This next Blog Party post comes from a woman I get to meet in person in about a month. We became acquainted through our mutual friend, Ken Davis, and we will be in the same place, at the same time, in just a few weeks. I'm really looking forward to it! As I've gotten to know Michele a little bit over these past couple of months through our conversations and through her writing, I knew I wanted her to be a part of this blog party. I knew she'd do an incredible job sharing Hope with us. What I didn't know was how powerful her own Hope story would be. So, without further ado...
Meet Michele Cushatt!
It took a single phone call for me to understand the worth of hope.
The doctor’s voice carried the one word I dreaded most: Cancer. In seconds, I exited normal life and entered into a scene played out in tear-jerking movies and books. My perspective on life shrunk to a singular suffocating question:
Am I going to die?
Most 39 year olds aren’t prepared to face such a question. Those of us who have at some point walked through life-threatening circumstances with a loved one find it’s an entirely different story when written in first person. I didn’t anticipate the fear that would extinguish my prior joy like a fire swallows up oxygen.
Over the next weeks, as doctors determined the best course of action, I crumbled under the weight of my new life story, sinking into a dark pit of terror I’d never before known. It’s not that I feared my eternal destination. I’ve loved Jesus my entire life. But talking about eternity and facing it are two different things. Thoughts of family left behind and dreams unrealized crippled me. The prospect of death swallowed up any hope of life.
During one particularly difficult day, I retreated with my husband to our bedroom. He didn’t share my despair, nor did he fear for my life. From the first day, he knew this health challenge would be difficult, but temporary.
I sat across from him on our bed, envying his peace. “How are you so calm? Why aren’t you worried?”
He answered as he always did. “Because you’re going to be fine. I’m sorry you have to go through this, but you’re going to be okay.”
Blinded by fear, I resisted with another question. “But what if? What if I’m not okay? What if the worst case scenario happens?”
Then he said the words that finally broke Fear’s choke hold on me:
“If you really believe what you say you believe, Michele, then it’s only going to get better for you from here.”
With a sound rebuke, he reminded me that Hope gets the final word in my life. From the moment I met Jesus, life trumped death. But somewhere in my 39 years, my love affair with this life had eclipsed my anticipation of the next.
It’s a difficult tension, living with one hand embracing earth and the other reaching for heaven. But as good as this life can be, we can’t let its pleasure overshadow the truth that we were made for eternity.
My husband was right, you know. My health struggle turned out to be temporary. A difficult season, and one I’d rather not repeat. But an early diagnosis with a happy ending, lasting just long enough to teach me a lesson I’ll never forget:
The best is yet to come. Only that hope makes today worth living.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Hope Changes Everything!!
More about Michele...
Often described as engaging and authentic, Michele Cushatt is a inspirational speaker and author with whom audiences easily connect. Weaving contemporary stories with ancient script, she hangs out in the tension between real faith and real life, a place filled with more questions than answers. Michele doesn't hide the fact that her story is a mix of joy and pain, leaving her tendered toward those who likewise find themselves enduring less-than-ideal circumstances.
Pulling from this unique set of life experiences, Michele Cushatt writes articles, stories and devotional meditations for numerous publications including MOPS International, Today’s Christian Woman, Hearts-at-Home , Upper Room,Quiet Hour, Devotions, and multiple compilation books including five titles in the Chicken Soup series. Her speaking experience covers the United States and includes the Focus on the Family daily radio program, Your Family Live!Webcast, multiple Hearts-at-Home conferences, Compassion International, women’s retreats, writers conferences, business and church events as well as various other conferences, retreats, radio interviews, and writers groups.
Passionate about mentoring fellow writers and speakers, Michele served as the Director of Words For The Journey Christian Writers Guild for more than three years. Currently, she is on staff with internationally recognized comedian and best-selling author Ken Davis as M/C and Communications Coach for Dynamic Communicators Workshops, a conference designed to transform those who want to become powerful and effective communicators.
Michele, her husband Troy, and their three teenage boys make their home in Colorado along with Nika, one adorable but very hairy black lab.
