's a promise in
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  Isaiah written for exactly this. Isaiah 43, 2. When you go
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  through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through
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  rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through
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  the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. The flames
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  will not consume you. Look closely at how that promise is
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  built. Every line of it assumes you are already in the water,
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  deep waters and fire. Then he puts himself inside it with you.
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  The word to hold on to is through. You go through deep
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  waters. You walk through the fire. There is a far side to
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  this, and God is with you every step of the way there. Isaiah
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  wrote those words to a people headed into exile. They read
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  that promise on their way into trouble, and it held them. So it
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  will hold for a person walking out of a doctor's office with a
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  folder in their hand and no idea what to do next. There's a
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  second half to how God keeps a promise like this, and it
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  usually has a name and a phone number. Much of the time, he is
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  with you through people who show up at your door. That's what a
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  church is for. If you're the one who just got the news, let them
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  in, even when you'd rather not be seen this week. And if you're
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  the friend standing outside that door with no idea what to say,
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  go anyway. Bring food or whatever it is that they may
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  need in the moment. You don't need a speech. Then take the
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  next step in front of you, the next appointment, the next phone
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  call, and that's the entire assignment for the day. Here's
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  what Ivan did with it. He decided not to spend whatever
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  time he had left on the what-ifs. live one day at a time. A verse
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  he kept holding on to was Joshua 1.9. Be strong and courageous.
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  And he wasn't alone in it. His church and his college began
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  helping with meals and regular prayer, doing for the family
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  what the body of Christ is supposed to do. Ivan put it
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  simply. I still feel like I'm living, he said. I don't feel
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  like I'm dying. Look at the two things Ivan had. He had one
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  verse and one day. And he refused to spend today on a
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  future nobody could describe for him. Then look at who was around
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  him. A church and a college brought meals and prayed, which
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  is the body of Christ doing its job. A promise and some people.
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  The combination is how anybody gets through a week like this.
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  Here's today's challenge. If you're the one with the
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  diagnosis, write Isaiah 43.2 on something and put it where
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  you'll see it first thing in the morning. Then do one thing that
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  day that belongs to today. Make the call or eat a meal you've
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  been skipping. If you're the friend, pick up your phone and
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  ask what they can eat. Skip the question about whether they need
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  anything because they may not even know what they might need.
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  Father, you told your people you would be with them in deep water,
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  and you have never gone back on that. For everyone listening who
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  is holding a piece of paper with a word on it that they can
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  barely pronounce, be with them tonight the only way you can and
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  steady them for tomorrow's appointment. Send them people
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  who bring food and stay a while. And make our churches quick to
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  move toward the ones who just got the news. We ask you for
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  healing where you will give it and for your presence either way.
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  In Jesus' name, amen. If you need prayer today, I'd love to
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  hear from you. You can leave me a voicemail at
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  dailydevotionsforbusylives.com slash voicemail. I listen to
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  every single one, and it would be an honor to bring your name
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  before the Lord. Thanks for joining me on Daily Devotions
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  for Busy Lives. Remember, the promise is that you go through
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  it and God goes with you. Take the next step and let people
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  help you. Come back next time for more encouragement to help
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  you live grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a
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  great day.