Opening Yourself Up to Others After a Cancer Diagnosis
- Receiving a cancer diagnosis is a devastating thing. And hearing such hard news has a tendency to make people want to shut down.
- However, Tom Evans, pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church located in New York City, tells SurvivorNet that it's during this time that you should try to do the opposite.
- "It's important to reach out in a simple prayer to God, even if you've never prayed before, you don't know what to say, a heartfelt plea, 'God, help me, be with me,'" Pastor Evans says.
However, Tom Evans, pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of New York City, tells SurvivorNet that you should try to do the opposite during this time.
Read MoreYou can reach out to God, and you can reach out to people, your friends and family, and say, I can’t do this on my own. I need you,” Pastor Evans says. “It’s in that willingness to be open and to receive that we can actually find something deeper that we never would encounter without this hardship.”
Pastor Evans says, “This is what is so powerful about times of hardship.”
“You think cancer … (is) simply going to be a devastating time,” he adds, “But it’s in those moments that sometimes you discover how wonderful humanity is. We spend so much time watching the news, and we become so disillusioned with people, but it’s in hardship, it’s in cancer … that suddenly you feel that people are glorious.”
“I truly believe what Paul says, “God uses all things for good,” and God can even use these terrible things, such as a cancer diagnosis … to help you discover the wonder and glory of life and the wonder of the gift of others,” Pastor Evans says.
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