12 May Battle of the Mind By Dodie Osteen
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health. Psalm 30:2 NLT
Finally, on December 10, the doctor met John in the lobby of the hospital. He said, “Pastor, I am sorry about this, but your wife has metastatic cancer of the liver. We can’t find the primary tumor.”
John came to my room and told me, and I thought, No way. Not me! But there I was at only forty-eight years old, being told that I did, in fact, have cancer…I was given a few weeks to live with or without the use of chemo. What a great Christmas present, huh?
Still, no matter how strong you are or how solid your support system is, anyone who has been through this type of battle knows what a fight of faith it is. When your mind fights against your heart, and fear fights against all that you know to be true, it can be a battle beyond what you ever imagined.
I was the wife of a pastor, but first of all, I was and am a human being. I had the same thoughts and feelings that anyone else would have had in my situation. I had to work so hard to cast down those awful negative thoughts. The Bible tells us to cast down every imagination and take captive every thought that doesn’t agree with God’s Word (2 Cor. 10:3-5). And that’s exactly what I had to do.
There were many nights when I lay in bed and the devil would taunt me, “You only have a few weeks to live…a few weeks to live.”
During those times, I continued to fight back with God’s Word. I spoke it when I didn’t feel like it. I would replace those thoughts with words of faith and say, “With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation” (Psalm 91:16). Hebrews 10:23 became my strength. I would repeat to myself, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
The Word of God would always encourage me and make me feel better, but the enemy challenged every step of faith.
If you’re going through a battle today, accept this fact: In the midst of your battle, you will doubt. It’s simply part of being human. So please, don’t condemn yourself for it; just do your best not to let the wavering move from your head to your heart. And most of all, don’t let the enemy torment you!
Excerpt from Dodie Osteen’s book, If My Heart Could Talk