As you may know, I was recently diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. I am at peace, for this is not the first scary medical diagnosis my family has experienced. Many years ago, my wife Pat had a similar frightening medical challenge, and she showed me the awesome power of hope based on Jesus Christ.

One day, Pat came to me and said, “I think I’ve got a lump.” Sure enough, I felt the lump. We scheduled an appointment with specialists immediately. I prayed that the lump would be benign, but it was malignant. The specialists scheduled her for surgery the following Sunday and told her to prepare herself for extended rounds of chemotherapy for two years.

After we returned home from getting the diagnosis, I went to the basement and began to weep. As I cried, I heard the piano upstairs begin to play. I listened as my wife, in a clear, soft voice, began singing her favorite old hymns. And I thought, What a time to sing! How amazing that a Christian can hear terrible news and her first response is to sing old hymns, to declare the hope that rests in Christ alone. She was echoing the Psalmist, who cried: “May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you” (Psalm 33:22). How marvelous, how brave, how faithful!

I remember my wife’s godly example as I approach this next season of my life. Let us all demonstrate such hope in Jesus during uncertain times.

This is Luis Palau.