FINDING PEACE, HOPE, and SONSHIP in the midst of cancer
YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
A cancer diagnosis changes everything. Many, including Christians describe the experience as if the ground beneath them suddenly gave way. There is marked anguish, mental perturbation and psycho-spiritual disquiet. Fear enters. Questions abound. Hope feels distant. One feels devoid of any comfort for the Comforter appears distant. Even mature believers may wonder:
Has God abandoned me?
Why has this happened me?
Was my trust in God misplaced?
Will the peace that passes all understanding ever be mine again?
If you have asked yourself any of these questions or have these concerns, you are not alone. Many others have. You are simply expressing sentiments of a not fully grown, not fully matured Christian believer. In this you have fallen short of the glory of God, for this murmuring is akin to unbelief.
As a renewed, redeemed but not fully ripened Christian soul, God is providing an opportunity for your growth in grace. God, in His Love, is providing an opportunity for your maturation as a Child of God. You are undergoing a chastening and as Scripture exhorts:
“My son despise not the chastening of the Lord,…. for whom the Lord loves He chastens.” (Hebrews 12:5 NKJV)
“My brethen, count it all joy when you when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience(perseverance). But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete.” (James 1:2 NKJV)
You are a Child of God. Gird up your loins.
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13 NKJV)
For the Spirit of God gives us the strength and the instruments necessary by(in) the Spirit of Bondage/Adoption, whereby we can experience the sense and sufficiency of His great Goodness and Love in Christ Jesus, even in our cancer tribulation.
Cancer challenges not only the body, but even more so, it affects the heart and soul of those it afflicts. It strains and seeks to break the most important bond of our sonship, dispensed by the Spirit of Adoption at the time of our redemption, which is “The Love of God in Christ “
So gird up your loins for the good news is that the Gospel remains true, even in suffering.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while…..you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more previous than gold,….. may be found to praise , honor, and glory at the revelation Jesus Christ.”(1 Peter 6-7 NKJV)
A deep, true, settled and sufficient sense of the undeserved and unmerited Grace of God in Christ Jesus given to us through the Spirit of Adoption, should evoke in us that deeply grateful sentiment of Abba Father….not my will but Thy will be done.
OUR MISSION To help Christians facing cancer rediscover and restore the dependence, trust, hope, the existential rest, the heavenly re-assurance and peace that flow from knowing God as Father, ….Abba Father, through Jesus Christ. Our goal is not merely to reduce the distress and the psycho-spiritual disquiet of cancer, but to help patients grow in grace, by and through the sufficiency of the Grace God has provided us through His Spirit, despite walking in the valley of the shadow of death. As Scripture states:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4 KJV)
WHY CANCER HURTS SO DEEPLY Cancer threatens much more than physical health. Many and most patients experience what can be described as a disruption of our spiritual attachment with God.(The deep sentiment of the magnificent, magnanimous Love of God in Christ Jesus). In a Christian, the bond of trust that once felt natural has become strained. Fear and uncertainty seek to take hold, to place a grip and dominate our hearts and minds. Yet Scripture reminds us that the Christian life is not built upon fear but upon sonship. Because we belong to Christ, suffering does not cancel our identity as beloved children of God. His love remains steadfast, and His presence remains near even when circumstances seem and feel overwhelming.
THE ABBA GRACE PATHWAY The ABBA Grace Pathway is a structured 12-week psycho-spiritual program designed specifically for Christians newly diagnosed with advanced cancer, who are concurrently being treated by a medical or radiation oncologist. The purpose of the ABBA Grace Pathway is not merely to teach patient that God loves them, but also to help them progressively apprehend, receive, and abide in the Love of God revealed in Christ Jesus until that Love becomes the governing reality of their lives. In this state, the Spirit of Bondage/Adoption produces enlightenment, dependence, trust, hope, peace and spiritual rest, enabling the believer to live as a secure child of the Father, even in the midst of cancer and suffering.
The program integrates:
Initial medical oncology consultation/second-Opinion by a board -certified Medical Oncologist
Biblical teaching
Christian meditation upon Scripture
Psycho-Oncology principles including some consideration of Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
Meaning-centered care
Guided reflection
Weekly review of Anxiety, Hope, Burden metrics and Spiritual Growth Assessment
Monthly Oncology review of concurrent cancer treatment response by our board-certified medical oncologist
The purpose is to help participants move from:
Fear toward a deeper experience of God’s Love in Christ
Refashion of Dependence
Growth in Trust
Maturation of Hope in God and His ways and designs for your life
Peace
Existential fear reduction with assurance of heaven
WHAT WE HOPE YOU WILL DISCOVER
That God has not abandoned you
That His love remains unchanged
That peace is possible even in uncertainty
That hope in God can flourish in difficult circumstances
The realization that the deepest reality in life is not cancer
Your deepest reality is that you belong to Christ
This is growth in grace!
MEET DR PETER E GRAHAM MD
Dr Peter E Graham MD is a board-certified medical oncologist-hematologist who has practiced medical oncology-hematology for more than 45 years. He received his medical degree(MD) from State University of New York(Downstate), with advanced training in Medical Oncology at the Mount Sinai (Icahn) School of Medicine in New York(Board-certified ABIM). He is the founder and conceptualizer of the ABBA Grace Oncology Program. Dr Graham has proven himself a profound, deep thinking medical theologian and authority in Christian Oncology documented as the author of the well researched and available book, Faith, Affliction and Cancer. As a devoted Christian and actively practicing board-certified medical oncologist with previous medical school faculty appointee, he is uniquely qualified to view the significant limitations and deficiencies in the current practice of medical oncology, even in the most prestigious cancer centers. Also, as a black physician, he is acutely and painfully aware of the general distrust that black cancer patients have to the current medical and cancer treatment establishment, and resulting compromise in the care black patients receive. Again and again, he witnessed that while current cancer medicine addressed the disease process fairly well, it had failed miserably in promoting and delivering the most critical and crucial aspect of a patient’s care, which is the faith, comfort and the existential assurance that Christ brings. Current cancer care is totally inadequate in helping the beleaguered cancer patient arrive at these ends. As Scripture states authoritatively:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV)
The purpose of this cancer treatment ministry is to help Christians facing cancer rediscover and grow in the Love of God in Christ and the comfort of the His Spirit by the patient’s participation in weekly psycho-spiritual sessions.This assures that the patient receive the absolute best in comprehensive cancer care….care that honors and glorifies God.
Dr Graham’s prayer is that every patient who participates will grow not only in resilience, but also in the grace of that higher state in Christ Jesus.
BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY You do not need to walk this road alone. If you are a Christian living with cancer and desire a faith-centered approach to emotional and spiritual growth/maturation, we invite you to call to learn more and register for the ABBA Grace Pathway tele-heath program.
“Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into you hearts, crying Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6)
