God Will Move

My faith is weak right now. All around me I see heartache and sorrow among the people of faith. We all need to see Him move. To be reminded of His mightiness. Of His faithfulness. In the meantime we can remember what He's done, but it's not enough. We need more. We will claim His promises and wait with urgent expectation for them to be fulfilled.

Jeremiah 33:3, " Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

I can't tell you the passion I feel for this desire to see Him move. He still answers little prayers, which I know are faith-builders for the big ones, but He has filled me with a yearning for more. I have prayed with faith for the healing of so many lately, and we have not seen them healed. Yet.  It is not about me, I know that. But it is about Him. His word says He will not let His people be put to shame. So...where are the miracles? I don't even care if it's healing that we see, I just want to see something. And I know others do too. It is time.

"Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;  you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I." Isaiah 58:9

Sometimes people pray for things like this for selfish reasons, but I don't think mine are. It's not that I don't believe He can work, or will work. It's not that I even have a specific prayer that I'm pouting about Him not answering. It's that people think they have so little hope. It's hard to convince them otherwise. And it's not just nonbelievers, who don't know better. Every time He doesn't answer a prayer that we offer in faith it's like it puts a notch in the limb we've put ourselves out on. He knows that. He will move before the branch breaks...won't He?

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

Hebrews 11:6 says "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.". I am earnestly seeking Him and begging for the reward of seeing Him do something big. Only God is sovereign, and only He decides what "reward" it is that I will get, but I'm not going to stop asking. He has blessed me abundantly, but Abraham set a great example of asking boldly for more and more grace when He asked God to spare Sodom for the sake of a few (Gen 18:22-32). 

I have a long list of people who are very sick that I'm praying for. Please consider adding them to your prayer list too, and I will post updates about the amazing ways God responds.
First, there is a woman named Barbara with precious, young, grandchildren who was told she likely has extensive cancer in her abdomen and lots of organs. Last I knew she was hospitalized for the pain and things were not looking good. Next, there is a young lady named Jackie who is unmarried and always wanted a family, etc. She was just diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and they started her on chemo while in the hospital. She is healthy, not a smoker or anything like that. Another is a man named Ryan, whose wife posted a note on here and is praying for his miraculous healing from Stage 4 stomach cancer. He was diagnosed last year, when his daughter was born. He is currently in a lot of pain and has a scan on Monday. They have a blog you can follow at http://watersfamilyforum.blogspot.com/. Lastly for the new ones, I can't believe I didn't post this sooner, but my little niece, Nora, has a tentative diagnosis of craniosyntosis, which means her soft spot closed up too early. It's a huge deal because if that's what it is they need to open her skull before her brain grows to be too big for it's space. They found out on the one-year anniversary of their house burning down! Satan will do anything to destroy us! Anyway, she has a consultation with a surgeon on Monday. 
Please always keep praying for Debora P.'s healing, and Alison A., Jessica H., and my continued cancer-free health.
Two late praises are that: My friend Kristy, who has been struggling with lyme's disease for a very long time seems to have been healed. When I saw her she was claiming His victory over the enemy's apparent dominion in her body! Also, Alison had some symptoms of returning cancer a few weeks ago but a scan showed no cancer! He is definitely at work in all of us!

Psalm 50:15 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
    fulfill your vows to the Most High,
¹⁵ and call on me in the day of trouble;  I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

Joy to the World, the Lord is Come!!!!!!!!!

First, I have to apologize for my posts from the last few days. In my efforts to document this journey I was insensitive and self-absorbed, which resulted in my downplaying the support people have been giving me. I am so sorry to you all, for if you read this I know you care for and support me. Thank-you all so very much for putting up with me.

More importantly (not because support isn't important, but because miracles are so great!), I have to share that not one but TWO cancer friends got amazing, cancer-free reports today. One is a for a friend I made through the blog who recently had a lumpectomy. She went today for the pathology results and the doctor said there was no evidence of disease in what was removed. She had no treatment prior to the removal. They are saying they must have gotten all the cancer in the initial biopsy but I don't buy that. They wouldn't have done the surgery if they thought they could get it all in a biopsy. They saw something they thought should be removed in the first place. I believe God took it all away between the biopsy and surgery.

The other case is a girl I've just become acquainted with through blogging. She sees the same doctor I met in Texas. She had stage 3 cancer so similar treatment as mine, and had her bilateral mastectomy last week. They told her the cancer had been looking good but would only be entirely clear in 20% of the cases. Dr. Litton (the skeptic) found them today and was ecstatic to tell her it was ALL CLEAR. Again, no evidence of disease. She's not saying it's a miracle or anything, but she did tell them she rarely gets to tell anyone that it was all gone prior to surgery. So, God is healing people AND He's answering our prayers for helping Dr. Litton know Him. She might not have been great to me, but she has a soul and I have the feeling she's not acquainted with our Savior. A few more of these incidents and she might be singing another tune. Let's keep praying for her.

