In August (2022) I was diagnosed with Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer. Like all the stories in my life, it is filled with gratitude for God, thankfulness to a great medical team, a wonderful family, and supportive friends. It was a fluke that they found it so early and that was a miracle in itself.  In the words of Albert Einstein, “You can live your life as if everything is a miracle or nothing is a miracle.” For me, everything about this episode of my life to date has been a miracle and I hope it will continue to be that way.

I did question God as to why he sent this disease my way and if there was a lesson for me to learn. I now realize, not everything is from God or the Devil, sometimes things just happen and I’m certain this is just one of those things. In the past I received a considerable amount of radiation and HRT which could’ve been the main reason for these tumours. Whatever the cause, it was quite miraculously discovered, removed by a great surgical team and I recovered almost immediately. I didn’t even need one pain killer since coming home from the hospital and after I have some treatment, I should be able to continue as normal. For all this I thank God, and everyone who helped and prayed for me. I live in a great country and have an amazing group of family and friends. I feel truly blessed!

This is what I learnt during my experience:

1. I always believed Jesus walked beside me, now I know He walks in front of me and prepares the way ahead. Every little detail was prepared, before the first prayer even went up and before I even knew I had breast cancer.
2. Sometimes in life’s journey, we find ourselves facing a spiritual detour. It’s not dissimilar to facing a physical detour, the signs point us in another direction and often we haven’t got a clue where we are heading. But we trust the signs…the detour is not always a bad thing, it delays us, causes us some anxiety, but what a relief when we find ourselves back on familiar ground. We experience new things while on a detour, we see new things and get to go places we’ve never gone before. Detours are an unavoidable aspect of life, so enjoy the ride!
3. I had no fear during the whole experience, and that is because I do not fear death. But like detours, death is also an unavoidable aspect of life. We will all die sometime but when and how is the question. As someone who takes her direction from the teachings of Jesus, I know he has gone before me to prepare a place for me and when it is ready, he will take me to be with him. At the time I was contemplating Jesus’s teachings, I looked across at a beautiful house that was being built. I thought to myself, what if when the builder calls his client and says, “Your house is ready, here are the keys”, and the client says, “No thanks, I’ll stay in my rental.” For me, when my place is ready, it is ready, I am taking those keys and will not choose to remain on this earth one minute longer. This earth is only our temporary housing, our next destination is eternal.

Cheryl Mason.