If You Need a Miracle, Be Vigilant With Thanksgiving

Find the Light --It's Always There!

In Slam the Door on Cancer,  I share the findings of scientist Maruru Emoto who studied the  microscopic photographs of frozen crystals from water exposed to various words.  Of all his startling findings, one was particularly poignant to me.  He found that water exposed to the word “Gratitude” yielded the most gorgeous crystals.   Exposure to “Love” also yielded beautiful crystals, but water exposed to both of these words yielded the absolute most exquisite crystals.   One of the reasons I remain so fascinated by Emoto’s findings is the fact that our bodies are 70 to 80% water.  Surely these facts help explain the impact of words upon health which, of course, are referenced many times in Scripture.

In preparation for an upcoming seminar, I found myself reviewing a tremendous book by Rev. Cheryl Schang entitled Heal Them All.  In it, Schang brings Emoto’s quantum science into Scriptural light—at least in my estimation.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us:  “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”   The use of “in” rather than “for”, as Rev Schang stresses, is important because “not everything is from God.  So, you’re not going to thank God for your sickness, which came from the enemy.  But in spite of it, in the midst of it, you are to thank God.

Turning to Ephesians 5:20, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”     Schang explains that confusion regarding the word “for” arises  in some translations because the original language has been wrongly tweaked.  The  original word is “huper” really meaning “above, beyond, or over” which brings Ephesians 5:20 in agreement with ! Thessalonians 5:13 as it should be.   So the point is “give thanks over, beyond, and above all things”.   That would include illness.  Give thanks regardless of our circumstances.   Is this admonition rooted in more than word root correction?

Yes it is.  Schang goes on to teach through David (in Psalms 23:5, 92:1 and 1 Chronicles 23:30) and Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 31:2 as “One of the first things Hezekiah did as king was to reinstitute the particular activity of thanking and praising God twice a day.  When he did that, the nation of Israel experienced revival.” (p 209)

Then, of course, we know the untenable situation Daniel found himself in when his sustaining habit of praying three times a day was outlawed.  He knew it was fatally dangerous, but, upon hearing the king had signed a decree that request were to be made “only to the king” and certainly not to the God of Israel, David’s solution was to pray giving thanks.  Schang reminds us that “When you are thanking God, the lions cannot chew on you.” As we see in Daniel’s “lion’s den experience”.  

Paul “picked up on the revelation in Colossians 4:2, “Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving”.   Schang explains that the word “watch” means “to be vigilant, to rise, to stay awake, to give strict attention to, to be cautious.”  Paul is warning against laziness.  In 1 Corinthians 10:10 he expands to, “Neither murmur, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer.”  The message is that “Whining and complaining actually attract the demonic.   We know what John 10:10 tells us that enemy comes to do.    We cannot complain and give thanks at the same time.   One invites the enemy and one invites the Lord’s protection.

I challenge us to habitually give thanks above all else in whatever circumstances.   If we are seeking a miracle, let’s do it with thanksgiving filled hearts.      Let’s start by keeping a list of those things we are thankful for just as author Ann VosKamp does in her amazing book, 1000 Gifts.  I found VosKamp’s book enormously inspiring and empowering in the process of my healing and certainly I have seen many lose their healing because they slipped into whining and self pity rather than being vigilant with thanksgiving.

I talk more about the role of thanksgiving in healing in Slam the Door on Cancer, including how Jesus modeled giving thanks when he needed a miracle.   

Adding Injury to Insult is an Over-looked Cancer Cause

Adding Injury to Insult is an Over-looked Cancer Cause

Certainly one of the first questions people asks once they begin breathing again after the shock of hearing the “C word” pronounced over their lives is “What caused this to happen to me?”   Rarely if ever will they get an answer from the diagnosing doctors because, frankly, the cause of cancer is hardly the focus of conventional western medicine.    If the cause was the focus of conventional medicine, I believe from what I learned and applied to my own life, the highly lucrative pharmaceutically dominated cancer industry would be quite threatened financially.  Cancer, however, is not a dragon to be slain after the model of polio or smallpox.  It is a condition its “host” absolutely must aggressively participate in eradicating.

 We have such complex and amazing built in healing mechanisms that our bodies battle against physical and mental “insult” in wonderful ways.  King David, the Psalmist, knew in his soul (mind, will and emotions) these complexities of his, and our, creation:

 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul know right well. Psalms 139:14 (KJV) (Emphasis added.)

Our immune system, alone, performs repeated miracles of healing every time we are wounded in any way.  However, our immune system is designed to respond to occasional temporary insult or injury.  If it is pressed into continuous acute response, chronic inflammation in body tissue results.  That inflammatory condition eventually becomes systemic forcing the cells of our bodies to function under stress for as long as possible.  Eventually these cells are forced to resort to some vile survival habits that often lead to malignancy and, unchecked, to death.  Remember this point when we later discuss oxygen versus cancer in Key Eight.

