Shalom, y'all! ❤️

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to say “I trust God” when everything is going according to plan?

Then life changes.

The diagnosis comes.
The relationship breaks.
The job disappears.
The prayer isn't answered the way we expected.
The future we thought we understood suddenly looks nothing like we imagined.

And that's when trust gets real.

This week on The Rybickulous Faith Podcast, I'm sitting down with breast cancer survivor and author Keely Burton, and her testimony has had me thinking a lot about what it actually means to trust God when we can't see what He's doing.

I've had the opportunity to read Keely's book, Clinging to Hope When Life Gets Dark, and her story is incredibly inspiring.

But what struck me most wasn't simply that Keely survived cancer.

It was what God did inside of her while she was walking through it.

It Started With a Prompting

On March 4, 2023, Keely was away for her daughter's soccer tournament when she suddenly felt an incredibly strong prompting:

Check your breasts.

There was just one problem.

She didn't normally do that.

In fact, despite years of reminders from her doctor, Keely had never performed a breast self-exam.

But that night, she listened.

And she found a lump.

Weeks later, the biopsy confirmed breast cancer.

Keely believes that prompting was the Holy Spirit—and it became the beginning of a journey that would completely transform her relationship with God.

Then Came the Choice

After reading the biopsy results, Keely went into her bedroom, closed the door, fell to her knees, and cried.

She was scared.

She wondered if she was going to die.

She thought about her family.

And eventually, she realized she had reached a crossroads.

She could desperately try to control everything that came next...

or she could trust God with everything.

Not 50%.

Not 75%.

Everything.

And I LOVE something Keely learned along the way:

She couldn't control cancer.

She couldn't control every test result.

She couldn't control what tomorrow would bring.

But she could choose how she responded.

She could choose faith.

She could choose surrender.

She could choose to trust God again tomorrow.

And sometimes she had to choose it hour by hour or minute by minute.

Friend, THAT will preach.

Trust the Engineer 🚂

One of the quotes that became incredibly meaningful to Keely comes from Corrie ten Boom:

“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away your ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.”

Whew.

Somebody reading this right now is in the tunnel.

I don't know what yours looks like.

Maybe it's your health.

Maybe it's your marriage.

Maybe you're worried about one of your children.

Maybe finances are keeping you awake at night.

Maybe God has called you somewhere and you cannot understand for the life of you how He's going to get you from here to there.

Or maybe you've been praying so long that you're starting to wonder whether He hears you at all.

Darkness does not mean the Engineer left the train.

You don't have to know where every turn leads to trust the One driving.

And that's what I want you to carry with you this week.

🎙️ This Week on Rybickulous Faith

Keely Burton: Trusting God Through Cancer

Keely joins me for an honest conversation about:

❤️ The Holy Spirit prompting that led her to discover her lump
🙏 Surrendering control after receiving her cancer diagnosis
🕊️ Experiencing God's inexplicable peace before surgery and treatment
✝️ Choosing faith when fear kept trying to return
🤝 The people God placed around her during the journey
📖 Turning her real-time experiences into Clinging to Hope When Life Gets Dark
✨ Finding purpose and God's faithfulness in the hardest year of her life

And there's something else I really appreciate about Keely's testimony:

She doesn't have to pretend cancer was good to testify that God was good through cancer.

There's a difference.

Our faith doesn't require us to call painful things painless.

We can grieve.

We can be scared.

We can ask questions.

We can fall on our knees and cry.

And we can STILL trust Jesus.

That's Faith Without the Filter.

📅 PREMIERES MONDAY

September 21, 2026 | 6:00 AM EST

Watch or listen wherever you enjoy The Rybickulous Faith Podcast.

And if you know someone currently walking through cancer, illness, fear, or simply a season where they cannot see what's ahead, please share Keely's episode with them.

It may be exactly the encouragement they need.

📖 This Week's Scripture

“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.”
— Psalm 56:3 NLT

Notice what David doesn't say.

He doesn't say, “If I have enough faith, I'll never be afraid.”

He says WHEN I am afraid, I will trust You.

Fear can show up.

Faith gets to decide what happens next.

❤️ A Little Rybickulous Encouragement

Whatever tunnel you're traveling through this week, don't throw away your ticket.

You may not see the exit yet.

You may not understand the route.

You may even be wondering why God allowed the train to enter this tunnel in the first place.

But you are not traveling alone.

Hold onto Jesus.

Keep showing up.

Keep praying.

Keep listening.

Keep trusting.

And when you get to the other side, don't forget to turn around and tell somebody what God did along the way.

Because your story might become someone else's reason to keep going.

Until next week—

Shalom, y'all. ❤️

Sarah Rybicki
The Rybickulous Faith Podcast

Faith Without the Filter.

And as always...

Keep sharing your Rybickulous Faith. ❤️