But God makes you strong March 4, 2026
Romans 16:25, 27 Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong. … All glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.
I met Steve in high school, when we both participated in the youth group at our church. He has a particular prayer burden for Ukraine. Pastor Steve is a gifted artist. See more of his work at SteveEasterwood.com. He invites you to email him at SteveEasterwood@gmail.com.
Above: The Christmas Rose, by Steve Easterwood How many symbols representing Jesus can you see in this painting?
Right: Mary, by Steve Easterwood. What stands out to you?
Here is Steve’s story:
Sometimes people who are not yet believers in Jesus ask me, “What difference does Christ make in your life?” He makes all the difference in the world!
In December 2020, I was having some minor swallowing issues, and after a scope, I was told that I had a seven-inch cancerous tumor wrapped around my esophagus.
We all wonder on those sleepless nights how we’ll respond if the diagnosis is cancer. I was no different. There were nights when I wondered the same thing. That night, as was my practice, I prayed and committed my situation to the Lord. I told Him that my life was in His hands and that I trusted Him, whatever His decision about my fate. With that, I fell asleep.
The next morning, I received a notification from my watch that I had experienced the best night of sleep I’d had in four months! How can that happen the night after you receive a serious cancer diagnosis?
I fell asleep absolutely convinced that my situation would have one of three outcomes:
First, God could heal me. I firmly believe that the God of the Bible still heals today.
Second, Jesus could return and take me home.
Third, I could die and, as the Bible says, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). When someone dies, people say, “He lost his battle to cancer.” But where’s the loss? There are only three outcomes, and each one is a win for me!
That’s how you sleep like a baby after you’ve had a cancer diagnosis. So far, God has chosen option number one. He is still Jehovah-Rapha, God the healer.
Recently, I found out that the five-year survival rate for my type and stage of cancer is 0%. Yet, here I am, still alive today. I believe that God still has a mission for me to accomplish. Until that mission is finished, nothing, including cancer, can take my life. When that mission has been accomplished, nothing can keep me alive for another second.
Until the time when God chooses to take me home, I will put all my energy into taking as many people to heaven with me as possible. I’m 71 years old. There’s a party waiting for me soon in heaven. Until that time, I plan to share God’s message of Good News so that people can be confident about where they will spend eternity. My question to you is this: How would you sleep on a cancer diagnosis? If you have faith in God, you won’t have to fear the outcome, and you can sleep like a baby!
Give Thanks by Don Moen
Debra Kornfield 
Thanks, Steve! And Deb for posting this. I loved what you said about being here until you’ve completed the mission God has for you. Aleluya! Our daughter Karis felt the same way. After five crises in 2009 when the doctors repeatedly thought she wouldn’t survive, Deb told me she had little time to live. I responded, “I don’t think anything can kill her!” She herself deeply shared your conviction that she couldn’t die until she had completed all that God had given her to do. That happened in 2014. And at the same time, she continues to live on in our hearts and in various books that Deb has written. She just finished doing the recording for the audio version of Karis, All I see is Grace. Yet another way her life will continue to touch lives.
I praise God for your life and hers. For Debbie’s life and mine. And the incredible mystery of God choosing to work out His eternal purposes through each of us in a desperately needy world.
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