My husband Jim has been a faithful servant of Christ all of his life.  He made a commitment to serve God in ministry when he was 17 years old.  He was a Youth Minister for 16 years and now works for ICOM as Student Director which is a ministry to serve Missionaries and young people that want to go into mission work.  Here is his view on the connection between faith and surviving cancer:

The first thing I remember thinking when Amy & I were told the news was, "Well, that explains a lot!"  The second thought was, "Okay, God, if this is the plan you have for me, then thank you.  And let's do it."  That might seem a very odd reaction, and please don't think me disingenuous...I actually thought that.  At the beginning.  It all changed when chemo started.

Chemotherapy kicked my butt.  Never have I experienced feeling as crappy as I did then.  The only thing that kept me going was prayer.  Not mine, mind you...it was the prayers of people (literally) around the world that encouraged me to keep on fighting when inside I just wanted to give up.  Amy & I received messages from all over the U.S., Australia, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, the Philippines, India, Africa, Honduras and more telling us that we were being lifted before God in prayer.  There is an amazing thing that happens when you know that people are asking Almighty God that He care for you and heal you.  It's a feeling that I wish every cancer patient could experience.

 The video from yesterday was shown to our youth group about a month ago.  I was totally unprepared for the emotions I experienced as I watched Zac's story.  But he said something that reminded me of how I felt at the beginning.  "God doesn't give bad gifts."  It's so easy to fall into depression, self-doubt and anger after cancer, but remembering that God allowed me to experience cancer and survive gives me renewed hope.  Additionally, because He allowed me to survive, I feel like I now have a gift and obligation to pray for and encourage my friends who experience cancer.

I hope I don't ever have a recurrence of cancer, but I know that if I do that it will be a gift from God.  And he doesn't give bad gifts...