There are two main sources of inflammation -- stress and trauma.  Both of these can be considered as “insults” to the body and soul (mind, will, emotions) regardless of whether the injury initiated as physical or mental/emotional.      Personally, I realized early on in my cancer battle, through a revelation I share in Slam the Door on Cancer, that my cancer was the result of a long embedded bitterness and resentment (emotional stress) rooted in a severe physical and emotional trauma beginning decades earlier.    I had never dealt with the “insult” of this stress and trauma and it was literally “burning me up” by causing the recycling of inflammatory chemicals in my body/mind.  

Inflammation is comparable to fire.  It is useful under certain conditions and devastating when fueled out of control.   Rampant inflammation sabotages our immune system so that dis-ease becomes disease manifesting in ever increasing discomfort.   

This discussion is expanded in my book, Slam the Door on Cancer and Lock It Out of Your Life

Overcoming Cancer Misconceptions with truth and facts.

"Light Bars" Acrylic Inks on Watercolor Paper by Jacquie Woodward

Topics in this blog post are expanded in my book, Slam the Door on Cancer and Lock It Out of Your Life, which will finally launch in early May on Amazon.com and Kindle.  Please watch for the book as I believe you will find it informative and encouraging.

 Overcoming Cancer Misconceptions with truth and facts.

Cancer is the cellular level response to overwhelming toxin intake.  What is a toxin?  It is poison and it can be sourced from the environment (such as pesticides in food or water).   It can also be produced within our bodies in response to persistent sustained stress or unremitting trauma that causes the immune system to be overworked. The result is chronic inflammation that creates a hotbed for tumor development.  A toxin can be taken in through eating, drinking, breathing, or skin absorption.  However, words or thoughts that stimulate damaging biochemical responses are also toxins so our senses also act as portals.  We elaborate on this point in Slam the Door on Cancer and Lock It Out of Your Life.

 Cancer is the ultimate cellular level response to undersupply of essential “building and maintenance materials” for body cells.  The rate of replacement varies somewhat in available literature; however, there is solid consensus that every single body cell is replaced many times within a normal lifespan.  Some, like those lining our gut, are replaced every few hours and all body cells are replaced within cycles of approximately seven years.    We know that our DNA is the blueprint for replacement and, as we have said, our DNA is potentially altered by environmental factors, which include toxins.   It is also certainly impacted by sleep depravation, mental/emotional attitude, personality traits, and other lifestyle patterns.  DNA is impacted by our choices.

We, therefore, make choices that directly determine the quality of cells formed to replace those whose “life cycle” is completed or those succumbing to injury.  Some of the choices we make are obvious and some are not.  In my book, we discuss both types.  Fairly recent scientific discoveries of specific receptors for “molecules of emotion” on our cell membranes demonstrates that the mind/body interface is absolutely measurable and, therefore, indisputable. (Refer to Dr. Candace Pert, PhD in her book, Molecules of Emotion)  Additionally, quantum mechanics has demonstrated that our focus and intent directly impact our health, which includes the state of our DNA, and, ultimately, whether or not our bodies are hospitable to malignancy.   Early in my cancer saga, I determined I would make my body as inhospitable to cancer as I possibly could and I did that.  I believe that anyone can do so,  but it requires fearlessly and tenaciously contending for health. I share my own journey in Slam the Door on Cancer.

Cancer is the cellular level response to chronically imbalanced “inner terrain”, which is a term for the environment we provide  our body cells to live and work in.   Cells have no choice but to depend entirely upon what the steward or caretaker of their environment provides -- much like aquarium fish.   Is the fluid kept clean?  Does the chosen quality and quantity of food supply the required balance of nutrients?  Are the chemical, electrical, and acid/alkaline (pH) balances properly maintained?  Is   oxygenation proceeding well?  We have all seen and smelled a dirty aquarium, which can be caused by over feeding, feeding wrong food, lack of oxygenation, toxic waste build up, etc.  Fish in a dirty aquarium usually gasp for life as long as possible and then go belly up.  Living body cells can experience a similar fate although sometimes they band together and build tumors that adopt nasty ways to “improvise” for as long as possible.

In my extensive reading, I found a staggering consensus that cancer is highly preventable and significantly treatable through our changing areas of our lives that we control. (see NIH Manuscript-Dr. Bharat Aggarwal, et al August 2009)   Cancer is a “worse case scenario” symptom of chronic inflammatory response within the body.  Cancer may show up a very long time after the cause began so that the link from cause to symptom is overlooked.  One thing seems sure—without identifying and dealing with the underlying cause, temporary remission may be the best hope.   To me the term, remission, anticipates a relapse.  It is the only goal-setting term commonly used in conventional cancer treatment.  The word, cure, seems reserved for cancer research fund-raising campaigns.    

Key Points to Realizing What Cancer is:

o   Cancer is NOT random.  It has causes we need to recognize.

o   Cancer IS the result of a terribly imbalanced internal terrain.  We can make that terrain an environment that keeps our cells healthy and happy.