Be careful who you listen to.

What cancer has taught me about malignant voices.

I blocked a woman on Facebook because her words slithered and constricted, like a snake lodged in my ear. Soon after posting that my cancer may have returned, a woman I barely knew messaged me saying, “You’re going to make us all jealous because you are going to Jesus sooner than we are.”

The tongue holds the power of death and life.

I’m not sure if she was speaking from wicked intent, or simply lacked any sense of discernment. However, the impact of her words ushered in fear and confusion. “Why would you say that? Do you believe I’m going to die? How would you know that?’

The tongue has the power of life and death,
    and those who love it will eat its fruit. —Proverbs 18:21

Assumptions rooted in death and ignorance:

• She believed that a cancer diagnosis meant I was dying. (I am not.)

• She believed that my premature departure to Heaven was something to celebrate and accommodate; that fighting wasn’t an option. Only joyful surrender to sickness was. Sickness for her, was God’s will.

• She believed that my death would make others jealous they, too, weren’t dying early.

After tussling with her for a few rounds, I decided I would block her. Engagement with her was futile. Her words brought heaviness and the pall of death. They represented neither the healing character of God, or even the body’s own capacity to heal. Frankly, had I entertained her words, they would have had a curse-like impact on both mind and body.

Dr. Bernie Siegel writes that a certain passive personality who refuses to fight disease, but accepts it as God’s will, is more likely to succumb to illness than someone who demands a second opinion and, in general, fights to survive. — Healing, Francis MacNutt

The takeaway for healing:

Listen to voices of hope, life, and healing; for they are the voice of God. Disregard all others.