Cancer Consolations: God''s Tender Mercies By: Katy Campbell Introduction: My dear reader: I wanted to share with you my purpose in writing this book. I want so much, by God''s grace, to convey to you God''s faithfulness during difficult times. Although bad things happen, sometimes so hard we can feel as if we literally cannot bear the grief, God is faithful. And He is good, and kind, and compassionate. The Scripture Lamentations 3:22-23 means so much more to me now because I feel I have lived the truth of these verses: "It is of the LORD''s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Please understand that I know what it is to be so broken, you feel you can''t keep living and breathing from the excruciating pain you feel--pain that is both physical and emotional. I know what it is to feel like you''re being ripped apart in every direction.

I know what it is to feel so agonized your heart literally hurts and feels as if it''s breaking--slowly and desperately--til you feel it must have torn in two. I know tears of overwhelming sadness, pain, discouragement, and despair. But I also know that Jesus says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) The Lord is there during every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day. Not only does he say, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," (Hebrews 13:5c) he also promises, "I will not fail thee." (Deuteronomy 31:8b) I have never known the Lord to fail me. Quite the contrary. I have seen the Lord give joy in the midst of pain.

I have seen him give me blessings that were so personal and so kind, I felt reassurance that I was not alone. I cannot wait to share with you the goodness of the Lord. I want you to experience with me the tender mercies of the Lord that I so richly experienced, and to be renewed in your faith and hope in Jesus Christ. At the end I want you to be able to say with me, as my associate pastor quoted the glorious day of my wedding, "But God, who is rich in mercy." (Ephesians 2:4) So now let me tell you all about God''s tender mercies. ? "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow" "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Matthew 10:30 One common association people make with cancer is someone losing all their hair due to chemotherapy. My profession, before I found out I had cancer, was a cosmetologist, or hair stylist.

Although I never fit the description of "prissy," I loved doing hair ever since I can remember. So, especially now that I practically "lived" in hair because of my profession, I cared about my hair, and what it looked like. I dreaded losing my straight, thick blond locks. I knew I would be an ugly little "bald specimen," especially with a thin face and somewhat sharp nose. So, I committed this dread of mine to prayer. I begged the Lord to help me, and that if there was any way he wouldn''t mind allowing me to keep my hair, I would. But as I''ve seen so many times in my life, the verses are true that say, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

" (Isaiah 55:8-9) The Lord did let me keep a decent amount of hair on my head for a while. He graciously allowed me to transition into having straggly little strands that, for a long time, I couldn''t bear to shave off. So where is this huge blessing? Oh, let me tell you all about it! To preface this story, let me give you some background information. On August 6, 2011, at age twenty-five, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. A few days later, after having a lump on my neck biopsied, I found out the extent of my cancer. It was stage four. If cancer spreads to either the bones or an organ, it is categorized as stage four. Mine was in both.

The doctors informed me that my cancer had already spread to the bones of my legs, as well as throughout my spleen. Lymphoma is a blood cancer, which means it''s systemic (in the bloodstream), and also settles into the lymph nodes. My results showed that my little body (5''2" and 98lbs) was alarmingly packed with cancer, and was especially concentrated in my stomach and spleen. My spleen (which is supposed to be the size of a fist hiding behind the ribs) held so much cancer that it stretched from right below my ribs to the bottom of my stomach. You could literally see the outline of it through my skin. The test results also revealed that although my lymphoma had begun as a slow growing form, somewhere along the way it had metastasized (or mutated/broken off) into a fast growing cancer as well. Its rapid growth was wreaking devastating havoc on my body. We had to start aggressive chemotherapy immediately.