Cardboard Testimony

I first saw the cardboard testimony concept a couple of years ago and it stayed with me. The concept is that in a few short words, you sum up where you were before God helped you, and then where you are after. The situation can be anything from your prayer life to finances to where you were before you were saved.



I had thought about it a lot after I saw it the first time, but then our church family did their own a couple of weeks ago during worship. Once again, I went back to really thinking about what my cardboard would say. I have really appreciated the concept as it has made me reflect on where my relationship with God has taken me.

I grew up in a very godly home and accepted Christ at an early age. My parents laid a good foundation by emphasizing Bible study and regular praying. My relationship really grew and became personal when I went to college, was on my own and scared to death that I wouldn't be able to make it. I met Shane, married, and immediately found out that we were pregnant with Grace. Life continued to be good. We were poor and struggling to make ends meet, and while trusting that God was taking care of us, we still felt like we had a little control over our lives. When Grace was about 18 months, we found out that we were pregnant again. We were a little nervous, but excited. We had been out of town for the weekend, I was about 8 weeks along, and I started spotting. The worst thing was having to wait until Monday to get into the doctor's office. We went in for an ultrasound and they couldn't see anything. They did a different kind of ultrasound and found that there was no baby. I have never felt so devastated and numb. I felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest. Shane was also hurting, and comforting me and dealing with his own grief was almost too much. For the first time, I had to turn to a Comforter that was bigger than anyone here on earth. The hits kept coming. They sent me home to wait for my body to pass the baby and miscarry. After two weeks of nothing happening, they brought me back in for more tests and found that I had a molar pregnancy. Basically, the body thinks that it's pregnant, but there is a growing, cancerous mass in the uterus that has to be removed. We went in for that surgery and then started going back weekly for blood tests to make sure that the cancer wasn't returning. In the midst of all of this testing, they found cervical cancer. At the age of 23, I was visiting an oncologist and talking surgeries and procedures to remove all of the cancer. In the span of a month, I had gone from an excited, expectant mother to a grieving and scared cancer patient. In the midst of all the visits and uncertainty, I felt a peace like I have never known. The cancer was removed successfully, and after a year of waiting to be sure that nothing returned, we were able to try to have children again. Because of the scarring, we (and our doctors) were unsure as to how my body would react to being pregnant and carrying a baby. By God's grace, we were blessed with three more healthy babies. The whole experience taught me that God really is in control of everything. I had thought that I was trusting God before my experience, but in reality I was trusting God within the parameters of what I wanted for my family and my life. So during this season of Thanksgiving, my cardboard would say:

Cervical Cancer
Uncertain of the future


Blessed with 4
beautiful children.
3 after the diagnosis.

So, what would your sign say? Happy Thanksgiving.