My Lungs Are Okay
I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I am still celebrating Easter!
And it’s all about joy and hope, isn’t it? The resurrection is the best part of the story of Jesus. I mean, you think about it: Up until the resurrection, everything is hard; for Jesus, there was so much misunderstanding and betrayal; disappointments, heartbreaking circumstances. People just didn’t get it. They didn’t get Him — even when He was impaled on a cross. But then, the resurrection: and light dawned, dazzling with hope and joy. Just like I Corinthians 15 says, “For if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile… we are of all most people to be pitied if He did not raise from the dead.” But Jesus did burst out of the grave, imparting new life, fresh hope, joy eternal. And this week I am experiencing new life and hope and joy much, much more than ever before. And I better explain why…
You know that I’ve shared with you about my battle against this reoccurring cancer, and it has not been easy: surgery on that second tumor, anti-cancer drugs, awful side effects, and then 35 rounds of radiation on my fragile lungs. I confess I was worried, and more than a little anxious. It, it wasn’t that I didn’t trust God for allowing my cancer to come back; I just didn’t get the part about 35 sessions of radiation! I mean lungs are a fragile part of everyone’s body. I looked it up and together, (get this) the lungs contain almost 1,500 miles of airways which, if all that tissue ware laid flat, it’d be the same as half a tennis court. The lungs contain nearly 500 million little alveoli – alveoli are those tiny little air sacs through which, when you inhale, oxygen passes into the blood. And radiation, I learned, can damage those fragile air sacs, causing them to slightly thicken which, in turn, prevents the exchange of oxygen so that you can exhale all the bad stuff. I thought for sure my breathing would weaken, my lungs would be damaged, my days of, well, frankly even speaking to you over this station, I was afraid, it’d be finished. But last month when I completed that last round of radiation, honestly, it felt like my resurrection!
All had been doubtful up until that last session under the x-ray machine. But when the radiologist saw my final scans, smiling and giving me the double thumbs-up, I took it to mean that my lungs did not suffer undue damage. And that was a breath of fresh air. Like inhaling fresh hope and the kind of joy I’m gonna to be experiencing for eternity. Having my lungs back was like gettin’ new life, and I can say I have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. We are so fearfully and wonderfully made! I mean look. I know that one day I’m gonna die of somethin’. It’s the way of all flesh. No one’s gettin’ out of here alive. But for now, for today, I’m not dying of cancer; maybe in the future, but not now. I’m breathin’ good. And it’s why last Sunday when we sang of the resurrection: “up from the grave He arose … no guilt in life, no fear and death, this is the power of Christ in me,” I was praisin’ the Lord for being the air that I breathe. He’s the breath in my lungs and I pour out my praise, I pour out my praise.
Oh friend, we just celebrated Easter, right? And there are plenty of reasons you can praise God. For me though, the resurrection is like drawing in, inhaling a deep breath of pure air and enjoying its life-giving energy. Can’t make it without air… and as Christians, we can’t do it without the resurrection. It’s part of what it means to enjoy the goodness of the Lord Jesus in the land of the living!
© Joni and Friends
Joni’s Health Updates
It has been Joni’s prayer that this new cancer challenge becomes a platform for showcasing how amazing God is. Stay up to date on Joni’s health and progress on the Joni and Friends blog.
