When Your Cancer Journey Feels Lonely
It’s easy to feel lonely in our cancer journey. But before we dive into that, take a moment to read and reread these well known words from Psalm 23.
‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me’.
How wonderful that David, who wrote this Psalm, could say he wasn’t afraid of anything.
Not because there wasn’t anything there to be afraid of, but because he knew He wasn’t alone as he walked through the valley of the shadow of death.
These familiar words are so encouraging but at the same time, I often think this is one of those bible verses that’s easy to believe when life is all roses and butterflies but, when the rubber hits the road… not so much.
The reality is, cancer is often a long dark journey through the shadow of death where it’s easy to feel alone. We wonder where God’s got to and, however much our friends and family love us, we’re the only one that sits in the chemo chair or has the tumor growing inside us.
That’s why we’re tackling the battle with loneliness on this episode. Asking and finding solutions to questions like;
As we journey through the shadow of death, why do we so often feel alone and what can we do about it?
How do we find the confidence to say I will fear no evil because I know I am not alone!!
Like I said, loneliness during our cancer is very real, no matter how big, helpful and involved your family or support network is. As soon as we start chemo we’re immunosuppressed and can’t get out and see friends as much as we once did.
Right now we’re mid Covid so that’s made things even worse.
We feel alone in our head with worries swirling around and fears of the unknown keeping us up at night AND our God, who once seemed so close can now seems so distant and silent as our prayers go unanswered.
Not to mention the fact that any troubles we had in our marriage, friendships or with our kids are made worse by the stresses and strains cancer forces on us.
The good news is that there is no need to feel alone in cancer.
No need to feel alone and distant from God and no need to feel alone and distant from friends and family.
I do not want you to feel lonely anymore… BUT I do want to start with a bit of tough love and truth …
You see, if you’re anything like me your cancer’s drawn you into yourself a bit and you’re hiding away, hunkering down where it feels safer than letting people in.
The truth is, at the beginning of my cancer journey I didn’t want anything to do with other cancer survivors and I struggled to let even my closest friends and family into what was really going inside my mind.
I’ll admit I was arrogant, afraid, and my pride got in the way.
The trouble was, eventually I felt so alone.
The loneliness had crept in while I was trying to protect myself and it felt like there was nothing I could do about it.
But that’s absolutely not true and needn’t be the case for you either. I don’t know how clearly I can say this, but
You are not alone.
You are NOT alone.
There is no need for any of us to walk through this darkest of valleys in the shadow of death alone and lonely. Our lives can be changed dramatically with some simple steps.
But, we do have to step out and take them. This my friend is one of those times when we need to act.
To find out what those steps are, listen in to Episode 14
If you haven’t already, download your TRUST prayer book mark HERE so you can pray along with me and pray with more confidence and less doubt in the week ahead.
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