“She was beautiful, but she was most beautiful in spirit. She lived in the background—quiet, humble, grounded. But when she got cancer, God brought her into the light. We always said she died at high noon—because her faith got brighter and brighter to the end.

Janel wasn’t trying to go viral. She wasn’t looking for followers. But when she got sick, she felt the Lord say, Share this. So she posted a video. Then another. She didn’t even know how to record one at first—she googled it. That one decision became a ministry. Her videos reached millions. But her focus never changed. She said, Do they know Jesus? Somebody needs to tell them how to know Jesus. That was Janel. It was never about her.”

“We prayed, Lord, sanctify this suffering. And He did. He gave us grace every day. There were little miracles—like the night she felt well enough to go out to dinner, even though her white blood cell count was dangerously low. We saw a man on the street. We tried to avoid him at first, but he recognized me. It was a young man from our youth group, now homeless and carrying a gun. We sat with him, fed him, prayed with him. That night, he checked himself into the hospital and told his parents he was seeking God again. When Janel went back for chemo a few days later, her white count had gone from 200 to 6,000. Never before or after did that happen again. God protected her because she showed up for someone else.”

Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is stayed on you.”

2 Corinthians 4: “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

Romans 8: “This suffering is not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed…”

Psalm 126 & Lamentations 3 — in her final days. “We wore bracelets that said Perfect Peace. She said, If the Lord gives me peace, I can face anything.”

“Janel read through the Bible year after year. We had our Bibles rebound in 2022 because hers was falling apart. I kept the old binding—it’s so precious to me. She read every day, journaled sometimes, and always had devotional books. She loved Elizabeth Elliot. Even two weeks before she passed—barely conscious—her Bible would be open, her phone on, the day’s reading playing.

She used to see me as her source of joy. But over the years, the Lord taught her: Troy’s not that good. I am. And she found her satisfaction in God alone.”

“Janel grieved what she lost—her strength, her mobility, her active life. But she never stopped seeking God. She didn’t pretend. She had honest conversations with Him. She said, If I’m going to suffer, Lord, don’t let it go to waste. Use it.

In her words:‘My days are numbered by the Lord—not cancer or medicine. And I’ll live every single one for His glory.’

‘A miracle is in my future. Either Jesus will supernaturally transform my body—or He will give me the supernatural transition of my spirit to the glorious and beautiful city of God. Either way, I’m getting a miracle.’ And she did.”

“Janel said: ‘I believe in healing. And I believe God will heal me. But I don't want to live my life waiting for a healing and miss everything else God wants to do in the middle.’”

“Healing is not the prize. Jesus is the prize. A lot of people chase the miracle, but the miracle is supposed to point us to the Miracle Worker. Janel never got confused about that.”

“You want to be Superman and fix it. But caregiving is helplessness. It’s walking into the fire with someone, not putting out the fire. It was hard. I didn’t always get it right. But I had to learn to show up, not fix.”

“God sustained me by giving me just enough grace. And He reminded me: this was holy ground. The suffering, the caregiving—it was worship.”

“People say grief gets easier. It doesn’t. It changes. It softens around the edges. I miss her every single day. But I see God’s fingerprints all over her story. Even in death, her life was a sermon. And I still get to tell it.”