What a ride it has been

February 20, 2007

By Gary Oseland

In the fall of 2001, life as I knew it was going well. I was enjoying my job; my wife was doing the same. We owned a beautiful home in the country.

Then everything seemed to change at once.

The company where I had worked 25 years was sold. All of a sudden the job security I had assumed would always be mine was in jeopardy. Then the World Trade Center attacks were carried out. I looked at my world and my private life and wondered where I was in the sight of God, although my problems at that point seemed very small in light of the terrorist strikes.

In mid-November I made an appointment to see my doctor for a routine exam. I called the doctor’s office the day before Thanksgiving, expecting to hear everything was normal. When the doctor returned my call a couple of hours later, the news was anything but good.

He told me the blood work revealed high levels of white blood cells consistent with leukemia patients. It was highly likely I had CML (chronic myeloid leukemia).

I handed the phone to my wife. She saw the look on my face and knew it was not good news. She spoke with the doctor, and he directed her to seek an oncologist right away. My wife called her office and spoke with a resident physician. (She is a manager for our local blood bank). He recommended an oncologist.

Within two hours I went from the hurried business of preparing for a house full of Thanksgiving guests to sitting in an oncologist’s office. My world had really crashed. What next God? I wondered.

During the ride home, the Lord showed me He was in control of every situation — my job, chaotic world events, my health. I felt His peace.

Over the next five years to the present, the Lord has been with us the whole time. I was introduced to a new medication for CML patients about one month after diagnosis; today the disease is no longer evident in my body. God has healed me.

Why did this all happen? I don’t have the answers yet, but I know that as a result of my illness I have the opportunity to share my story with many people who have been diagnosed with many forms of leukemia. I have learned to quit questioning what God does and why He chooses to do so. I’m learning what faith is all about.

Again and again in the midst of my struggles I sensed God’s Spirit saying to my heart, Just trust Me. It is that simple, even in the midst of all of these storms. Trust in Me, he continues to say. The apostle Peter gave this advice:

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:7-10, NIV).

We are not in this alone. God sends us His Holy Spirit and His comfort. What a ride it has been walking in the storms and the sunny days with the Lord.

Gary Oseland lives in Random Lake, Wis., and attends Calvary Assembly of God in West Bend.