I received the text yesterday
“Great news!…No treatment as of now. Very excited about the new plan.
Thank you for your prayers!”
My mom messaged her friends that Fox Chase Cancer Center developed a new perspective regarding her case and decided that treatment would not be necessary at the moment. My mom prayed that her body would have a time of “rest” after battling lymphoma conventionally for two years.
Sixteen years ago, we received the news of mom’s diagnosis at Christmas… just as we were moving into our new home. I was devastated. I felt entirely distracted (in my final semester in college) by mom’s suffering through chemo and radiation. I couldn’t grasp God’s timing. My mom (and our family) was finally settling into a home of her dreams. Mom and her husband were only married a few short years. In previous years, she faced enduring trials as a single-mom trying to survive. I thought the new season of life was meant to be a blessing… for all of us.
I wept, I cried. I called out to God on behalf of my mom and asked that He sustain her life. I read the Psalms for comfort and noticed that David often “cried out” to God. I did exactly that. I wrote a song about it for the ministry team I toured with at the time. The song – “I cry” – became my heart’s response to many life challenges over the next several years.
… have you been there?
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In the book of 2 Kings, chapter 20 – verses 3 through 6… God hears the cry of King Hezekiah when he becomes ill. The prophet Isaiah tells Hezekiah to “get his house in order” because he will die. Upon hearing the news, Hezekiah weeps bitterly and presents his petition before God:
“Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.”
God sees Hezekiah’s heart and honors his prayers.
God adds 15 years to Hezekiah’s life.
Healing Happens.
Isn’t this amazing?
[Tweet “God, the Almighty, hears our prayers and sees our hearts – and responds to us! Healing happens.”]
Hezekiah came humbly (yet confidently) before God’s throne in prayer. He cried out from that posture – He knew His position as a sinner – and He knew his position as a faithful servant.
Oh, how this story ministered to my soul. In a world where we often don’t see the miraculous, and where healing doesn’t always come on this side of heaven… we can be encouraged that God is the Sustainer of Life.
We don’t deserve healing. We don’t demand it. We CAN request it with confident humility.
Make sense? Confident humility?
We need to humbly accept that God is Sovereign. He doesn’t always answer our prayers – as we hope. He doesn’t always heal. His ways are not our ways.
We must humbly accept that.
Yet, God is good. He is loving and merciful. I truly believe that He wants to extend His mercy and wants to hear us cry out! We can come confidently before God’s throne because of WHO He is! We can walk confidently in His ability and because His character…is good!
Consider the tax collector in Luke 18:13-14 that cries out for mercy to Jesus.
“God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
How important is humility? Absolutely essential.
We don’t come before God’s throne with demands and expectations. We come humbly.
Still, we come.
We cry out.
He is The Healer.
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My mom loves Jesus dearly.
She loved, trusted, and served Him through extreme trials in life.
I asked God if He would be good to her and sustain her.
Here we are, sixteen years later. God is good! The cancer did appear again just a few years ago… but mom battles with strength and grace. I couldn’t be happier yesterday upon receiving her text. God is sustaining her life (not because she deserves it, or has enough faith) … but because He is good… and merciful.
One part of me struggles writing this post. As I type, a former classmate’s husband is taking his final breaths. I am absolutely heart-broken for them.
I received my mom’s text yesterday that her health is on a good track. Hopeful. I read the FB post yesterday that my friend’s husband would be starting comfort care and that he would soon be out of pain. Devastating news. He was diagnosed only 2.5 months ago with melanoma that spread to the brain.
How can I claim Healing Happens when it is not happening right now for them?
There are so many suffering, so many in pain.
Discouraging.
God, where are you?
He whispers that He’s by our side.
I pray that my friend and her husband cry out to God and let Him comfort them. When our bodies are broken, when we mourn and suffer loss – He can still heal our souls.
God doesn’t always heal physical bodies this side of heaven… but He is a healer.
If physical healing doesn’t come when we ask for it… God heals souls …through the greatest trials. It is often through heart-break, suffering, loss, and trial that God works to heal our thoughts, emotions, and inner-most parts of the soul.
If you ask anyone who suffered greatly and came out on the other side of the loss or trial rejoicing and thanking Jesus, they will attest to the fact that… indeed… (not always in the way or timing in which we expect)… Yet…
Healing Happens.
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I’ve battled Crohn-Colitis for nearly a decade. Through the years, I felt extreme pain and despair.
“PLEASE heal me! Have mercy upon me!”
If I can relate to a woman in the Bible, it is truly the woman with the issue of blood. I. simply. understand.
Friends, can I share with you that I am totally medication free this week? I’ve been through some valleys. I can tell you that I am a changed person BECAUSE of the difficult journey. God healed many emotional wounds. God used the illness to strengthen me. Ironic, but true.
Psalm 25:18 “Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
Healing Happens.
*Read my health journey here: For Goodness Glory Sake – my health journey (part 2)
Friends, can I share with you that my son is a healthy 6 year old? When Z turned one… doctors said he might have leukemia. Testing revealed neutropenia (a blood disorder). Three short months later, the neutropenia resolved, with no explainable reason.
Healing Happens.
Friends, can I share with you that my grandmother survived 7 massive heart-attacks, a stroke, and congestive heart failure (3 times) within her final 15 years of life? Many do not survive one heart attack. God chose to sustain the life of Minnie. Meanwhile, God worked inside of my grandmother to reveal His great love to her. In those years, Minnie drew closest to God. She admitted that through her trials, He was healing her soul and preparing her to meet Him face to face. She passed peacefully into heavenly glory in the summer of 2015.
Healing Happens.
God does indeed work in mysterious ways.
God is good.
Can you trust Him for your healing today? How is He healing you physically? Is He healing your soul?
[Tweet “God’s seed: “…He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” Psalm 103:3″]
Healing Happens.
missionzera blessings,
Planting God’s seeds of hope…
Brook Joy
*Brook Joy writes articles on Faith, Life, Culture, and her personal journey with Health (IBD). Brook is a chocolate-loving wife & homeschooling mama (and a Christian for 20+ years)… planting and growing God’s seeds of hope at missionzera.com