Finding Hope in a Hopeless Situation

In battling a disease, for which there is no cure, I find myself facing an ethical dilemma.

What is the value of battling or fighting a battle I will eventually lose?  At what point does it become better to gracefully wave a white flag and to gracefully exit, than to simply rack up debt and encumber my wife and family?

What is the basis of hope?

It’s not a question I have passed over lightly.  It goes to the core of why I want to live and what I hope to accomplish.

I approach this battle with great hope.  The basis of my hope is purely spiritual.  It is not based on a whimsical fantasy.  I believe I can partner with God in this walk/battle.

Mormon theology gives a much detailed version of a pre-existent life as spirits before we were born on earth, than is found in the Bible, and also lists in greater detail what happens when the spirit and body split at the time of death and the place where the spirit goes until the time of the resurrection.

Thus overly frenzied worries about death are not something that occupy a lot of my time.  I do not fear death in the least.

From a professional standpoint I have interviewed people who have had after-death experiences, including my brother, and found great meaning in those descriptions, and even a greater basis for my confidence that the answer that Job raised in the Old Testament  “if a man die, shall he live again?” has a very simple answer: yes.  I will welcome the chance to reunite with my Mom, sister and other loved ones at the appropriate time.

In the meantime, I know it matters in the eternal scheme of things how I handle my challenges.  While my flesh may deteriorate within, I know this situation is only temporary and that there is so much to look forward to.  Life has meaning and how we treat others and make decisions matters.  We matter to God.

Christ is the basis of hope. To understand that is to get to the core of what really matters in life.  It didn’t take cancer for me to grasp that, though it is comforting to know as I battle to make the most of my time here.