Please don't say, "She LOST her battle to cancer." , when a cancer patient dies. (I learned this from the TV series The Big C). She lost her battle for dying? We must be all losers then, because ALL OF US will face our Maker someday.
To me, a cancer patient's victory is that she has lived well despite the disease. I'd like to be said of me someday after many many years, "She won her battle because she lived well despite cancer."
I have heard of a woman who, after all her treatments and is now still living, stayed angry and bitter. To me, even though, she has survived cancer, she still lost the battle.
I've had my moments. I would cry and get so irritated with all the procedures sometimes. I've been doing this for two years! But I am not angry or bitter.
I'm not saying I'm better. I am thankful for all my survivor friends who helped me cope. They have reminded me to hope, pray, have purpose, and simply enjoy life.
I cannot even imagine going through this without family and friends!
To see my family increase in love and see the character of my friends are victories for me. To feel peace despite THIS is another one.
Truthfully, I don't feel like I am fighting any battle. I do what I need to do, but I will not insist on how I want this to end, just so I can be called a "winner". What feels right to me is to surrender and submit my situation to the One who never lost and will never ever lose in battles.
I remember Jesus, who in the beginning, looked like he was losing, but he rose and showed the world how to be truly victorious.
Philippians 2:5 Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus....who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God, but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men. And he humbled himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Yet it was because of this that God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name which is above every other name.....
Wow, his ways are so different from our ways. To us, to be a winner means acting, looking, and sounding like it, and to actually gain something. To him, as shown in the verse, winning meant losing first, humility, and trusting God all the way.
To those who died of cancer and chose to live well; to those who are still in treatment and are constantly choosing to live truly (you may not handle things perfectly but....)you, we, are victorious!
