It’s been ages since I’ve done much in the way of writing about my cancer journey here, but it’s time to start writing again.
It had actually been my intention to start writing a “decade survivor” series of articles back in 2020, and then start publishing them in 2021 to celebrate that year. February 14, 2021 was the day I officially became a decade survivor of testicular cancer. Instead, we saw total mayhem in our world, COVID madness throughout 2020, a beyond chaotic presidential election cycle, and the series never got written. It would have been lost in the noise with everything going on in the world, but that’s okay as it would have been premature.
What’s happened with me personally in the past few years has been astonishing. Anything I might have written before would have been meaningless, as the Lord saw fit to evolve me once again. My return to the Lord’s house, and reclaiming the Christianity of my youth after 25 years as a lost sheep adult, has changed everything.
It’s changed my entire outlook on life. It changes everything about how I see my cancer experience now, and how I would have approached so many things so much differently. It’s also changed completely how I see the world today, and how I see myself fitting into it.
I would say that the relatively minuscule, and unnecessarily painful baby-step by baby-step slow crawl evolutionary process that I experienced throughout my first decade as a cancer survivor, as detailed on this very website, pales in comparison to the complete rebirth that I’ve experienced since turning my life back to Christ in 2021. When it comes to cancer and all that I went through, I feel like I could re-write nearly my entire website at this point.
What are you looking for in life? Peace? Hope? Security? Belonging? Purpose? Meaning? Confidence? Inspiration? Answers? Knowledge? Truth?
God’s eternal kingdom has all of this, and so much more.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33, KJV)
As I peruse back through old blogs that I’ve written, some of them, like this one, just make me shake my head in literal disbelief and laugh at this point.
In that blog, I lamented the perpetual feelings of insecurity that I’d had and perpetual cycles of depression even six years out from my cancer fight.
I HAVE found a way to feel that sense of peace and security again, through my faith in Jesus Christ. The answer was right in front of me all along, if only I had listened. There was no need to suffer through all that I did. Indeed, I suffered due to my lack of faith.
Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; (Isaiah 48:18, ESV)
My faith permeates everything in my life at this point, and I finally feel called once again to write, to share in this personal evolution and all that I’ve learned, and to hopefully help other struggling souls out there find their way, whether cancer survivors or not.
God bless,
Steve Pake