Each day lived is one day closer to the fulfillment of the kingdom of Christ. Keep living a life of goodness, peace, and joy as a kingdom-minded Christian!
Losing all your hair in chemotherapy, it ain’t fun.
And I mean it. I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and it has been a while since I battled stage III cancer back in 2010 and again in 2018, but the memories are fresh. And because tomorrow is World Cancer Day, I decided to go through the journal that I kept during my cancer battle. I journaled my reflections because, well, there were many hard days. And I wanted to see what that battle had taught me, what I’d learned, what I’d written about. Actually, those journal entries eventually became Facebook posts and comments on my blog. I made my battle against cancer rather public because, well, God was being so faithful through that terrible ordeal, and I wanted to encourage others. So what did I write back then? What do I say to others who are going through cancer? Well, while leafing slowly through those journal entries, I came across something I wrote down midway through my chemotherapy. And I had to stop when I read it, ’cause honestly, it made me cry. And this is what I wrote: “If earth’s happiest moments are slices of heaven, then our [most] tragic moments make us yearn for it.” I wrote that, I guess, around August or September 2010 when I was very sick from chemotherapy.
I had lost a great deal of weight, was fighting off infections – chemo kills off white blood cells, making you vulnerable to all kinds of opportunistic bacteria. Anyway, I was feeling weak and weary, because I was also losing my hair, even my eyelashes. Now, if you are a cancer survivor, you know all about hair loss. But for me, a quadriplegic, it was especially challenging. I mean, here I had already accepted losing use of my hands and legs, but now, losing my hair? It felt like another gut punch. But the way I saw it, if my hair was coming out in clumps, hey, cut it all off. To me, it was a Romans 14:17 moment, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, [or losing your hair], but living a life of goodness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” That Bible verse really bolstered my spirits. And one day, we will never again have to deal with loss, whether from cancer or quadriplegia. And so, my girlfriend Wendi, who is a hairdresser; when she came up to my house and buzzed off my hair, I snapped a photo of Wendi giving me a buzz cut and my resulting bald head. For I wanted to commemorate that I was a Romans 14 woman, not about to be sidelined spiritually because of a little hair loss. Hair and how we style it – is it that important? I’ll tell you, what’s more important is living a life of goodness, peace, and joy as a kingdom-minded Christian.
And it’s why I wrote in my journal that day: “If earth’s happiest moments are slices of heaven, then our tragic moments make us yearn for it.” Oh, how I look forward to that time when all pain and loss, grief, disease, and disability will be a thing of the past. And so, whatever you are struggling with today, whatever losses you are grieving, celebrate Romans 14 with me. Go to joniradio.org, ’cause I’ve posted a photo of Wendi giving me that buzz cut. Yep, there I am with my bald head. Also on that photo, I typed my journal entry about earth’s happiest and most tragic moments. Share it with a friend who is going through cancer treatment, ’cause tomorrow is World Cancer Day – one day closer to the fulfillment of the kingdom of Christ. That’s your good word today from Joni Eareckson Tada sharing hope.
© Joni and Friends