“Karen’s Notes!
Insights from a Glory-Bound Lady”

Selected Notes
Volume 5 Number 37 “The Win-Win Lady”
September 14th, 2022

Sometimes I have copied paragraphs of what Karen has written in her own personal Bible study. Sometimes I have shared sections of material that Karen was using in upcoming ladies’ retreats. Every once in a while, I have been blessed to share very brief notes that she wrote in the margin of her Bible.

When we learned of her cancer diagnosis, she was determined to ask the Lord “what” He wanted her to do and how she could glorify Him in this situation. My dear Karen knew that she was the most unlikely candidate in the entire world for Stage IV lung cancer. But since she had it, she was going to use it. She spoke to me of the Lord’s comfort and that now she had a new mission field to share with others how they could also have this comfort.

The Lord gave her wonderful help and strength to explain to each of her medical team (and there would be many!) that she was in a win-win situation. Either she would get better and have more time with her family which would be a win, or she would go Home to be with the Lord and that would be a huge win. She went on to explain that she had profound comfort from the Lord.

Here’s the verse that she highlighted. “The God of all comfort; Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

She was thinking of God’s comfort and how great it really is. She circled the word “all” in verse 4. God comforts us in “all” our tribulation. Here’s what she wrote in the margin.

Karen wrote: “Cancer 2015.”

Michael’s observation: That’s all she wrote, but her life spoke volumes. The situation of “tribulation” in her life was used of the Lord to speak truth to many individuals in medical practice. Her doctors listened and spoke of God’s grace in her life. The nurses called her the “Win-Win” lady. The hospice team knew where Karen was going and how she could know this for sure. So, the lesson is that when troubles come into our lives, we learn valuable lessons of God’s grace in order that we can share with others around us. It doesn’t have to be something big and dreadful. Even in the somewhat more minor adjustments and frustrations of life, the Lord wants to help and comfort His people so that we can be an encouragement to others. Watch how God will open doors for you.