September 2008. Wow.
Can I just say that I didn’t see this one coming?
I assumed it was going to be busy–with the release of my latest, Isolation, I’m starting to do lots of promotion. But a little something unexpected happened.
All I know is that God is watching over me. Not in an all-powerful, all-present sort of way, but in a very personal and perfect way.
At the beginning of the month, I was teaching at the Maranatha Christian Writer’s Conference in Muskegon, Michigan when I got some scary news. They discovered melanoma on my earlobe. I needed to go see a specialist the following week when I was back home from my first book tour (in the Carolinas).
I didn’t expect things to be so serious when I visited Rush University Medical Center the following week, but my doctor told me I needed to have a small chunk of ear removed as well as having a lymphnode removed.
The surgery last week went well but the more information I learned, the more fearful I became. We learned last Friday that the lymphnode they took out is benign. Like I said, God is watching over me.
September was a month when I had a new book released as well as the anniversary of my decision to be a full-time writer. Both of those things didn’t seem that important suddenly, not in light of everything else.
I’m thankful that God watches over me, that He does hear prayers, and that he allowed me the opportunity to meet a guy who encouraged me to go in and get that tiny little dot checked out. If that guy had been a doctor or a pastor or my father, I probably wouldn’t have taken his advice.
That’s why God’s in control. He knows what it takes to get our attention.
Here’s hoping that the only scares I hear about next month are from those reading my new book (how’s that for a marketing plug!).
Hi Travis, just wanted to drop you a comment and say I concur that God is always watching out for us–in that personal way. Last March I was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer and my first novel was releasing in June. Bad timing, right? God didn’t think so. Anyway, through this whole cancer thing (surgery, chemo, etc.) God has proven Himself faithful over and over again and has truly taken care of all our needs.
Keep up the great work!