Wow, I began today with a text that a great friend of mine has a mass on his lungs, and it's one of two things--Cancer (with a big C) or cancer (with a little c). Amongst the shock, disbelief and sorrow, I couldn't help but be reminded of my battle with cancer. Is it doable? For me it was. Is it fun? Most definitely not. I've prayed and prayed today, for my friend. He doesn't even have insurance, and so his journey may be even longer than most.
Although I wouldn't wish this diagnosis on anyone, I can honestly say that this can be a time of extreme growth, both spiritually and emotionally. I learned that the Only person I can rely on is the Lord--the Savior of our universe, the One who knows my comings and goings and knows each and everything about me. The good, the bad and the ugly. The healthy and the not so healthy.
Another thing I learned is that although I had cancer, it didn't have me. Nor would I allow to have me, in any way, shape or form. I tried to surround myself with positive people, those of 'like precious faith,' and not those whose lives revolved around drama or those who wanted me to know about their friends' battles with cancer. Nope, this was mine, and I was going to own it. It was not going to own me. I would handle this the only way I knew how. By taking it to the Lord in extreme and desperate prayer.
Whenever anything in my life has ever happened to me, I've always taken it to the Lord. Wouldn't you take it to your best friend? I know that I would, and I did. I prayed for peace, wisdom and healing. Isn't that all I really needed anyway? Peace for the upcoming days and months, wisdom for how to handle this, and healing for anything and everything in my body. I am a true believer in James 5:16, "The effectual, fervant prayer of a righteous man availeth much." OK. I may not be totally righteous, but I have been made righteous by the Blood of Jesus. Thus, I felt qualified to pray.
I also believe that the Lord has provided doctors for us for a reason. He has blessed them with the talent that they have and the wisdom that they use. Unfortunately, many don't both to give our Creator credit, but it doesn't change the fact that doctors wouldn't be who they are had not the Lord had something to do with it. My doctor is a Christian, and a wonderful one at that. Yes, she saw the realistic side of things, the medically necessary side of things, the professional side of things, and the factual side of things. I, however, tended to see the spiritual side of this thing. I made the conscious decision to do exactly as my doctor asked me to do, I placed my faith in the Lord and in the wisdom that He bestowed upon the doctor I had chosen, and sought out alternative therapies.
All the while, people were nay saying, becoming dramatic, and telling me horror stories. Hmmm. "What if the Lord chooses not to heal you?" "What if you die?" "Are you sure you know what you are doing?" Geesh! Enough already. I surrounded myself with women like Mary, who always said, "The Lord has already healed you. You just need to claim it and envision it." "You've already asked God for a healing, now continually thank Him for it." She picked me up when I started to become down because of the alternative therapies taking its toll on me. My boyfriend was the Rock of Gilbralter, and always knew just the right thing to say and do. Even though I was totally exhausted from doing treatments 6 days a week, working full time, being a single parent to three very active teenagers, and being a girlfriend, I knew that I knew that I knew that the Lord was working in me physically and spiritually.
He reminded me that my daily prayer for years has been 3 John 1:4, "I have no greater joy than to know that my children are walking in the truth." Well, they were. He reminded me of the many, many times He answered my calls for help, and gave me a peace that surpassed all understanding. He reminded me that I was not cancer, nor was I about cancer; I was merely a vessel with cancer that would stand with a victorious testimony. And that I did.
Does that mean that the Lord chooses to heal everyone or that He just healed me because my faith was greater than others that have not yet manifested their healing? Absolutely not! I am positive that my faith wasn't any greater than the countless people who are still awaiting a physical manifestation of their healing. The Joni Erickson Tada's of cancer. For whatever reason, the Lord chose to bless me.
Back to my friend, he's a believer, but all of this extreme faith thing is relatively new to him. Hebrews 11:1 tells me that, "faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." It isn't hopeful expectation, rather it is the confidence that we know that we know about what we are unable to see. The question is how to relay this to someone else who just may not 'get it.' I want him to have faith-in the Lord God of the Universe--the One that would have died even if my friend were the only person on the planet--the One who created our bodies and knows them better than anyone else--the One who created the Universe.
As I continue to pray this evening, I am asking the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to my friend. To cause him to want to dance and sing, as David did, to cause him to have the faith of Abraham, and to cause him to have the same supernatural healing that the Lord so blessed me with a year ago this month.
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