Julia Bayer was diagnosed a year ago with ovarian cancer. This past year has been a very difficult year with the treatments & major surgeries and then the quick return of cancer this past April. Through it all Julia has found that she has grown so much in her faith. She says "As hard as it's been, it's strangely been one of the best years of my life. I've learned so much more of the character of God, how He faithfully walks with us in each step. I've learned about and experienced true joy, unexplainable peace and deep-rooted hope in Christ. God has been teaching Julia so much through this journey. 

For a year, Julia and her husband have been struggling to get pregnant. At one of her appointments at the fertility clinic, Julia saw the nurse looking concerned as she looked at the screen, Julia knew something was off. Next thing she knew the doctor was saying the word cancer to her.Julia was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. 

Digesting that news was hard for Julia, who told her husband and her family. Julia was looking for answers as there was no family history or any explainable reason why she got the cancer, which came out from no where. Julia was crying with her family and crying out to God asking him why, but also to find the purpose in this situation. 

God gave Julia a verse before being diagnosed, Romans 12:12 which states, be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 

Julia started chemotherapy in the summer of 2015, and cut off her hair.

"Every morning you just woke up to reality that I had cancer. Every time I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, it was like, I am a cancer patient."

In August, Julia got the news that the chemo did not work and the the cancer had spread to her chest and her abdomen. Julia went into surgery to remove the cancer.  As a result of the surgery, her left leg was nerve damaged and she was not able to walk anywhere. 

"God has been teaching me so much this year. As I have done a lot of reflecting and journaling, and also writing online on my blog.  I have looked back at this year and said wow, although this has been the worst year on my life, at the same time it has been the best year of my life, and how can you equate those two things like that are so opposite but can describe the same year. it is only because of God" says Julia. 

To read Julia's blog CLICK HERE