James Van Der Beek Looks to Faith During ‘Hardest’ Year of Cancer
By Movieguide® Contributor
DAWSON’S CREEK star James Van Der Beek says his 47th was the “hardest year of his life” as he battles stage 3 colorectal cancer, but he found solace in knowing he’s valuable to God.
On his 48th birthday on March 8, Van Der Beek said in an Instagram video, “Today’s my birthday and it has been the hardest year of my life. When I was younger, I used to define myself as an actor, which was never all that fulfilling, and then I became a husband…it was much better and then I became a father…that was the ultimate.”
His struggles with cancer have forced him to “look my own mortality in the eye,” he said. “I had to come nose to nose with death. And all those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me.”
Not being able to be an available husband and father to his six kids took a toll on him.
“I was away for treatment, so I could no longer be a husband who was helpful to my wife,” Van Der Beek continued. “I could no longer be a father who could pick up his kids and put them to bed and be there for them. I could not be a provider because I wasn’t working.”
He questioned if he was “just a too-skinny, weak guy, alone in an apartment with cancer…what am I?”
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But then he realized something important.
“I am worthy of God’s love simply because I exist,” he said. “And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I also be worthy of my own?”
“As I move through this healing portal toward recovery,” Van Der Beek said, “I wanted to share that with you because that revelation that came to me was in no small part to all the prayers and the love that had been directed toward me.”
He added there’s a lot he doesn’t know about God, who he says is still a “mystery” to him in some ways.
He continued, downplaying his words, “But, if it’s a trigger that feels too religious, you can take the word God out of your mantra and it can simply be, ‘I am worthy of love.’ Because you are,” Van Der Beek said, adding “#selflove” in the caption.
Our sin shows us that we actually aren’t worthy of love, but God gives it to us anyway. God loves us so much that he sent His son, Jesus, to take on our sins and die for us. God’s love is unconditional for all of us, whom he calls his “children.” But He wants us to seek him and acknowledge him.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
In Matthew 16:24, Jesus told his followers, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
Jesus didn’t say, let man “love himself” and follow me. He said to die to self. Denying self isn’t easy, but having a relationship with the maker of the universe and gaining eternal life is worth it.
So, let’s take up our cross and follow Him. because though following an incredible Father requires sacrifice, it leads to the greatest gifts we could ever receive — His love, grace, and eternal life.
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