Cancer Survivor Encourages Others to Fight Fear with Faith
With over a million cancer diagnoses in 2020,* one lung cancer survivor asks this crucial question: When your daily rhythm comes to an abrupt halt, how do you make a meaningful life in slow motion?
When Pastor Mary Holder Naegeli was told she had lung cancer, her world shifted into slow motion. Prone to anxiety and worry, she learned how to stay calm, curious, and courageous through her aggressive treatments—by accepting her illness as a test of faith and surrendering to God her life and death. With realism and humor, she chronicled her growing discovery of God’s safety and security.
In Deep Breathing: Finding Calm amid Cancer Anxiety, Mary guides those facing dangerous illness toward calming faith in God’s might and mercy. Deep Breathing is structured around the church year and its hopeful rhythms. The author grapples with life’s basic questions of Why me? and What does this mean? through Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter.
As she studied the seasons of the church, she reflected daily on God’s nature and her response to his character. Mary says, “Having silently named the possibilities of cancer and death for the first time and absorbing divine reassurances, I felt strengthened for what was to come. As these stories entwine, what emerges is the discovery that serenity and curiosity are more sustainable and life-giving than the anxiety of world-class worriers in my family.”
Mary’s style is reflective, grounded, and encouraging. She helps readers embrace faith that survives life’s upheavals. Discover how to slow down, discern right thinking, and loosen anxiety’s grip as you hold fast to the One who holds you. Deep Breathing is an excellent resource for pastors, caregivers, and medical professionals seeking insight into the patient’s experience.
(SOURCE: Christian Newswire)