“I would take this for you if I could.”  Those words shook me to my core.  A friend who is no stranger to cancer said those words to me.  The cancer that affects her was not in her own body but had been in the body of her husband and is now in the body of her youngest son.

Brain cancer took the life of her husband and now a completely unrelated brain cancer is threatening to take the life of her son.

She knows the pain.  She knows the fear.  She knows the questions all too well.   How could she say she would take my cancer if she could?

Because of love.  She’s walked this road.  She knows the struggle.  She loves.

Of course she can’t physically take my pain or my cancer.  But knowing that she is walking with me in it and praying daily for me is a warm blanket of comfort.

Love carries burdens.  Love puts others first.  Love doesn’t count the cost.  Love does the difficult.

There is One who can and has taken my spiritual burden away and His name is Jesus Christ.  He took the punishment I was supposed to have for my sin when He voluntarily died on the cross.  He paid for it all.  He knew pain.  He knew fear.  He knew struggle.  But because His love was greater than anything else, He put me first.  He didn’t count the cost because He considered me worth it.  He did the difficult – actually the impossible – for me.  And you.

At this time, I am carrying this burden of cancer in my body.  I am physically aware of its presence every day because it is growing and filling the entire core of my body.  I can’t  breathe.  I can’t twist my body or bend down.  I can’t eat.  I can’t get comfortable.

I’m praying that God will take this cancer from me.  I know He can do it by just saying a word or through the skilled hands of surgeons.  I know He can take this burden.  He is walking me through this every day.  He knows what it is like to suffer and He encourages me through His Word.  He knows what it is like to have pain and He puts people into my life to help and encourage me.

Lord Jesus, you have already taken away the heaviest weight I’ve ever carried – the burden of my sins.  Because of your great love for me, you paid the price I couldn’t pay.  This physical burden of cancer is getting very heavy.  I ask you to take it too.  Thank you for those you have sent my way to help me.  Thank you for your presence in my life every day.  I know I am not alone.