As Gaby walks through cancer treatments at age 27, she knows her options are narrowing. Yet she continues on this painful path between her trial and God’s promises with perspective and hope. Gaby’s story is part of the “Sarah Series” on the Live Like it’s True podcast.
Gaby’s story is also highlighted in my new Bible study, Shaped by God’s Promises: Lessons from Sarah on Fear and Faith. Whether you’re here because you’re reading that book, or you’re a regular listener, I hope you’ll be inspired by this conversation.
Guest: Gaby Puente
Bible Passage: Sarah’s Story in Genesis 12-21
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Mentioned Resources:
- Purchase on Amazon: Shaped by God’s Promises: Lessons from Sarah on Fear and Faith
- Learn More about my new study: Shaped by God’s Promises
- Vivir es Cristo by Jonathan and Sarah Jerez.
- 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
- Isaiah 56:3-4
Music: Cade Popkin
Gabriela Puente
Gabriela Puente has a degree in Communications and currently is pursuing a Biblical Counseling certification with ACBC. She works at Compassion Connection, an organization that supports both churches and individuals through partnerships focused on church planting and leadership training in Ecuador.
Gaby is a member of La Fuente church, in Quito, and you can find her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/gaby_puentem/
Cancer at age 27
When Gaby learned she had stage three breast cancer at age twenty-seven, she realized that God had been preparing her for this, in training to be a biblical counselor. For years, she had been chewing on fork-and-knife theology, and now it was time to cling to what she knew and believed.
Gaby turned back to her journals, looking for examples of God’s faithfulness, and found a journal entry, where she had written, “God, I want to know you and understand you more. I want to experience you in my life!” That’s when Gaby realized that cancer was God’s unexpected answer to this prayer. She says, “I have seen him in this painful path, sweeter and more present than I’ve ever seen him before!”
Gaby knows that there is no verse to be found, promising her that she will be healed of cancer. But she has learned that this path of suffering—between the trials and pain, and the promises of the world to come, are to be savored, too. This is not a path to be rushed. She walks forward with the Lord, constantly feeding herself on truth and remembering who God is and what he has done.
Gaby’s Favorite Reminders
The song that Gaby mentioned in our conversation is “Vivir es Cristo ” by Jonathan and Sarah Jerez.
¿Cómo recibiré de ti el bien y el mal rechazaré? Si se que tú eres Señor, soberano y justo ¿Cómo he de alabarte en bendición y olvidarte en el dolor? Si se que tienes el control de toda tu creación.
How would I receive good from you and reject evil?If I know that you are Lord, sovereign and just.How could I praise you in blessing and forget You in pain?If I know that you have control of all your creation?
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.” And let no eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.” For this is what the Lord says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant— to them I will give within my temple and its wall a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; and I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.
The Sarah Series
Welcome to the Sarah series. In these early episodes, I’m talking with four women whose stories were highlighted in my new Bible study, Shaped by God’s Promises: Lessons from Sarah on Fear and Faith. I’ll be weaving thoughts about Sarah’s story, found in Genesis 12-21 into these conversations with these modern day women of faith.
Then in our later episodes, we’ll follow our more typical pattern and I’ll discuss various Bible passages where Sarah’s story is told with an amazing lineup of Bible teachers, including Courtney Doctor, Ann Swindell and Carol Kent.
Whether you’re here because you’re studying through Shaped by God’s Promises, or you’re here as a regular listener, I hope you’ll be inspired by these conversations about fear and faith.
What Are You Waiting on God For?
In my conversation with Gaby, we talked about how some of God’s promises are for now, and others are for later. So, how do you know which promises to cling to—especially when you’re in a long stretch of waiting on God?
My free “Pray God’s Promises” prayer guide, will help you pray the promises found directly in the Bible. It’s designed to help you sort out which promises are for here and now, and which ones are for later. Praying God’s promises found in your Bible is one of the ways God shapes you by his promises. Ready to get started?
