by Shirley Lee

Just like any other woman who for the first time was told she has a lump inside her body, 101 things came to mind and I had to manage so many parts of my emotions all at the same time. The truth is that when I discovered this eight months ago, no one in my family knew about this. I thought it may be nothing hence I did not want to unnecessarily worry my family members. Six months later, I wasn’t intending to tell anyone either until I was told I would need to have the surgery to remove it. When I got home, the first thing I did was to call my manager and told her of the surgery as I needed to arrange my work while I am away. I then called the hospital to confirm the date and thereafter called my mum to inform her.

Even though outwardly I appeared as if I am calm, the truth is each moment I stopped doing anything, the surgery or specifically ‘What is that lump?’ was the only thing that occupied my mind. I was anxious, worried and honestly, scared. If it wasn’t for the prayers and love from a lot of people, I don’t know how I would have coped.

It was a couple of days before the surgery that I chanced upon this movie called ‘Facing the Giants.’ It was an American Christian drama sports film of an underdog story about a Christian high school American football team (the Eagles) who went through multiple setbacks and failures both in their personal lives and on the field. In that movie, the coach of the losing team turned to God for guidance, set an example to his team and people around him to change their perspective and purpose in life and in what they do, towards a God-centric mindset. And that is when things started to change for the better. The first thing that came to my mind at that time was ‘this is like David and Goliath (the Giant).’

Well, the ‘giants’ in this movie was an unbeatable football team called Richland Giants. Against all odds and from being at the bottom of the rank, the Eagles rise up to each challenge to meet the Giants at the final playoffs. This movie warms my heart. It comforted me and also made me learn a few things and look at things from a very different perspective.

1. There will always be ‘giants’ in our lives.
Be it in work, relationships, health or finances, and many more areas. These giants will create setbacks, make us question ourselves, probably God too, and challenge us to look for solutions or pull us down. (1 Pet 1:6 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.”)

2. We are not to fight these ‘giants’ on our own because we can’t.
Let God fight the battles for us. (Deut 3:22 “You must not fear them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you”)

3. These ‘giants’ look too big to overcome because we are using the wrong tool
I realized that when we use a magnifying glass to look at every challenge we have, it will always look huge. And many times, we forget that when God look at our challenges, He’s using a microscope. It is important for us to look at things from God’s view rather than our own view.

(Isaiah 55: 8-9—“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”)

Do we still want to hold on to our own magnifying glass or look through God’s lens? Whatever or whoever the giants you are facing in your life, will you not face your giants with God by your side?

Being anxious and worried is a normal process. We are after all human but I learned that the most important thing about overcoming these feelings despite us being in caught in the storm is having the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds.

Phil 4: 6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”