A Memory of Bobbie
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada remembering my friend Bobbie.
When I saw that September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, I just knew I had to tell you the story of my dear friend, Bobbie Wolgemuth. Together Bobbie and I coauthored books on hymns of the faith. Both of us were often called the hymn ladies because whenever we were together, not only did we share cancer stories but, we would sing hymns to glorify the God who sustained us. And Bobbie needed sustaining grace in her battle against stage 4 ovarian cancer. It was a difficult struggle and even after chemotherapy and experimental treatments, the doctors told my friend there really wasn’t much more they could do. Her disease had the lowest survival rate of all gynecological cancers. Bobbie passed away in October of 2014.
Before that though, my husband Ken and I kept in constant contact with Bobbie and her husband Robert. Over the phone I’d sing her a hymn, and somehow, someway, she’d always find strength to sing one back to me. The words of timeless hymns spoke of God’s goodness to her, just the thing she needed to be reminded of as she faced the end of life. I will never forget what she once emailed me.
She said, “Joni, I am at complete peace about dying, but I told my doctor two days ago that the one thing I did fear was pain. Well, after I left his office and when I got home and rested, I heard God say to me, ‘Bobbie, why did you tell your doctor that? Haven’t I seen you through pain in years past? Didn’t I see Stephen, the martyr who was stoned to death; didn’t I see him through his pain as he was being stoned? And didn’t I see all the martyrs of centuries past who were burned or stoned or thrown to lions; did I not see them through their pain? And wasn’t I able to sustain my Son, Jesus, through the pain of His cross? Bobbie, I won’t abandon you; I won’t forget you; I will be with you every step of the way.’” You know, even now as I read those words of hers, oh my goodness, it infuses such courage into my heart as I face my own pain, not from cancer, but from scoliosis—sitting in the wheelchair so many years.
You know, Isaiah Chapter 43 says, “When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God.” Now, in that verse God is not saying here that floods and fire will never physically harm you, but what He is saying is that your soul will not be swept away. Your soul will not be set ablaze and destroyed. God has removed from you the only kind of suffering that can ever harm you, and that is separation from Him. And this means all suffering that now touches your life—or that which touched Bobbie’s life, or my life—all of it is designed by God to make your soul great, to strengthen your soul, to make it courageous through the flood of trials, and to refine your soul through the heat of fiery troubles. So train your soul today not to entertain any other thought about the trial. Don’t let your soul think otherwise about your hardships.
And if you’d like more encouragement on this, especially if you are struggling with cancer, please visit my radio page today at joniandfriends.org and pick up your free copy of John Piper’s booklet “Don’t Waste Your Cancer.” Believe me, the insights will do such good for your soul and you don’t even have to have cancer. So, pick up your copy today at joniandfriends.org/radio. Again, come to my radio page. Let me know what you think. Let me know what you sing at joniandfriends.org.
© Joni and Friends
