Finding the missing links in my life through leukemia

It is no exaggeration to say that many of the people who we interact with on the chat are very antagonistic to the message we have. I come across many of those who feel they have been picked on or deserted by God in their lives. I think people seldom worry about the cliché starving children in Africa, or those we read about in the news with the suffering all around the world. Many times we give those suffering a pause of thought, or a brief remark to the person next to us about how sad it is. But I feel it is a rare and precious soul who actually acts on those things. I have found in my own life things never really concern me until they hit home.


For me, my experience with leukemia has been something in which I feel has hit home. I feel it helps me to relate to those who feel picked on by life. I have always understood that with every trial we have we are supposed to learn something. People can tell us a stove is hot, but we can’t really know it is hot until we touch it ourselves. I feel leukemia has done the same thing to me, metaphorically touching the stove to know how trials can help me learn. I find it difficult to express the things I have learned in words. I have found there are things like sympathy for others, patience, and dedication; but I think the real thing has been the missing links which have given greater purpose and meaning in my life.

These “missing links” for me have been being able to experience for myself the promises of Christ and the blessings of the gospel. I feel I was asking God from the very beginning ‘what’ I was supposed to learn. But as it is learning, I never found the perfect scripture with everything listed out for me :). Rather, it was not until I began asking question such as “how long does this need to go?” or “how can I learn this lesson?” that I began to find answers. I was sick of being sick, tired of being tired. It was when life began to seem hopeless I began to realize we only have one source of hope. That hope is in Jesus Christ. One of my favorite verses comes from Romans 15: 13 in the Bible. We read “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” I know that hope is possible because of Jesus Christ. I know we can find comfort and peace from Him in the trials we have. He is the arm of our support, He is there to succor us when we are in pain and distressed. I know it is only He who we can and need to rely on.

I can think of no greater blessing then to be here as a missionary to share this message with others. I talked about this earlier in my post How Cancer has Blessed my Life. I know leukemia has been a blessing for me. Through it I have been able to feel the love and comfort of Christ in my life. I have been able to feel His support. I am here to invite all to come unto Him. He invites us all “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11: 28-30).

The inspiration for this post came from this “Mormon Message.” It is the story of another man, and his search to find the missing pieces of his life.



(The photos I used were from various stages of different treatments I went through; they include my Dad, and my brother Chad.)