Has your life been touched by cancer? Has your family’s life been touched by cancer? You have a friend. This is my cancer story.
It was at the All-Star weekend in Houston… I went on the air on TNT and told people I had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2003. I had kept it to myself until lymph nodes started to swell and people started wondering what was up.
So, I spent a summer doing chemotherapy. I had six cycles of that and the cancer is now in remission. My hair is back, my eyebrows are back, but people have asked me, “How’d you get through that?” I tell them there are three words: “Trust God. Period.” Not “Trust God if this next test comes back the way I want it to. Period.”
The only reason I can have that perspective was because of a decision I made nine years ago when I was 41 years old. Back then I had a great job, I have a great wife, four great kids and life was great! But sometimes even in the midst of that, you get weary. You get tired because it’s all about you. You’re the provider and you’re pursuing happiness, not wholeness…that was my story. I was living a performance-driven life. My identity was tied to what I did. You might as well have put TNT next to my name.
But someone came alongside me and explained that it doesn't all revolve around my existence—there is more to life. He talked about God having a plan for my life, and how much He loves me. I had never really explored a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I knew God was there, I knew Jesus Christ was there, but I never put the two together.
Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Oh! I needed rest, I needed that peace.
Since I came to Jesus, my life is no longer a me-centered life, but a Christ-centered life. I look at my life now and what I've been through, and I praise God and thank Him because even if He’s somewhere that I may not see right now, I know He’s got a plan for my life. Through my battle with cancer I know God will be glorified. I am weary no longer because I know it’s not about me, it’s about Christ in me.
Written by Ernie Johnson, TNT Analyst and Basketball Announcer
