JUDAH WINS

Don't give up, don't give in! If you don't quit, you win!

Avoiding The Ditch On Both Sides Of The Road

A personal journey through faith, wisdom, and the battle against cancer

Eric & Deborah Dombach

On Saturday night, Deborah and I went out to dinner for our weekly date night, a standing habit during our entire married life, thanks to some newlywed advice from dear mentors. (A wise man once said, “Weekly date nights are much cheaper than marriage counseling and WAY more fun!)

For the first 30 minutes, we kinda just sat there, slowly eating our appetizers and not saying much to each other. We must have looked a bit odd to anyone watching us. (-:

I think it took that long for us to just catch our breath and be ready to engage in meaningful conversation. Defeating cancer can be emotionally exhausting.

The Battle of the Mind

The relentless, demonic suggestions to the mind seem to follow almost the exact same script of the Assyrian attacker against Hezekiah in Isaiah 36:4-5

“On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?”

After all these centuries, the devil has nothing really new to say. It’s just more mockery of our faith: “Why would you place your confidence in God to deliver you? Why would you ever think that you can resist my power to kill you?” It’s the same old, same old all these years later. Bluster, accusations, intimidation.

Hearing God's Voice

The only way through is to hear from God himself.This is exactly what Hezekiah did, of course, and he was delivered. God will do the same for each of us! In our first battle with cancer in 2002-3, we learned how relentless and cruel this enemy is. Nothing can be taken for granted.

So, we’ve been saying: “GOD! What’s the plan? How will you deliver us from this current threat? Do we do what the doctors recommend? If so, do we do it now? Later? What are you saying to us?”

One of the most comforting verses in the Bible for believers is John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” When battling disease, we can confidently expect to hear his voice!

Over the past few days, we’ve been focused on discerning God’s plan to beat this cancer. Deborah and I are both diligent journalers, recording our night dreams, the quiet impressions we receive from the Lord while reading his word, and prophetic words from friends and intercessors. I’ve created a summary of the things we’ve been hearing over the past few weeks HERE.

When we look at this summary of what the Lord has been saying to us, we get a reasonably clear prophetic picture:

1) The problem can be easily removed, like a loose tooth. Interestingly, the thyroid gland actually has a shape that looks kind of similar to a tooth.

2) The process of winning this battle will be short.

We’ve also been seeking wise counsel from leaders in the body that we love and respect, and several of these have confirmed our sense that we should proceed with the thyroidectomy.

“Don’t concede! Don’t just give up on Judah’s thyroid. Fight for it!”

With this in mind — and in light of what we believe God has been saying — we’ve decided to proceed with the thyroidectomy.

The most difficult aspect of this decision has been discerning how to respond to this word. We wondered:

Should we postpone the surgery and continue pressing in for a miraculous restoration?

This has been a difficult question. If we proceed with surgery, are we conceding to the enemy?

With your help, we fought with everything at our disposal to save Judah’s thyroid. But delaying further could expose the rest of his body to risk.

I’ve thought a lot about the old saying that “there’s a ditch on on both sides of the road.”

1) On one side of the road is the ditch I’ll call “practical atheism.” We can get caught in this trap if we don’t consult the Lord to receive divine strategies to navigate health crises, relying on the advice of medical experts without tuning in to what’s happening in the spiritual realm. When medical science falls short, we can be left in a state of despair or resignation.

2) On the other side of the road is the ditch I’ll call “healthcare Gnosticism.” Christians caught in this trap create an UN-Biblical distinction between “spiritual” and “worldly” means of beating sickness and disease, insisting on a “spiritual-only” approach to healing, regarding medical science as less-than, and advocating a rugged reliance on miracles only. This approach can be fatal, literally.

In the battle against cancer, we want to follow Jesus as faithfully and aggressively as we can. We want to use every weapon at our disposal to preserve Judah’s life, including the very best that medical science has to offer AND the spiritual weapons of our warfare that :

“have divine power to demolish strongholds!” (2 Cor. 10:4)

Surgery Update

SO, the surgery has been scheduled for Monday, December 1st at noon.

Our focus in prayer will be for a safe procedure and protection, specifically for mission-critical veins in his neck and his vocal chords, and for continued protection throughout the rest of Judah’s body.