If you are reading this while you are waiting on a scan or a set of test results, then learning how to deal with scanxiety is exactly what I want to talk with you about today…and I am so glad you are here. I have walked my own cancer journey, so I know this particular kind of waiting. It is the kind that sits right on your chest and will not let go. And I do not want to hand you a quick tip that wears off by morning. I want to give you the one thing that actually holds.
SCANXIETY IS REAL, AND YOU ARE NOT FAILING
So let me say this first, because I think you need to hear it before anything else. Feeling anxious while you wait does not mean your faith is weak, and it does not mean you are doing this wrong. Some of the most faithful people I have ever read about felt this exact fear…and I have felt it myself.
In fact, on the podcast episode that goes right along with this post, I share the story of a man named Percy McCray. Percy spent more than twenty years as a minister, walking other people through their cancer journeys…and then one day he heard that same word himself. And you know what? Even Percy, with all of that faith, lost sleep and felt the scanxiety, just like you and me. I love his story, because it sets us free from the lie that fear means we are failing. I would really encourage you to give the episode a listen and hear the whole thing…it just might be exactly what you need today. So when you wonder how to deal with scanxiety, please start here: the goal was never to stop feeling afraid. The goal is to know where to take the fear…and Who to take it to. And that, my friend, changes everything.
THE FIRST STEP IN HOW TO DEAL WITH SCANXIETY IS TO MOVE YOUR HOPE
Here is the very heart of it, so stay with me. Scanxiety grows when our hope is sitting in the scan. Think about that for a second. When that result becomes the thing that decides whether you are going to be okay, then every single hour of waiting feels like you are standing on a trapdoor. But here is the good news, and it is very good news…your hope was never meant to live inside a test result. It was meant to live in Jesus. And Jesus is not waiting on the radiologist like you and I are. He already knows. He is already with you. And He is already good.
A young mom named Kara Tippetts, who walked through breast cancer with a house full of little ones, described her whole journey as “looking for Jesus in the midst of it.” Did you catch that? She was not looking for a clean result before she could finally breathe…she was looking for the One who was already in the room with her. And that is the move for you and me too. When your hope shifts off the scan and onto the Savior, that trapdoor you have been standing on turns into solid ground.
WHAT "WAITING" REALLY MEANS
Now I want to show you something in Scripture that I love. In Psalm 27:14, King David writes,
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 NIV
Here is what most people miss. In the original language, that word “wait” is not the sit-around, stare-at-the-clock kind of waiting. It is a leaning-forward, hopeful, expectant kind of waiting…like watching the road for a friend you know is coming. So waiting on the Lord is not helpless dread. It is active trust. And Lamentations 3:25 lays the promise right underneath it:
“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.” Lamentations 3:25 NIV
A SIMPLE WAY TO PRACTICE IT TONIGHT
So let me leave you with something you can actually do, tonight, before you fall asleep…because how to deal with scanxiety does not have to be complicated. First, name the fear out loud to Jesus, since honesty is its own kind of trust. Then hand Him the specific thing you are waiting on, and ask Him for the peace He promised you. And finally, let someone pray with you…you were never meant to wait alone. Notice that not one of these depends on the outcome of your scan…because your peace does not depend on it anymore either.
YOU ARE NEVER ALONE
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 reading.
This little devotional goes hand in hand with our Finding Peace episode, “Scanxiety — The Waiting Room Between Scans.” I would love for you to give it a listen…and if someone you love is sitting in that waiting room right now, share it with them. Nobody should ever have to wait alone.
Listen to the Podcast: Finding Peace: Scanxiety - The Waiting Room Between Scans