"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

~II Corinthians 12: 9-10

The following is a story of a strong woman who relied on God to get her through the most trying time of her life. When she was physically, emotionally, and psychologically weak, she turned to the Lord to carry her through. And, carry her through, He did. Let me tell you the story of Carol...

In May of 2002, Carol noticed a pain in her mouth. And, thinking that it was a toothache, Carol decided to go to the doctor. And, the words that she heard in this appointment changed her life. This tooth ache was Stage IV tongue cancer.

Carol was stunned. And, she was scared.

The doctors were wonderful and they told her that they were going to try to save her life. And, to do so, it was going to take several surgeries and radiation treatments. As scary as all of this sounded, she knew that God was in control. She knew that if her life was going to be saved that God was going to be the one to do it. And, He would do it through these wonderful doctors.

On Memorial Day weekend of 2002, Carol endured the first of many surgeries to combat this cancer. In this first surgery, she had half of her tongue and about 30 lymph nodes from her neck removed. She was in intensive care for a week and even spent her birthday in the hospital as they rebuilt her tongue with muscle from her arm. Following these surgeries, she endured daily radiation treatments. Every morning for 7 weeks, she drove to Baltimore for radiation treatments to combat the cancer. It was a long 7 weeks and many mornings she felt very weak.

It was during those seven weeks of daily radiation that Philippians 4:13 became her favorite verse.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

She repeated it over and over.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Soon after her radiation treatment began, she could not speak nor eat. She began therapy and through a great speech teacher, she learned how to speak again. And, she learned how to eat again. During all of it, she was so afraid and felt so weak. She repeated:

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

One day during the arduous treatments and therapy, she remembers lying in bed thinking, "I am not going to get through this." She also remembers praying for strength, for healing, and for comfort through all of it.

Following this prayer, she vividly heard, "Carol, you will be fine."

She knew it was God speaking. "Carol, you will be fine."

After thinking that she was not going to get through this, she was reassured by God. And, get through it, she did.

For the following 5 years, Carol was cancer free. She rejoiced and thanked all of her family and friends who helped her during this trying time. She particularly remembers how her husband took care of her during her fight with cancer. Little did she know, she was going to need that support again.

In November of 2007, the cancer returned in her soft palate. The doctors scheduled surgery to remove it and this surgery was much worse than the surgery in 2002. Due to the location of the cancer, they had to split her jaw in half so that they could remove all of the cancer. After this grueling surgery, they were able to remove all of the cancer.

When she reflects on these two cancer afflictions, she speaks of how her faith in God and the love and support of her family and friends are what sustained her. She has learned a lot about trusting God and about leaning on Him for understanding during adversity. Carol has said, "I don't believe He gave me the cancer, but He certainly got me through it!" And, He continues to get her through one day at time.

She also found that her illness gave her the opportunity to share her faith with so many people that she would have never known. After the surgeries, since her speech and eating were so affected and she had scarring on her face from the surgeries and radiation, she sometimes had people ask her what happened to her. And, she joyously shares how she had cancer and how her faith in Jesus Christ saw her through it. Instead of wallowing in what she has lost from having cancer, Carol focuses on how she can share her faith with those who notice the scars. Just like Jesus shared his scars, Carol shares hers as a testament of her faith in Jesus Christ to sustain her.

Those who know Carol describe her as a sweet, Godly, loving woman of immense faith. She willingly embraces her experience and instead of asking, "Why me?" she asks "Why not me?" She has turned to God in this time of adversity and she has fully embraced what Paul told us in the book of Philippians:

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."