After a long pause on the telephone, the nurse finally said, "I will need to have the doctor call you back in a few minutes with the biopsy results."  
 
            I knew by her response that I did have cancer and that my life would be now going in a completely different direction than I had planned.  It happened in a moment.
 
            I was six months pregnant with my third child when the doctor returned that call and confirmed what I already knew.  The tumor in my neck was malignant.  Suddenly I was faced with a brand new life paradigm.  I was a 28 year old wife who was busy raising two toddlers.  My life was already full and complicated, and I had another baby who would arrive soon.  The upcoming surgery and treatment was overwhelming enough, much less all the "What if..." questions that started going through my mind.
 
            What if the cancer was ravaging my body?  What if I had complications during surgery?  What if something happened to my unborn child?  What if I didn't survive and left my family without a wife and mother?  Naturally, these questions began to swirl in my mind and I started to become anxious.  I realized then that I had two choices: fear or hope. 
 
            Fortunately, as a young child, I had made a friend who would forever be there as my source of strength and hope.  Having grown up in a home where I was loved and the Bible was read and taught to me, I knew at age eight that there was a God bigger than myself.  I knew that Jesus, the One who even wanted silly little children to come to Him, wanted me to know Him personally, as well.  That decision to put my trust in His death on the cross to pay the price for my sins and to love Him with my whole heart was the solid foundation that I knew I could hold to when I was facing the greatest crisis of my life.
 
            Because of Jesus, I was able to face my cancer knowing that His presence in my life was not imagined or a fantasy.  It was a clear reality. He was in control and wanted the best for me.  I also knew that if I wasn't healed, I would live forever with Him in heaven. What a gift God gave me and my family to have peace in the middle of a life crisis. 
 
            I am now healthy and have been blessed with four children.  However, this world keeps hitting hard at my family.  The number of surgical and medical procedures we have had is way above average. In the midst of each of those defining moments when we find ourselves facing another crisis, we can choose to hope in the One whose love is beyond measure and is above all circumstances.  Jesus is that hope.