The Church’s Marching Orders

11 days ago

Hello Bishop, I have been listening to you for many years now and my faith has grown tremendously as a result. Many thanks to you and your supporters. In 2016, at the age of 55 I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a very deadly form of blood cancer, and was told by the doctors at Dana Farber Cancer Institute that without treatment I had several weeks to two months at the most to live. Even with treatment my likelihood of surviving was about 20%. As I entered into this darkest stretch of my journey I did what your sermon today advises, I let go. I put my life in God’s hands and focused on the segment of the ”Our Father”, which says, ”Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. I’m ashamed that it took this traumatic episode to recognize the necessity of surrendering to God’s will. Do you know if this is when most people finally wake up and realize how much they rely of God? What can be done to help us see this before the train goes off the tracks, and we have no choice but to surrender? Today I am cancer free and live life in a different way then how I was living before my diagnosis and I thank God for the cancer. I had several ”mystical” experiences during my months in the hospital and the 13 months of home quarantine after the chemo and bone marrow transplant was completed. I reflect on them often and am working to understand them all better as I continue to discern God’s will for me as I look ahead. May God continue to bless you and your ministry. Please pray for our nation, it feels like a dark cloud is descending upon us all. Ken Gustin

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