One Phone Call Changed It All

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This is the Truth Network have you ever been on the receiving end of that phone call. Not just any phone call but a phone call from Dr. with news that will change your life. I'm with Amanda God, who just blew us all away what I had to pull out my handy-dandy recorder I'm Stu Epperson this is true, talk I've known Norm Potter for years. This guy loves Jesus. He's played a lot of different roles of the business communities taught Sunday school. I probably been one of those classes are duties taught is put up with me grown up in all the norm. You got that call.

Your whole life was turned upside down.

How many years ago was it was August 6, 2021.

It was at 140 in the afternoon I was sitting on my bed in our bedroom.

My wife was next to me and my oncologist called to say that I was stage IV metastatic cancer. I had a tumor in my colon and I have three tumors in my liver and immediately I just went black. At that point my mind shut down.

I didn't know what to do. I set down and just cry.

So you are always going on your life at that time. Things a little bit back is a lot of pre-roll their will and talk about there's been a whole lot that is happened in some miracles and a blower listener's way and I'm so grateful for you for your courage to come in and ask your show but don't back.

Who is Norm Potter. How did you find the Lord about growing up the different roles and in industry in ministry and business. Well, I discovered the Lord.

The Lord actually found me when I was 24 years old living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was very depressed about my life. I didn't really see where I was going. I was even toying with the idea of suicide.

To be honest which shocks me to this day that I would even contemplate that and that night I just went to bed and I prayed for the first time ever, had been raised in the church but it was really just went to the church and that night I prayed and I said God if your real for me to believe that I've got to experience you and that began the most amazing dream experience I've ever had in my life where Christ identified himself with me on a personal basis, where I knew absolutely that there's a God and there's Christ and the love is amazing and he loved me in that moment and all of a sudden my heart changed and I came out of that very very tough moment saying I see something different. And now I've got to go pursue this so that began the journey that I went through.

I spoke with the pastor of the Western church is going to and I explained this dream and the dream seemed to throw a lot of people off as a little bit of an interesting approach in a lot of people I talked to did know how to respond to the dream is ahead various things that happen throughout this and I actually ended up joining the charismatic church in Pittsburgh because people in the church explained to me what they thought all of this met and it just makes sense. Subsequently left the church over just issues of belief in theology and that type of thing and just began journey of trying to understand Christ in my life that I stumbled a lot, fell through the cracks. Tremendous number of times as I was growing in this but I move forward in a North Carolina came to a great job and this is where I met my wife. My wife is a very godly woman who grew up in a very godly family and she's been instrumental in my life helping me through this point and we came to Winston and Winston's been our home for 33 years I was wealth management banker ended up going to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is the chief development officer 10 years ago we we bought a home health and home care business that my wife worked and my son works and it ends. That's where we are today. At this point so we run this business and now with the journey that I'm on a bit far from it but it continues to bless us in many ways because we have a very solid staff and is Norm Potter's way.

She just heard, but for my first take a look at a guy who's successful business earlier. The guy would roof you like and I'm a younger guy cannot encounter a CU Eurasia godly family but then all of a sudden this devastating phone call and then fast-forward. I'm on Facebook and I've gone there and also like you got nowhere, and you're talking about Jesus but your turn out like what's your and then I'm up there taken dad up to get some treatments himself and there you are, the cancer ward smiling and sure Christ everybody Norm, what is God done, since that phone call tell us a little bit about that journey will first the first couple weeks, quite honestly were very dark for me. I didn't know how to initially respond to this like a lot of cancer patients to get this diagnosis there thinking about their family, and I didn't get to see my grandkids are in my going to get to see my children get married or my wife and I able to do things. We plan to do in retirement and you start to fall into this pit of regret and then I started really digging into the word and just praying diligently every day in the Lord just spoke to me and said you need to understand you're going to be fine. Whether your life and soon whether you I give you a full lengthy life in. I really felt that ended in that moment, I just knew that I was going to be fine. Through this process and that I wanted to prepare my family because it might be that maybe it is a short-term arrangement. Maybe this long-term arrangement but as believers we can trust Lord situations. That's what happened and so that fundamentally change it again.

This reengineering in my life. What will I do with this. How do I use cancer. Don't waste for God's glory that began opening an amazing set of doors. As I started praying about when I'm up in the cancer center.

I pray that my treatments wouldn't affect me that I would know when sense of joy that I would be there for everybody around me that I would be there for the nurses I would be there for the patient's and that was a fundamental shift for me to the point that the nurses unofficially call me a chaplain and when I left there for treatment if the patient is really suffering.

The last me to go sit down and I got several patients and families now that I've come alongside and helping them get through this and this is where my passion is and you look at where where I am is I was told to live two years or less with my diagnosis.

My last scan in January I had no disease in my body and so I'm in a good place and I think God does answer prayer I've had literally thousands of prayer partners around the world. People I don't even know they got on the prayer chain and started doing a little video just friends and family updated that, in turn, and it is much better than I ever thought I did one about two months ago posted it over on LinkedIn and hit 20,000 people, and I started getting messages from people the Scripture that you brought up in this how if you been able to handle what you're dealing with right now and be joyful for us in. That's my mission. At this point to help people understand you can have joy in the darkest days of your life.

If you have any idea when you got that phone call, you would be impacting for Christ. So many people I had no earthly idea where this was going to be, not even at the point of considering seminary in the first part of next year.

Once I get through my rehabilitation just to strengthen me in Scripture and theology so that I do a better job and it is just completely changed my life and on a daily basis. I always ask God show me somebody to help in yesterday.

Three people came into my life needed to hear the word of God this morning a nine-year-old gentleman I was able to sit with him. God needs people to be able to go out boldly and reach people we need is not allowed anybody to step to the work into their life and not believe Christ because Hell is real, and it's horrible as the voice of Norm Potter a.k.a. chaplain Norm Potter is called by the nurses in the cancer treatment award, and I see mother.

Next time I catch you up there. I'm in for landing any device out of try to have it with me an interview up there and were in a heaping on the prayers for you. May we do that and also for your family. Other folks your family struggling to miss using the service at lunch and but tell us about your words right now just in the last few seconds to someone that's got that phone call that's battling with her life. I would tell anybody that gets this that you fall back on. The more you lean into the Scripture lean into the word. He is going to get you through this. He's going get you through the darkest days there's been days that I wanted to give up because I felt bad and I just didn't see an end to the treatments and I just told my wife I said I don't want to do any more chemo.

I'm just ready to go home in God prevailed and continued showing me the way that I was going in. That's what I try to tell folks that I meet. Now that are just wavering at the moment of this diagnosis of how you learn more. If I eat I guess your Facebook pages and a friend request on Facebook added Norm Potter.

What a blessing in a man who loves Jesus a man is going to miss your argument on mission trips, even discipling the younger bucks like me for years and now you're even touching more people and thank you for hanging out with us today and for sharing your story.

Thank you, Sue. I look forward to moving forward with this. This is the Truth Network