A Hope Hug
By Liza Frampton
How do you keep going when you feel like you can’t move anymore?
Is it possible to experience joy when you feel angry, disappointed and confused?
And how do you hang onto hope when every circumstance appears hopeless?
These are some of the questions I’ve asked while dealing with four bouts of a rare cancer and 21 years of devastating health complications. The wisdom I discovered has transformed my life. I hope these brief stories will encourage and equip you as you face interruptions in your own life.
I spent 23 years as a high profile television news reporter and anchor as well as an entertainment reporter for Entertainment Tonight. In the years since I was a familiar face on the evening news, my story has become more dramatic than the ones I reported on screen.
Following a move from career to carpool as a full-time mother, I was diagnosed with a rare cancer requiring radical chemotherapy, radiation, dozens of major surgeries and 21 years of life-altering complications.
During this time, my children, who were 2 and 5-years old when I was diagnosed, lived with the reality that, “Mommy may die today.”
My colon was removed, part of my backbone was chopped off, and doctors say I experienced the worst of the worst. I almost died many times, and often, I felt that would have been easier. I became discouraged, racked with fear, felt like a burden and imagined I had failed as a mother and wife. While the good, Christian Liza could put on a smile and quote scripture, I didn’t have authentic joy. For years, I had to rely on friends and family for every basic need.
During much of this time, my self-talk would scream words like, “My body is ruined! I’m getting worse. I’m about to die. I can’t live without a colon. I’ll never get better. I can’t take this pain any longer! I’ll never be strong. I’ve ruined my children’s lives. I’m so scared. I’m never going to heal from all this!”
I prayed a lot. I wanted to heal. But I didn’t. So finally, I decided to learn how to live as one who is loved. I didn’t know how to do this, but I tried. I wanted to actually receive God’s Love. So, instead of just saying I KNOW He loves me, I began embracing His Love in my heart.
At first, I just said the words, “I receive Your love.” Then it happened, a deep knowing - undeniably His. I’m safe, comforted, even when I don’t feel it. It was during this first encounter that God said, “Liza, now that you’re receiving My love, you may receive My healing.”
Wow! THAT’s what I wanted!
Then, after 16 years, when I was re-diagnosed with the exact same rare cancer in a different location, I began hearing the negativity, the lies and the familiar death march playing in my mind again. At that moment, as I walked out of my doctor’s office, I knew I needed to listen to something else. If I kept listening to these lies, I knew they had the power to ruin me, my family, and even affect my children’s future children.
So right there, as I walked to my car, I spontaneously responded differently than I ever had before. I began talking to myself out loud. I had read and memorized Romans 12:2 many years before, but I had never actually activated it in my life. This verse says I can be transformed by renewing my mind. I imagined that meant to think only thoughts which God thinks.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” ~Romans 12:2 (NIV)
That’s what I did.
I began thinking only what God thinks and speaking ONLY what God says. I declared, “NO! I refuse to listen to these lies that are trying to take me down. God gives me life, so I have life! God’s joy is my strength. God says He heals all my diseases, so thank you God, that You are healing me.”
When I reached my car, I climbed in, crumbled and cried out to God. “Am I doing this right? Can this really help me transform? It feels like I’m ignoring reality. Tests show I have cancer. I feel the tumor on my body, yet I’m saying I’m healed. This feels sooooo awkward.”
Then, I heard something that changed my life. Through a gentle impression in my heart, God said, “Liza, there is TRUTH and there is FACT. Yes, cancer has been detected. That is FACT. But My Word says you are healed, strong and joyful. That is TRUTH. I want you to focus on My Truth. I’ll take care of the facts!”
Wow! THAT was a warm, safe, comforting hug from a Father who genuinely cares about his fragile daughter. As I sat there in the noisy parking structure, allowing myself to receive His Love, I continued replacing the lies and negativity with His Truth. I knew this was the starting point of my life’s greatest healing.
Today, I AM transformed. Consistently implementing this process has changed my experience through more bouts with cancer and dozens of other difficult circumstances. I have deep strength, joy, hope and peace in the midst of whatever circumstance I go through.
These days, as friends and I face challenging circumstances, instead of just praying and hoping the situation will change, we take action. We open our hearts to receive God’s love, and we focus more on what He says and thinks about us and our circumstances.
We don’t ignore what’s going on. We intentionally choose NOT to go down to the level of how we feel and stay there. Yes, we acknowledge our emotions and we face them, but then we rise up to what we believe.
God’s Truth trumps fact! And THAT is transforming all of us into whole, strong, joyful, hopeful and authentic expressions of Jesus.
“Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.” ~Romans 12:2 (TPT)