No More Folders

I was looking through my filing cabinet the other day and noticed something incredible. When I was first diagnosed with leukemia in Feb 2010, I created a folder called “AML 2010” for all the medical bills and insurance statements that year. AML is for Acute Myeloid Leukemia – the technical name for what I had. That folder is about 2 inches thick and is maxed with all kinds of papers. When I relapsed in 2011, I had to start a new folder. Of course it was called “AML 2011.” It too is about 2 inches thick and can’t hold any more. When I looked down at that place in the filing cabinet, this thought came to me: “Wow, I don’t have an AML 2012 folder!”  A full year without any sign of leukemia. A full year without spending one night in a hospital. Just like that, my AML folder creating task is done.  It’s behind me. Some may say that there is a chance it could come back, and that is true. It’s actually true for all of us that some strange disease could sneak its way into our bodies. And we have very little control over that. But the truth that came out of this discovery is putting the past behind us and pressing on to the new life that has been given us. I love how The Message version reminds me of this in Philippians 3:12-14 –

 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

I’m looking forward to 2013 and not looking back. No more folders! And more space in my filing cabinet.

Amazed by His Love,

 

Terence