Mountaintop Musings: Supernatural Help Is Available If You Are Looking For It

As April comes around each year, I always look back to the years 2000-2001.

You may remember those days. The end of the world from Y2K did not happen. The power grid did not fail. The world did not spin off its axis or orbit into the sun. Yes, we survived that period where people were buying all the generators, guns and ammo, stock-piling food, etc. You know I do not remember people hoarding toilet paper or hand sanitizer though! Ha, we did not know how good we had it back then, did we?

Time has a way of taking the "edge" off the hard things of life. I believe that sooner, rather than later, the pain, trauma, and fears of today will fade in similar fashion. For me and my family not only did we have Y2K to deal with, but we were also in the midst of a very painful, stressful and fearful battle with cancer. My wife was seven-plus months pregnant when we discovered she had cancer. Cancer that was aggressive. Cancer that was in her lymphatic system. Cancer that took our plans that were years in the making and turned them upside down and inside out.

You see we had been planning to move to Montana for rural Christian ministry and to Pastor a church in Wolf Creek. We had built (really it was the Lord) a solid support team, raised over half of our financial goal, and then boom. The biopsy was bad. So, we had to induce labor and have our baby girl come a little early. That was another emotional hit on the family. Oh, did I mention we had the first offer on our home we needed to sell in order to move back west? Yes, we had to decide whether to take the offer, before we knew the results of the biopsy.

What to do? Well some said scrap the ministry plans, stay with your secure job. Others said, keep moving, the Devil is trying to distract you. Well Lisa and I had already decided that, cancer or not, we had to sell the house in order to move to Montana. We also decided God as the Master Planner of the Universe, had allowed this little challenge to come to us and He would use it to further His plan. And yes, we suffered some physical and emotional pain in the cancer ward.

Was it all "pie in the sky" fun, and an easy time? No! It was at times soul wrenching. It was fearful, especially when every surgery, biopsy and test came back with the results we did not want. We had to find a rental and move because we did accept the offer on our house. We had to quit home-schooling and place our four school-aged boys in public school (which was ok). We had to learn that God was right with us in the hooking up of the chemo drip, the multiple surgeries, the 6 weeks of radiation, and the paying off of over 10,000 dollars in expenses. Not to mention the over $30,000 one doctor wrote off because she cared about her patient rather than the bottom line.

Trying times, fearful times, uncertain times; and God was right there leading us on our journey. Some thought we were crazy, deluded with a faith in a "god" that does not exist. Others were encouraged, strengthened in their faith in God. One man turned back to God and became a strong leader in his church and community. He said it was because if the Carroll's could keep their faith and follow God, he had no excuses.

So, the point of this story? Well, in this life we are going to face many hurdles and challenges. We are in a period of fear and uncertainty. Do we quit? No! Do we turn selfish and ignore the needs around us? No! You can live in fear or faith. It is a choice. The faith I would encourage you to live in is not generic, mystical or man-made. It is faith in The God of the Cancer Ward. It is faith in the God who meets unmeetable financial bills. It is the God who provides a family of 8 with a rental home in Montana, three days before they are leaving east Tennessee.

So spring is coming, and so is the Lord. I pray you are ready for both!

(Dave & Lisa Carroll are area missionaries with InFaith, America's oldest Christian home mission agency. You can contact Dave at 406.459.8935 or [email protected].)