New York Times bestselling Christian author and speaker Lysa TerKeurst has announced she is cancer free less than two weeks after undergoing a double mastectomy.
"Today my surgeon stood up in my follow up appointment and declared me CANCER FREE! They got it all out and nothing had spread," the president of Proverbs 31 Ministries announced in a Facebook post Friday evening.
"I'm so thankful and relieved and deeply moved by the outpouring of prayers that have carried me through the surgery and first week of healing."
TerKeurst said she still has a "couple of surgeries to go" and asked for continued prayers.
"There were a few complications but hearing 'no chemo or radiation needed' makes my complications pale in comparison," she said. "And please keep praying for others still battling through tough stuff by lifting up some of the comments in my last post."
She concluded: "I love you all so much. Now, I'm going to have a 10 second dance party with my daughter Ashley who just got in town! And then I'll get back in bed-I promise mom!"
The Christian blogger also shared a photo bearing the simple phrase "Praise God!"
TerKeurst first announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in an October Facebook post.
"I've sort of dreaded this moment of telling you guys," she said. "I really am fine, but I think because I've been through so much in the past couple of years...I've just kind of dreading telling you because I think people will think, 'What in the world?"
TerKeurst said she recently went in for a routine mammogram but the results came back unclear. She later went in for a second mammogram and then a biopsy, and doctors diagnosed her with breast cancer after finding the tumor.
Last week, she shared a photo of herself on Facebook revealing she had undergone a double mastectomy.
"Your prayers and kindness have meant so much to me," she wrote. "The double mastectomy surgery went really well and I'm feeling good. Thank you Dr. Menendez, Dr. Harper, and all of the amazing nurses and staff at Presbyterian Main."
"Love you all!," she concluded. "And if you or a loved one is fighting cancer, let us know in the comments below. My team and I would love to pray for you."
2017 has been a difficult year for TerKeurst; in June, she announced she would be divorcing her husband of 25 years.
"My husband, life partner and father of my children, Art TerKeurst, has been repeatedly unfaithful to me with a woman he met online, bringing an end to our marriage of almost 25 years," TerKeurst wrote in a blog post titled 'Rejection, Heartache, and a Faithful God.'
After learning of her husband's infidelity last year, "I was still committed to doing everything I could think of to make our story one of restoration, even in the face of the worst kind of betrayal imaginable," says TerKeurst. "I prayed continually. I sought counsel from family and other wise friends. And Art and I even made repeated trips across the country together for intensive counseling especially designed for marriages in crisis. But sadly, though I have repeatedly forgiven and accepted him back, he has continued to abuse substances, be unfaithful, and refused to be truthful to me and our family."
"What can you do for us? I'd simply ask you to pray. Pray for my precious children and grandchildren. Pray for me. Pray for our team at Proverbs 31. And yes, please, please pray for Art."
In a later blog post, she said she and her husband are "praying for a miracle and walking the road to healing."
Not one prayer you've whispered on behalf of my family has been wasted. God is moving and we are so thankful," she said. "We are clinging to the promises of God on this journey full of twists and turns, ups and downs. There is often a process God will take people through to prepare us for the Promise.
We are a work in process. And this process is often messy and unpredictable. I don't know exactly what tomorrow will look like but I do know who I'll be looking to... the Lord... whose love is unfailing and whose hand is the safest place to entrust my hope."
