Never A Friend Like Jesus / Mrs Kelly Monkofsky

Kelly Monkofsky
Pastor's Wife
Grace Baptist Church
Quincy, IL


Never A Friend Like Jesus

All your anxiety, all your care Bring to the mercy seat, leave it there Never a burden you cannot bear Never a friend like Jesus.

Do you have a best friend? Someone who you can count on, tell your secrets to, be real with, “unload” your burdens to? I do. His name is Jesus. This song means more to me now, and in the past year and a half, then it ever did before. I’ve sung it many times in church, but the words are dearer to me now. When you hear from the Dr. that you have the “C” word, life changes and Jesus really does become your dearest friend.

In August of 2015 I was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. At the time, I was only 37 years old. Not something many 37 year olds hear. With a husband, 5 kids, and a church to take care of, this news was hard to bear. Put me into shock, actually. I knew something was going on because I hadn’t felt good for about 2 months prior. I still had no idea I was about to embark on a journey that would turn my world upside down. Millions of questions and scenarios raced in my head while my husband and I sat in the Dr’s office that day. I was literally waiting for someone to pinch me so I could wake up and say it was just a bad dream. However, it wasn’t. It was real, and I was scared. I remember sitting there, watching my husband with tears coming down his cheeks. It almost hurt more to see him hurting so badly. All I could do was pray. And pray I did! Unless you’ve experienced something like this yourself, you probably won’t understand completely what I’m about to say next. The peace that swept over me in those next few hours of tests and poking and prodding was absolutely unbelievable! “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3) I didn’t lose it. I didn’t panic. I didn’t even cry which for me, is a miracle in itself because I normally cry over everything☺ The Lord was with me. He was my rock (Psalm 61:2). He was giving me the grace I needed. He was bearing my burden!! 

To make a very long story short, I chose to go the natural route after all my tests and biopsies came back confirming my illness. I had no treatment for almost a year after, just a big change in my lifestyle and diet. The testing that I had done each month from the naturalist I was seeing, showed that I was improving and that the cancer was going away. However, about 10 months into it, I started feeling terrible. I had no energy, I was losing weight, couldn’t even climb the stairs of our house. I was basically on the couch or in bed all day long. After several family members urging me to get blood work done, I finally agreed. My husband had to carry me to the car that day. We went to the ER and had blood drawn. Turned out, I was severely anemic…like, deathly anemic. My hemoglobin was 2.8. That is NOT normal. In fact, it’s considered critical. The nurses and my ER Dr. were in shock that I was still alert and awake. That was God! So of course I was admitted and given a blood transfusion shortly after. From there, they had to determine the cause of my anemia so again, several tests were done. The entire time I was going through these tests, the Lord was there, giving me peace again. He was once again, my best friend. I told Him I was scared. I told Him I was nervous, burdened and anxious. He knew. He
took care of me. “Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still” (Psalm 107”28-29) After many hours of seeing Dr’s, giving my blood away, getting new blood, having a heart monitor, etc, an oncologist met with me and told me that my cancer had spread and was now in my bone marrow, which was causing my red blood cells to be destroyed as well as my platelets. I was also at risk for bleeding. Yeah….that’s a big load to carry!! But Jesus said, let me carry it, child. “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (I Peter 5:7).  

My hospital stay ended up being almost 2 weeks. I had one oncologist tell me when it was just her and I in the room, that I had about 6-18 months to live, with this diagnosis. Um…say what?! Boy was this a time to cast all my cares upon Him; to bring my burden to Him. I heard a lot of bad news in the hospital during those 12 days but honestly, I also felt the peace of God that truly “passeth all understanding.” (Philippians 4:7).  Unexplainable peace. I’m so glad I had Jesus as my best friend at this time. I’m so glad He was there with me during the MANY tests, biopsies, Dr. visits, blood draws, transfusions and scans. Friend, is Jesus your best friend? Can you take all your cares and burdens to Him? Are you? Or are you trying to bear them alone? It’s so much easier when you give them to Him. I’m ashamed to say it, but up until my diagnosis, I don’t think I really relied on Jesus to carry my load. I think I tried doing a lot of it myself. I trusted myself to get through the hard times and challenges of life. Maybe God put me through this to show me HE ALONE is the one to trust. My earthly friends are wonderful. I have some of the best of friends here on earth. But none of them could have helped me through all of this like Jesus did. None of them could have given me that peace. None of them could have sustained my spirit like He did. Psalm 16:11….in his presence is fullness of joy. Amen to that! 

So, its been 5 months since I came home from the hospital and to God’s glory, I have been making remarkable strides in my health. I went from having blood transfusions every 10 days, to not needing one now for 2 months! I feel great, have had encouraging Dr. appointments, and just feel like a new person, praise the Lord!! He is so good to me. I’m so glad He taught me to lean on Him more. One of my favorite verses while going thru this trial was, and still is Isaiah 41:10! Such powerful words! 

My story is nothing special. I know there is so many others who have experienced something like this, or who are going through it right now. I just wanted to brag on my Jesus for a bit, and let you know that you’ll never find a better friend!