If there is one thing we all need more of in our lives, it's PEACE. Even without facing a cancer journey, we could all use more peace. But sometimes it doesn't make sense. Not that we don't want more of it, but how we get it and why we deserve it. 

In this episode, I specifically talk about the peace we get that isn't of this world. It is the peace only Jesus can give to us. And we have an incredible story about a woman named Pamela McColloch who found peace in a very powerful way...it's an amazing story.

If you want to read her full story, you can find it at a site called CURE. Her story, "Surrendering to God: How my Faith led to healing from cancer," is powerful and very personal. I know you will enjoy it. And in this episode, I also talk about how the Bible teaches us to have true peace. I hope you find a little more peace after listening. And I hope you share it with others who also need Jesus and more peace. 

EPISODE NOTES

Today I want to talk with you about finding peace during cancer — and not the pretend kind. I mean the real peace that shows up in the middle of surgeries and scans and 7 am phone calls, and somehow holds you together when nothing about your circumstances says it should. I lived that peace in 2017, and I am convinced it is available to you right now, exactly where you are sitting today.

WHY PEACE DURING CANCER FEELS SO OUT OF REACH

Let me start by being honest with you, because I never want to pretend. When I got my diagnosis, I was not immediately calm. It was 2017, seven in the morning, and I was walking out the door to a meeting when my phone rang. It was my doctor, calling with the results of a CT scan from the night before. There was a tumor the size of an orange in my bladder, and it appeared to be cancerous. It was.

Seven in the morning. One phone call. And just like that, nothing on my calendar mattered anymore. I stood in my own entryway and did not know what to do. However, I want you to hear this clearly: I did not drop to my knees and feel a wave of peace wash over me right there. I was scared. I was confused. Moreover, I had a thousand questions and zero answers — and God was not surprised by any of it.

Here is what I have come to understand. Jesus met me exactly where I was. He did not wait for me to have it together, and He did not require me to be spiritually composed before He showed up. Instead, He was already there — in the fear, in the confusion, in the phone call I never saw coming. And wherever you are right now, He is already there with you too.

PAMELA'S STORY: A PEACE THAT DEFIED ALL LOGIC

I want to share a story that stopped me in my tracks. It belongs to a woman named Pamela McColloch, who wrote about it for CURE magazine, and I encourage you to read her full account for yourself.

Pamela had already fought colon cancer. She had been through the treatments and the fear, and she had made it to the other side. She was finally starting to exhale — and then the phone rang again. Liver cancer. A second diagnosis, just weeks after she thought the battle was over.

For many of you, that is not hypothetical. You know what it is to get a second diagnosis, and you know what it feels like when the light at the end of the tunnel suddenly disappears. Pamela does not soften what she felt. The thoughts of death were overwhelming, and what kept coming back to her, over and over, was her son. If she was not there, who would take care of him?

And yet, in the middle of all that pain, Pamela started praying. Not eloquently. Not from a script. Just raw and honest: "God, I need peace. I cannot do this alone. Please quiet the storm inside me."

What happened next is the whole point. She says a profound peace washed over her — a peace that defied all logic and reason. In that stillness, she sensed God speak to her heart: if I heal you, you will have more time to fulfill your purpose here; and if I call you home, you will be with me in eternal peace. Either way, you win.

Her circumstances had not changed. She still had cancer, and she still had treatment ahead. Nevertheless, her perspective shifted completely. She stopped gripping the outcome and started trusting the One who held it. Today, Pamela is cancer-free — but I am not sharing her story as a promise that everyone gets that outcome. God does not promise physical healing to every person. What He does promise is what Pamela found: His presence, and a peace that makes no sense, regardless of your scan results.

THE PEACE DURING CANCER THAT GUARDS YOUR HEART

I never want to share a story without grounding it in what God actually says. So here is the foundation. In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul writes:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Notice where Paul wrote that. He was in a prison cell, not a comfortable place where everything was going fine. Yet he says that even there, you do not have to be anxious. How? You bring it all to God, and you do it with gratitude — not because everything is great, but because you know who He is.

Then comes the part that gets me every time: "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding." Transcends. That means it will not make sense. Your circumstances will not justify it, and your mind will not be able to explain it. Even so, it will be real, and it will guard your heart. That is the peace during cancer I am telling you is available to you today.

EITHER WAY, YOU WIN

I want to sit with this "either way I win" idea, because it is one of the most powerful shifts a person on a cancer journey can make. To be clear, this is not denial or fake positivity. This is faith — deeply rooted, battle-tested faith.

Paul said it first, thousands of years ago, in Philippians 1:21: 

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

If God keeps me here, I live in service to Him, with more purpose and more love to give. And if He calls me home, I do not lose — I gain. Jesus said it Himself in John 14:27: 

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

The world says peace means nothing bad is happening. Jesus, on the other hand, says His peace exists in the middle of the worst things imaginable, because it depends on your relationship with Him and not on your circumstances.

THREE THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY

So how do you actually reach for this peace during cancer today? Let me give you three simple things.

First, just talk to Him. You do not need the right words or the right posture. Right now you can simply say, "God, I'm scared. I need your peace. I can't carry this alone." That is enough.

Second, release the outcome. This does not mean you stop hoping or stop fighting. Rather, it means you stop gripping so hard to control what you cannot control, and you trust that the One who holds the universe holds you too. That is when the peace comes.

Third, get into Scripture, even if it is one verse a day. Isaih 26:3 says:

"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you."

Where you point your mind matters — not at the scan results every minute, but at Him.

If you already know Jesus, take this and apply it this week. And if you do not have that relationship yet, or you have drifted, the door is wide open. You can start today through the Accepting Jesus page on our website.

No matter what you are facing on your journey with cancer or in life, remember: you are NEVER ALONE. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are always with you and ready to help. All you have to do is ask, give it all to Jesus, and let Him go to work. May God bless you — and thank you for listening.