I Was Doing Everything Right—So Why Wasn’t I Getting Better?

Paula Black
Aug 11
3 min read

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I initially thought the most important question was, “How do I get rid of the cancer?” But as I began learning more about the body, I realized there was another question I needed to ask: What does my body need in order to heal?

That question changed the direction of my journey. I began working on the solution instead of fighting the problem.

By the time I began making meaningful changes to support my health, I no longer viewed my diagnosis the same way. I had begun to understand how remarkably the body is designed, why the immune system plays such an important role, and how years of neglect had contributed to the condition I was now facing.

Instead of focusing only on the cancer, I began looking at the health of the whole person—and at the practical things I could change to better support the healing process.

But then came one of the hardest parts of my journey.

Waiting.

If I’m honest, I hoped that once I started making healthier choices, I would quickly see evidence that the changes I was making were working.

I didn’t.

In fact, there were times when my symptoms seemed to get worse before they got better. There were days when I wondered whether I was making progress at all.

Maybe you know that feeling.

You’ve made changes. You’re doing what you believe is right. You’re praying, learning, and trying to take better care of yourself—but you can’t yet see the results you desperately want to see.

That is where discouragement can become dangerous.

Because sometimes we abandon a good direction simply because we haven’t traveled far enough to see where it leads.

As I continued learning, I began to understand something that helped me tremendously: my body hadn’t arrived at this place overnight, so I couldn’t expect it to recover overnight either.

Years of poor choices, chronic stress, and neglect had taken their toll. My body needed time, nourishment, rest, support, and an environment that allowed its God-given healing mechanisms to function as they were designed.

That better understanding changed my expectations.

I stopped looking for overnight proof and started focusing on faithfully giving my body what it needed, one day at a time.

Healing is rarely a straight line. And it is not always fast.

Sometimes progress is happening long before you can see it.

Looking back, I’m thankful I understood that when I did. If I had judged every decision by how I felt that particular day—or expected immediate results—I might have become discouraged and abandoned the very changes I believed helped my body heal.

Instead, I stayed the course.

Little by little, things did begin to change.

Little by little, my health improved.

And little by little, I began to see evidence that my body was responding.

The tide was turning.

Then, eighteen months after beginning that journey, I received the news I had worked, prayed and believed for:

The cancer was gone.

Today, more than twenty-five years later, it has never returned.

When people hear my story, they understandably focus on that ending. Becoming cancer-free was an extraordinary blessing, and I thank God for it.

But one of the greatest lessons I carried away from that experience was bigger than a single test result.

I discovered a profound respect for the way God designed the human body and its remarkable capacity for repair and restoration. I also learned that my daily choices mattered. What I ate mattered. How I handled stress mattered. How I cared for my body mattered. And what I believed mattered.

That realization changed far more than how I approached cancer.

It changed the way I think.

The way I live.

The way I eat.

The way I respond to stress.

The way I care for the body God gave me.

And perhaps most importantly, it taught me something I still remind others of today:

Don’t become so discouraged by what you see—or don’t see today that you give up on the healthy changes that may benefit your tomorrow.

And today, one of the greatest privileges of my life is to walk alongside others who are beginning their own journey of healing.

If you've recently received a difficult diagnosis, please know this:

You are not alone.

There is still reason to hope.