Dying With Dignity and Grace

The doctor said soberly, “We are not winning this battle..."

The cancer has spread to your spinal fluid and to the soft tissue surrounding your spinal cord. There is nothing more we can do for you.” The cancer in my soft tissue that causes such unbearable pain in my ribs and back is now causing me to lose function in my lower extremities. I have lost my ability to stand and walk. The cancer in my spinal fluid affects my facial nerves, making it difficult to eat and to speak.

We have known since my diagnosis eleven months ago, that the aggressive multiple myeloma cancer invading my body is painful and deadly. Only God’s miraculous intervention could heal me. My greatest pain is not in my body, but in my heart. I leave behind my wife and four children. What about them, God? I love them so much. For more than twenty-five years, we have been blessed beyond measure. And yet, even in His sovereign administration of this trial, God’s love for us has not changed. The Lord Who has given so faithfully now takes away in order that His perfect plan might be realized in and through my life. May the name of the Lord be praised.

There are times when reality overwhelms us. That’s when we hear God whisper “Be still and know that I am God.” Our God is sovereign, and He can be trusted in all circumstances. He enables us to lean into this pain, and not run from it. Were you to find yourself facing imminent death, would your faith sustain and comfort you? True peace is rooted in one source only – faith in Jesus Christ. Though it may seem far off, I walk only a few steps ahead of you to an eternal destination. My prayer is that God would use the testimony of our family to lead you to the fear-conquering joy of salvation through trusting in Jesus Christ. Confess and repent of your sins, call on the name of Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Do it today, for you may not have tomorrow.

In Christ,

Roger Conklin

Roger entered into heaven two weeks after this interview.