Don't sign for that!

Mark 10:51 Jesus asks blind Bartimeaus, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

Have you ever received a ‘bad report’? Have you ever sat in a doctor’s office and heard “I’m sorry. It’s incurable, Stage Four Cancer”?

On Friday, February 13th, 2004, I heard just that. I could feel the heat in my face while an icy chill ran down my spine. I looked at my daughter. She had tears in her eyes. My mom looked at me (her daughter) with tears in her eyes and we all stood in total silence; not quite sure what we were to do next. My heart screamed, “This can’t be happening!” My thoughts ran wild with “what ifs,” “whys,” and “what now” questions.

Imagine the UPS man arrives at your front door with a package in his hands. When you reach for the package you notice several warning labels slapped on the outside of the box. Warnings such as; “Recipient acknowledges that by signing for this package they are agreeing to unquestionably accept the contents of said package.” You slowly turn the package over and see the single word ANTHRAX! I would imagine you would immediately hand the package back to the UPS man and say “I’m not accepting this!”

One of the very first lessons I learned through this cancer journey was “Don’t sign for that!” Every time I would go to tell someone “I have cancer…” or even say “my cancer…” Holy Spirit would stop me immediately. “Don’t sign for that! Don’t claim that! Don’t put your name on that! Don’t call it your own!!”

At first, I felt like such a hypocrite. What do I tell people when they ask? That’s when I discovered that the definition of diagnosis is “a medical guess at the cause of specific symptoms.” I can live with that! So from that point on I would tell people “I was diagnosed with cancer… or my diagnosis was cancer.” The diagnosis I could claim and sign for. But I wasn’t putting my name on the cancer! I wasn’t calling it my own!

Ask yourself these two questions: #1 what is the enemy trying to get you to sign for: disease, death, financial loss, divorce, etc,? Have you already signed for that deadly package? Have you already accepted and claimed it as your own?

Now ask yourself: #2 “What do you want God to do for you?” Is He able to answer your request? Is it true that NOTHING is impossible for Him? Do you believe the Word of God completely (or just in part)?