| Remembering God's promises |
 Marion Clarke made her commitment to following Jesus Christ as a teenager and it was through the church that she met her husband Roger. After years of happy marriage, the couple faced their most testing time when Roger was diagnosed with cancer. After months of treatment for a skin complaint, Roger was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, mycosis fungoides. He was heard to joke that he was a man in a million, the odds for him getting the disease. A course of chemotherapy was recommended. Roger was not going to give in to cancer so carried on at work and church as normal. As the weeks grew into months it was the prayers of folk at St James’ (their local church), family, and friends that enabled us to cope. Further cycles of treatment were needed to keep the illness under control. Finally, the only option was a bone marrow transplant. His parents were dead and he had no siblings (the best donors) so he was placed on the bone marrow register, whilst continuing with the chemo. Amazingly a donor was found quite quickly and dates were fixed. Roger was to be in hospital for six weeks and then a further six months off work for a long slow recovery – not easy to face for someone who could not sit still and wanted to be about God’s work. Again it was the prayers of those who knew us which kept us going along with practical help and the Lord gave us both a sense of peace and we were assured that He had everything in His hands. Bolstered by prayer and feeling God’s presence Roger went in for the treatment. He made quite an impression on hospital staff as the cards, pictures and photos started arriving and we put them up on the bare walls to make the place more cheerful and remind us, and anyone who asked, about the love and prayers that accompanied them. Eight weeks later after many set backs, infections and kidney failure, we knew it had worked; Roger was making white blood cells of his own. We started planning his return home. He came out of isolation. All seemed to be going well. Then he had a heart attack and three days later died. Where was God? There was so much we had planned to do. It was time to remember God’s promises, not what I wanted Him to promise. He never promised life would be easy, He never promised I would have everything I wanted or planned. He did promise never to leave me or forsake me. He did promise not to burden me with more than I could bear. Time to count my blessings, I had a loving family, a church family who supported me, a job, a home, and most importantly a loving Heavenly Father who loved, cared and watched over me. A couple of weeks later we had a Thanksgiving Service when family, friends, and work colleagues joined together to give God thanks for Roger’s life. A time of grief, mixed with joy, knowing that he was in heaven, which is far better. I can’t explain it all, but I can look back on what has happened knowing that God was in it all. Life is not over; I’ve moved house, my youngest daughter has married, I’ve another grand-daughter, changed roles in the church. So the plans we had made didn’t come to fruition, God had other things in store for us as a couple, for the family, for the church and we had to re-learn that ‘And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.’ Romans 8 verse 28. Marion attends St James’ Church in Westgate on Sea where her current role is that of church treasurer. |
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