Despair

After much research in the wee hours this morning, I have found that vocal cord paralysis occurs in less than 5% of thyroid cancer patients. However, in about half of the patients with vocal cord paralysis, loss of voice is caused by metastasis to the recurrent laryngeal nerve. Another request to bring before that great Throne above...pray that my loss of voice is caused by something other than the spread of my cancer!

"God does not condemn our moments of despair and unbelief. He Himself set the tone by diving into earth and enduring cruel, senseless suffering. Before the final moment, His own Son asked if the cup could pass from Him, and on the cross cried out, "God, why have You forsaken me?" The full range of anger and despair and blackness...is present in the Christian message -- complete identification with the suffering world.

But Christianity takes a further step, which has been a stumbling block to many. It is called the Resurrection, the moment of victory when the last enemy, death itself, was smashed. God, who invites Job and you and me to step into joy and victory, does not ask us to accept a Pollyannish world. He simply adds a further, mysterious layer to human experience. He asks for hope in spite of hopeless surroundings. When suffering bleeds us, He asks us not reject Him, but to respond to Him as children, trusting His wisdom and affirming, "However deep the pit, God's love is deeper still."" ~ Philip Yancey, Where is God When it Hurts?