Cancer Patient to Cancer Care Minister - Episode 154 - Health, Hope & Inspiration : City of Hope®

Cancer Patient to Cancer Care Minister – Episode 154

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Featuring: George and Jeanie Stewart

Published: March 9, 2019

The hosts of Health, Hope & Inspiration chat with George and Jeanie Stewart, cancer care ministers through the Our Journey of Hope^® Cancer Care Leadership Training program, to talk about their call to ministry after an up-and-close experience with colon cancer became the catalyst for God to use them to minister hope to others going through similar circumstances.

Show Notes:

George and Jeanie Stewart have experienced first-hand that God’s timing is very different from ours, especially after years of preparation to become cancer care ministers hit close to home when George was diagnosed with colon cancer. “We learned that it is not a coincidence that we took the training when we did, and had those years of preparation, of teaching the course, and then coming down with cancer ourselves. It is not a coincidence. Looking back, it was His plan that things should happen that way. It’s right in the fact that He has prepared me. He had prepared me for that,” Jeanie says.

In fact, Jeanie will tell you that God spoke directly to her heart. “A couple weeks after the diagnosis, I was sitting at our kitchen counter and just browsing through my recipe books, and this thought just came through my mind and went out, ‘I have prepared you for a time such as this.’ I couldn’t believe that I had that thought. It was not an audible voice,” she says. “So I stopped and I looked at George, and I said, ‘I think maybe God just spoke to me.’” The rest is history.

Now cancer-free, George and Jeanie forge full-steam ahead, ministering to the cancer community in Hawaii. They have started their own cancer care ministry, Compassion for Cancer Caregivers, and have developed and distributed 600 Compassion Kits to caregiving families as an extension of their ministry. Jeanie has also developed an eight-week program designed for families with seriously-ill children from infant to age 21 that addresses fear and equips them with ways to turn that fear into something positive. They also run a Hope Lodge through the American Cancer Society in Honolulu, which provides a free home away from home for cancer patients and their caregivers.

Quotes:

“We know that God’s timing is different from ours, and sometimes we go through things in life, and we think we’re doing it for whatever reasons we think we’re doing it for, but we know now that God has other plans, and we may not see those plans.”
“Just that one sentence has carried me through thick and thin, through the entire journey, that He ‘has prepared me for a time such as this.’ And with that, I can persevere. I can do it.”
“I found myself in the hospital when I went through several operations because of infections and both lungs with blood clots during that period of time. When I was able to get up, I was walking the halls, and could really feel compassion for other people that were sick in the hospital. It really built the foundation for our organization and allowed us to move.”
“When I talk to cancer patients and tell them that I have been on that journey, it gets back to the old saying in the business world, ‘Walk your talk.’ You’re able to have more compassion for people with cancer now.”

Resources:

CLICK HERE to download this week’s resource: “Creative Care”

Learn More:
Compassion for Cancer Caregivers
American Cancer Society Clarence T.C. Ching Hope Lodge Honolulu, HI

George and Jeanie’s Cancer Care Ministry Supporter:

George with a load of Compassion Kits: