Breast Cancer Survivor Stood on God’s Promise for Healing

It had been months since Sonia Flowers’ doctor told her she had triple negative stage 3 breast cancer in her right breast. Had this aggressive form of cancer not been detected, she would have lived eighteen months at most. Sonia says God gave her a verse to hang onto. 

“And the word He gave me was, 'I have not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.'"

It would also guide her decisions for treatment. Her doctor recommended chemo and a mastectomy followed by radiation. It was Sonia’s best chance of beating the cancer and preventing a recurrence. 

She said, “I prayed. I prayed, 'Lord, what do I do?' I didn’t want the chemo.”

“They kept calling me, 'What are you going to do?' You know, they were worried, of course, naturally. But I still didn't feel good about, you know, going through the chemo. I didn't have that peace.” 

Finally, Sonia made her decision. While she agreed to a mastectomy, she declined the chemo and radiation. Along with her doctor, Sonia’s husband, Kevin, and her family weren’t convinced that was the best decision for the now 55-year-old. 

Kevin said, “My perspective was more textbook. I understood what their strategy was and why they were saying to do what they were to do. But I could tell right off that Sonia was not, not comfortable with that.” 

“When I finally made the decision to not do the chemo, he said that he had not walked this way before,” said Sonia. “And that he didn't really think, though I really believe in his heart he did. But at that moment, he didn't think he had the faith, you know, to see me through this. And I told him, 'You know, that's okay. I’m going to stand, I’m going to stand.'”

Although still concerned about the decision, the family stood by Sonia in faith. Kevin said, “There's a point where I was just at peace with doing what I could do, which was not being able to do everything for her, but be supportive of her as much as I could. And in faith, be in prayer.”

In addition to the mastectomy, Sonia needed a second surgery two weeks later, to remove 21 lymph nodes. After her recovery, Sonia would have to wait a year for her next mammogram to find out whether the cancer had spread to her other breast. During that time, Sonia’s faith would tested. “I’m believing for my healing, but, you know, what if, what if, what if I don't? What if the healing doesn't manifest?” said Sonia.

She found encouragement and assurance in God’s word and long walks in nature. She said, “I would think about how everything that we see was created by the spoken word. And I would look at the trees, I would look at everything, the animals, and I would think to myself, 'Lord, all this is held together because of Your word. Because you spoke it into existence at one time.' And I said, and I, I know Your word is true and I believe that, but I know that that was the Holy Spirit reminding me of these truths. And I would, just, you know, encourage myself and say that I too was being held together by this very word.”

Kevin also had to lean on God. He said, “It was a deepening of my experience with God and the Holy Spirit. I grew deeper in understanding Christ and what He had done and tapping into that.”

One day during one of her walks, Sonia came to terms with the fact she might not be healed. She says it was then God painted a different picture. 

“And then all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit just interrupts my thoughts. and He says to me, 'The Father has left you an inheritance through His Son. And in the same way that it brings you joy to leave your children something, it brings Him joy if you would receive what His Son died to give you,” said Sonia. “And at that moment, that was my turning point. I knew that, I knew that it, I wasn't going to die, but that God was going to see me through.”

Then in March 2017 at Sonia’s one year follow up, her mammogram and blood work showed no signs of cancer!  

She said, “I knew that, I knew when, when He said, you know, 'I’ve given you an inheritance,' I knew it then that everything was going to be okay and that it wasn't my time to go home."