New York Times Bestselling Christian author and speaker Lysa TerKeurst has said she is "clinging to God" as she battles breast cancer.
TerKeurst, president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, made the sobering announcement in a Facebook Live video Monday afternoon.
"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.
"They caught it very very early. I am going to have surgery on November 10," she said. "I really treasure your prayers. I'm going to have a double radical mastectomy and reconstruction."
Thankfully, TerKeurst said she has "joy and peace" about the surgery, as God has been by her side throughout the ordeal.
"Just in terms of my emotional perspective and my spiritual perspective God has been so good," she said, closing with Psalms 52: 8-9, which reads:
"I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love forever and ever... For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good."
"God is good at being God. I know this diagnosis is not the best of news," she said. "I would treasure your prayers for November 10. Art and my family have been amazing, they have been right there besides me, he's been at every single one of my doctor appointments."
"I'm good, I'm in a really good place, physically, emotionally, spiritually," she concluded.
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."
