When Miraculous Healing Doesn't Happen, God is Still Faithful
FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE
Scott and Jenna Henderson met at a Young Life Camp as Young Life youth group leaders. They hit it off and began dating. A year and a half later, they were married. Life was amazing! Yet, three years into their marriage, Jenna received devastating news. Ovarian cancer she had fought over 13 years before was back. As a Freshman in high school in 2000, while cheerleading, she fell and had to go to the doctor. She found out she had ovarian cancer. Jenna went through treatment and was in remission until she relapsed in 2002. After further chemo, she celebrated being cancer-free until 2015. Over the next year and a half, Jenna fought for her life and Scott did everything he could to love her through it.
On October 2, 2016, Jenna took her last breath with Scott holding her hand. She wasn’t afraid to die. Scott recalls, “She had no fear. She spoke of the great banquet she was going to attend and ‘eat all the food’ and to run again. To the very end, she was not shy to share how excited she was to go to be with Jesus.”
WHAT NOW
After Jenna passed, Scott published her journal entries as the book, Worth the Suffering. He wanted others to know that “There is a God that loves them. A God that will walk with them through pain and suffering. That will celebrate joys and will weep with them,” he shares. When asked how losing Jenna affected his faith, Scott responds, “As much as I didn’t want to lose her, I realized that healing is secondary. Everyone has to die at some point. Sharing the love of Jesus and spending eternity with Him is the primary goal.”
Life without Jenna was hard, and Scott felt stuck. He wasn’t sure he wanted to continue being a youth leader. A friend asked him to be an assistant basketball coach to help him find some kind of new normal. This helped Scott a lot. Also, a few months after Jenna’s death, one of their Young Life students got into a serious car crash. Wanting to help, the only thing Scott knew to do was to show up. Going to the same hospital where Jenna was treated wasn’t easy, but he knew he needed to be there. Thankfully, the boy fully recovered, and Scott realized that as much as it hurt to not have Jenna with him, he still also had a heart to work with youth. So, he decided to go back and volunteer as a Young Life youth leader.
