Skip to main content

Five years ago, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

Previous Next

‘Five years ago, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a pretty nasty blood cancer. I had just started training for the licensed lay ministry. I asked everyone to thank the Lord that he was in charge. I thought that the Lord probably wanted me to complete the training. 

‘I went into hospital for some chemo, which was nasty. I began to fall apart. I was at the bad end of things. 

‘The verse that helped me was Psalm 118.17–18, “I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done. The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.”

‘I knew a lot of Scripture and I knew these verses. They helped amazingly. The impact for me was that it tilted the balance for just going from whatever the prognosis was, to something that I felt that God was actually saying. This was really in-your-face stuff. I can see now that God wanted me to trust his word as never before. 

‘I was strengthened by this experience. Five years on I’m now in lay ministry. I preach a lot of perseverance and looking to God. It feels like God has given me a message for the Church. I’m still having treatment, but I am remarkably well.’

Do you have a story to share? Email [email protected]

More Stories

My wife and I were told we’d likely never have children

My wife and I were told we’d likely never have children – even if we went through certain procedures. I was born with a “defect”, and after both of us went through some tests, I discovered I had one or two other issues...

I was furious. I had just come back from being interviewed by a college

‘I was furious. I had just come back from being interviewed by a college with a view to being trained to be a Baptist minister. The last thing my minister had said to me before I left was, “The one thing they won’t ask...

I became very ill when I was 20 years old and was hospitalised

I became very ill when I was 20 years old and was hospitalised, nil-by-mouth, on a morphine drip, etc. This illness led to me being in and out of hospital for the next year or so. At that time I wasn’t a Christian but my...

I’m sometimes guilty of thinking I know better than everyone else

I’m sometimes guilty of thinking I know better than everyone else. That mindset often extends to thinking I know what I need better than God. When my wife and I were moving house, I found that I tried too often to force...

I was an executive in a company. A colleague had retired and died very suddenly.

I was an executive in a company. A colleague had retired and died very suddenly. He was a lovely man, and I went to his memorial service. We sang, “Do not be afraid for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name...

I keep coming back to John 6.67–68

I keep coming back to John 6.67–68 where Jesus has been teaching and people are finding it hard to understand and lots of his peripheral followers are falling away.

Want to share how the Bible has impacted your life? Email [email protected]

Read the Bible icon Read the Bible