As most of you probably know by now, I have been going through a series of about 12 medical diagnostic tests and about 8 doctor consults for the past three months to try to determine what is the cause of my chest pain and pressure, the breathing difficulties, and the ongoing sharp shooting nerve pains I am experiencing mainly on the left side of my chest. A breathing test showed I was breathing at 44% out of 100% breathing capacity, and an echocardiogram of the heart showed a prognosis of congestive heart failure.

A CT scan of my left lung revealed that a lung nodule, which was first discovered in 2014, which had not grown by 2016, had now nearly doubled in size. A biopsy of the lung mass later revealed no cancer evident, but that the lung nodule is precancerous, and since it is still growing, that is an area of concern that it could turn cancerous. So the doctor who performed the biopsy referred me to a thoracic surgeon for a consult about the possibility of having the lung mass surgically removed to avoid it turning to cancer.

I had a consult with the thoracic surgeon who reviewed my medical history and the results of the biopsy of my lung nodule, and it was his opinion that I am most likely not a candidate to have the lung nodule removed surgically, due to the results of my last breathing test and my heart failure diagnosis. He believes I would be a better candidate for radiation treatment of the lung mass, instead. But I will still have a breathing test this coming Tuesday, and that will determine if surgery definitely is or is not an option for me.

So, I have been doing my own research on what the surgery or the radiation treatment would entail, and what would be the possible side effects of either one, and neither option to me sounds like a good thing, for they both have dangers to them and possible side effects which potentially could be worse. So, I have been praying this whole matter to the Lord, who I know has been directing me through this whole process of tests and doctor consults, and for his purposes. And he put two songs in my head, which I will share with you.

The first song is “He’s Still Working On Me,” by Joel Hemphill:

There really ought to be a sign upon my heart
Don’t judge me yet, there’s an unfinished part
But I’ll be better just according to His plan
Fashioned by the Master’s loving hands

He’s still working on me to make me what I ought to be
It took him just a week to make the moon and the stars
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars
How loving and patient He must be
‘Cause He’s still working on me

In the mirror of His word reflections that I see
Make me wonder why He never gave up on me
But He loves me as I am, and he helps me when I pray
Remember He’s the potter, I’m the clay

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Now, what that reminds me of is how our Lord taught us in the Scriptures that the life of a true follower of Christ is a life of suffering, like Jesus suffered, but that God uses these times of suffering in our lives as his disciplines on those he loves to make us more like Jesus and to prepare us for what he has for us to do as his calling upon our lives. For our suffering is to produce endurance, godly character, steadfastness, maturity, increased faith, compassion, and dependence on God, and not on ourselves.

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Hebrews 12:3-12; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7; Revelation 3:19; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]

And then the Lord put a second song in my head. This is a secular song, taken from the movie (musical) “The Sound of Music.” And in the movie Maria was said to be struggling to know God’s will for her life, for she was confused over her circumstances, and she said she did not want to disobey God, for she had committed her life in service to God as a Catholic nun. Now, I am not promoting Roman Catholicism here, but I am merely looking at what message the Lord Jesus might have for me in my circumstances.

Again this is a secular (non-Christian) song, yet when the lyrics are put to application on a biblical level, in translating the words according to the teachings of the Scriptures, it can be a song of encouragement to us who are going through times of difficulty in trials and tribulations, where we may be wondering, “What is next?,” and where we may be praying and asking God for wisdom and direction in what to do next. For me, I believe he is encouraging me to keep pressing forward and to not give up hope.

For me, this is about perseverance in trusting the Lord and his timing, in trusting him for direction and guidance, and in following him where he is leading me, in the way that he would have me to go, without fear of the consequences, knowing full well that his hand is upon my life guiding me.

Climb Every Mountain

By Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers

Climb ev’ry mountain, search high and low
Follow ev’ry by-way, every path you know
Climb ev’ry mountain, ford ev’ry stream
Follow ev’ry rainbow, ‘til you find your dream
A dream that will need all the love you can give
Every day of your life for as long as you live

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Now, I want to close with this. The Bible passage of the day on BibleGateway today is this: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God…” (Luke 1:76-78 NASB1995)

This was God’s calling upon the life of John the Baptist. But in reality, this is the calling of God upon the lives of all his followers to take the message of the gospel to the world, yet not exactly in the same manner in which God called John the Baptist. But we are all to be the Lord’s messengers who should be getting people’s hearts ready to surrender their lives to the Lord in submission to his will in dying with him to sin and in being raised with him to newness of life in walks of obedience to his commands, by faith in Him.

And so God allows us to go through trials and tribulations to test our faith, and to teach us total reliance upon the Lord in all things, to get us ready to do what he has called us to do, and/or to prepare us for what he yet has for us to do in days yet to come. And so we need these trials to prepare us. And I believe that is his message to me today, and it is about perseverance in the trials I am being called upon to endure to make me more like Jesus and to get me ready for what he has for me to do in days yet future, I believe.

Perseverance in Trials
An Original Work / December 19, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love