What to Do When You've Been Given a Difficult Diagnosis

Dr. Ivan Park had spent his career teaching other

people about God. He was a Bible professor at Mississippi College,

the kind of man who could explain what the Bible teaches

about faith when life falls apart. Then, in early 2025, life

fell apart for him. The doctors told him he had ALS, the disease

that slowly shuts the body down. There's no cure, and everybody

in that room knew what that word meant. For a man who'd taught

the promises of God for a living, this would test what he'd been

teaching in his lectures. Everything he'd told his

students about trusting God was now his own to live. We'll come

back to what he did with it, but first,

welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger. This

one hits pretty close to home for us. A few years ago,

Catherine was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, an

autoimmune disease that inflames the spine. There's no cure for

it, and the pain is part of most of her days. We came out of that

appointment with a word we had never heard before and a future

neither one of us had planned on. What I've learned since then is

that grace comes one day at a time.

diagnosis changes the shape of your life in a moment. You went

into the appointment with the ordinary worries about parking

and getting back to work in the afternoon, and you came out with

something that reorders everything. The drive home is a

strange thing all by itself. The radio might still be playing,

but the world around has no idea that yours has just changed.

Then come the days after. You're making phone calls, and you've

never rehearsed, and reading things at midnight that you

probably shouldn't be reading on the internet. Somewhere in there,

you have to work out how to tell your family. Everybody wants to

know how you're doing, and you have no answer for them because

you don't even know yourself yet. The church is sometimes slow to

know what to say to somebody in that week. People mean well. Oh,

they may send a verse. Others say nothing at all because

they're afraid of getting it wrong. There's a promise in

Isaiah written for exactly this. Isaiah 43, 2. When you go

through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through

rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through

the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. The flames

will not consume you. Look closely at how that promise is

built. Every line of it assumes you are already in the water,

deep waters and fire. Then he puts himself inside it with you.

The word to hold on to is through. You go through deep

waters. You walk through the fire. There is a far side to

this, and God is with you every step of the way there. Isaiah

wrote those words to a people headed into exile. They read

that promise on their way into trouble, and it held them. So it

will hold for a person walking out of a doctor's office with a

folder in their hand and no idea what to do next. There's a

second half to how God keeps a promise like this, and it

usually has a name and a phone number. Much of the time, he is

with you through people who show up at your door. That's what a

church is for. If you're the one who just got the news, let them

in, even when you'd rather not be seen this week. And if you're

the friend standing outside that door with no idea what to say,

go anyway. Bring food or whatever it is that they may

need in the moment. You don't need a speech. Then take the

next step in front of you, the next appointment, the next phone

call, and that's the entire assignment for the day. Here's

what Ivan did with it. He decided not to spend whatever

time he had left on the what-ifs. live one day at a time. A verse

he kept holding on to was Joshua 1.9. Be strong and courageous.

And he wasn't alone in it. His church and his college began

helping with meals and regular prayer, doing for the family

what the body of Christ is supposed to do. Ivan put it

simply. I still feel like I'm living, he said. I don't feel

like I'm dying. Look at the two things Ivan had. He had one

verse and one day. And he refused to spend today on a

future nobody could describe for him. Then look at who was around

him. A church and a college brought meals and prayed, which

is the body of Christ doing its job. A promise and some people.

The combination is how anybody gets through a week like this.

Here's today's challenge. If you're the one with the

diagnosis, write Isaiah 43.2 on something and put it where

you'll see it first thing in the morning. Then do one thing that

day that belongs to today. Make the call or eat a meal you've

been skipping. If you're the friend, pick up your phone and

ask what they can eat. Skip the question about whether they need

anything because they may not even know what they might need.

Father, you told your people you would be with them in deep water,

and you have never gone back on that. For everyone listening who

is holding a piece of paper with a word on it that they can

barely pronounce, be with them tonight the only way you can and

steady them for tomorrow's appointment. Send them people

who bring food and stay a while. And make our churches quick to

move toward the ones who just got the news. We ask you for

healing where you will give it and for your presence either way.

In Jesus' name, amen. If you need prayer today, I'd love to

hear from you. You can leave me a voicemail at

dailydevotionsforbusylives.com slash voicemail. I listen to

every single one, and it would be an honor to bring your name

before the Lord. Thanks for joining me on Daily Devotions

for Busy Lives. Remember, the promise is that you go through

it and God goes with you. Take the next step and let people

help you. Come back next time for more encouragement to help

you live grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a

great day.