As a reminder, we're praying for no evidence of disease in the results from my upcoming bilateral mastectomy, too. I do believe it helps to have specific stories like those above to pray for, because nothing I'm going through is new. If God did it for them He can do it for me. It wouldn't be a huge miracle to the doctors for the rest of the cancer to be gone because I've been through so much chemo.  But the longer they see I have no cancer, the more likely they are to believe it. And I'm praying God will actually change my tissue so it appears that I never had any cancer in there. That would get their attention. We'll see though. It's not too much to ask of God, but I don't know that He gave me that idea or if it was my own.

Anyway, I am so filled with joy about these women's reports. Two in one day seems so huge, too. How can I complain about anything when a God like that is on my side? How can we fear if we have Him to take care of us? How dare we worship ourselves or someone else when all He asks is that we follow Him? Who do we think we are? Who do we think He is? How do we keep forgetting what He's done for us?

"In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father HIMSELF loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” John 16:26-28 

One Answer

I always knew God had big reasons for allowing me to go through this storm. I may never know the full extent of purposes, and I don't really care anymore. But, there's one that He's been blaring at me for days now so I need to share.

I think, no, I KNOW that the way my story spread so quickly and inspired so many to pray was a big part of it. It always confused me because I'm not aware of much evidence in the Bible that indicates we need to get increased numbers of people to pray. That's why I waited awhile to beg for prayer and to work on getting all 50 states to pray. Now I see it (I think) through His eyes better. The point wasn't just that He was more likely to heal me if more prayed. He was always going to show Himself. It was to get as many people as possible to see it. Those who closed their eyes missed His glory!

I'll type the whole section of Paul's letter that will give context. The italics and caps will show my emphasis for today's point: 2 Cor 1:8-11, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us as you help us by your prayers. Then MANY WILL GIVE THANKS ON OUR BEHALF FOR THE GRACIOUS FAVOR GRANTED US IN ANSWER TO THE PRAYERS OF MANY."

He reigns!

Hello friends!
Thanks so much to all of you who came by the park yesterday to share in our joy and celebrate God's goodness! To be certain, God is great all the time, but it was an amazing chance to reflect on His most recent miracle.
A lot of people were there so I didn't have a chance to get very deep with anyone. That probably wouldn't have happened anyway because I was still processing it all. I think it finally hit me so I'll share what I can...

A lot of people asked how I have been feeling but it wasn't until today that it really hit me. I was driving down the road and put on an old Newsboys cd. The first song just filled me with the Holy Spirit and I was flooded with peace from His awesomeness. There's nothing amazing about the song itself, but the chorus is, "It's all God's children singing 'Glory! Glory! Hallelujah, He reigns!". And that is the summary of this journey. Because of all those people praying for us and passing the information along, people in all parts of the country and world  knew about this. Because of His mercy, love, and kindness all those people are now singing "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, HE REIGNS!". No matter what your circumstances look like, no matter what junk you're dealing with, no matter what the naysayers shout, God reigns now and forever. One day everyone will recognize it, we just have to wait patiently. "As surely as I live', says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God." (Rom 14:11; Isaiah 45:23).

I mostly feel joy today but I am also extremely humbled. I want to make sure everyone knows what He did for me, but I can't get past the fact that it is me He healed. Funny how I never once asked, "why me?" about getting the cancer, but I need to know why He picked me to be healed. It doesn't matter, of course, and I'm so grateful I can't even handle it.

There are a few things I am certain of: 1. My "believer's prayer" from Mark 11:23-24 (discussed a few days before the results) was the hardest, scariest part of my life and I know the way I attempted it pleased Him. I had to wrestle with it, go against all common sense as well as the believer's I spoke to about it. I believe I had to face all that and declare it publicly before I could be healed. To be clear though, I do NOT believe I did something to "earn" this miracle, any more than I "earned" my salvation. But I did need to get it together, and that included stretching myself and my faith farther than I would have guessed it could go.

2. There were multiple purposes for all this. I believe one was to get so many people praying and allow them to witness the miracle. It is very important to me that it's clear that you're all part of the body who prayed in unison. No one/part is more important than another, so you should all reap the benefits of getting to share the good news and not feel insignificant. Galatians 1:6 says, "As for those who seemed to be important--whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance--those men added nothing to my message." So, for those of you who prayed and believed, embrace the fact that He answered in such a big, big way. He did this great thing for you, for me, and for HIM and His glory. We should all be praying Rev. 4:11, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being."

3. This experience has helped me grow in faith and I know of several others who feel the same. I have a renewed thirst for the word and can't get enough of it. I had gotten lazy with God and will pray and try not to do that more. I suspect there are some I haven't spoken to yet who are unsure how to deepen their relatioships with God. Please don't be afraid to ask. If you don't know someone safe to ask, send me an email and I can try to help or find you someone. Most importantly though, God is the one with all the answers so start with reading the Bible (try John maybe).

I'm praying a lot for everyone who has supported us through this journey because when God moves satan often follows. So be aware and "do not give the devil a foothold" (Ephesians 4:27).