What About Jenny?

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

I’ll never forget when Jenny told me she had cancer. She’d recently discovered she was pregnant with herfourth child and her doctor wanted her to terminate the pregnancy so that they could aggressively treat the cancer. But Jenny and Joshua told their doctor that was not an option. She explained, “We’ll do what we can while I carry this child.”

I was impressed by Jenny’s courage and applauded her mother’s heart. As her fight with cancer began I asked God to give me a word I could pray over her. I do that when I’m given big prayer assignments. I get so emotionally engaged in the situations that I don’t trust my petitions to line up with God’s purposes. So I ask God to give me His word from the Word. He gave me Romans 15:13. I shared this verse with Jenny and her family and we clung to it like a lifeline.

Seven months later Jenny gave birth to a healthy baby boy and we rejoiced. But while the doctor was performing the C-section she looked in Jenny’s body for evidence of cancer and found that it had spread all over her abdominal cavity.

During the next year we prayed and hoped and trusted God. We shouted for joy when Jenny responded to treatment and added fasting to our prayers when her cancer returned a bit later. I met Joshua in the hospital one day just after the doctor had been in to see them. The visit was not good and Joshua begged me to tell him what I was hearing from God. I told him that God continued to impress me with Romans 15:13.

Jenny’s eyes sparkled every time I visited her and she always assured me that she was trusting God. But still she died on February 15, 2007. I stood with her family as we circled her bed, held hands, and sang hymns. Jenny’s mother read the verse printed in my handwriting on an index card hanging on the wall over Jenny’s head. She said, “Leighann, all this time we thought this verse was for Jenny, but God knew. He was giving it to us.”

Holy Father, please fill me with Your joy and peace. You are the God of hope, and I will trust in You no matter what the circumstances. In Jesus’ name, amen.