*I will continue with the “Ocean” series soon (I know! I know! I’ve said that already!) but I just had to share this today after the amazing time I had this morning!
In Christian circles, few things floor & amaze people as much as physical healing, especially if it’s verified as real & true. Sorry for being redundant here, but I just want to stress this.
This morning I went to a friend’s church in Chilliwack, which meets in a large house. The congregation was renting a space, but they lost it for some reason or other. I can’t remember why, but I think something happened to damage the building, & so they’ve been meeting – very crowdedly so – in someone’s house. Thankfully it’s a large house with plenty of space for the small congregation, but, even so, things were a bit cramped.
However, that doesn’t matter when people are meeting together for a service. I don’t normally like sitting too close to others, but this morning was an exception. I was wedged between my friend and a wall. It was a bit uncomfortable, but I soon forgot about that as we all joined together in singing & Bible reading & the rest of the service.
After the pastor shared from the Word – there’s usually no sermon here, although the pastor apparently always shares some message when he speaks, as he did today. He spoke on Jesus & the man who was healed after his friends lowered him down through the ceiling.
Then the pastor turned things over to a woman, who looked toward a man after thanking the pastor for the opportunity to speak. She introduced the man & said that she had been asked by him to share since he was too overwhelmed by emotion & the events of the past week to speak too much without beginning to weep. I could see the tears well up & wondered what this was all about. I was aware of someone having been healed this past week, but I had no idea of the extent of it.
Not to centre on myself, but I briefly thought back to my own healing. In the summer of 1986, I’d been working up at Columbia Bible Camp (I’m sorry that I can’t remember the name it has now) on work crew, & I slipped & fell on the wet floor in the kitchen, hurting my tailbone. It hurt for a few years almost every time I sat for any length of time, & the chiropractor couldn’t do anything about it. So I just thought I’d have to live with the pain. I started going to Sevenoaks Alliance Church in 1987, & there would be pastors & elders up front to pray for healing if anyone wanted it. I went up one Sunday & was anointed with oil as I was prayed over. I didn’t feel anything, but I did notice a difference right away. I’ve been able to sit without pain in my coccyx ever since, & I’m still very thankful for that! It’s not as major or huge as what others have been healed from, but it is real, & it has made a difference & taken away major pain I’d had from the fall.
My thoughts soon returned to the woman sharing about her husband, who’s only about 3 or 4 years older than me. He had been diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, & he had been deemed terminally ill. The last time the doctor saw him, he said that the man didn’t have more than a few months left to live.
The man – who I’ll call “Len,” because I can’t remember his name. I’ll call his wife “Mattie,” because I can’t remember her name, either – did not like that diagnosis, but he’d accepted it. However, he’d become convinced through his Bible reading & times of prayer, that God wasn’t ready for Him to go Home yet. So Len prayed about this & sought God’s will. He wasn’t really sure why he was so convinced that his time wasn’t as short as what the doctor’d said, but he had a real peace and assurance that healing was yet to come.
Mattie wasn’t really sure what to make of it. On the one hand, she hoped that Len was right and that he would be here a long, long time yet, for her & for their children & for others who loved him, but on the other hand, she’d never seen or experienced healing of this kind, and she was cynical. She admitted this with shame, & she said that she had repented of her lack of faith.
Meanwhile, Len had been meeting with the pastor & the two elders of the church – or, rather, they’d been going to his place – & praying together. They went over every Scripture related to healing & prayed ever since the doctor gave Len his “deadline,” as Mattie called it, for his healing.
For the past week, before this past week, Len had been feeling better & felt as if he had the most energy he’d had for quite a while, but he didn’t try to get out of bed. Mattie said that she had noticed something, but merely wondered if it was like the calm before the storm. A fake sense of something good before the final push of bad. She said that she was sad & heartbroken to think of her lack of faith, but knows that it was a natural reaction. Still, she’s ashamed of it & asked God & Len in front of everyone for forgiveness.
She continued the story to say that her thoughts on healing have been changed forever! On Monday, Len said that he wanted to get up & walk around a little bit. He’d been too weak & feeble to do that for quite a while, & she strongly urged him to stay in bed. She didn’t want him to fall or to get hurt or any false sense of security, but he was determined. So she helped him up.
While he did lean heavily on her & used the walker, she could sense that he wasn’t leaning as heavily as he had before. Also, he wasn’t quite as dependent on the walker as he had been, & was standing a little straighter.
I don’t know much about what people with cancer go through, especially as close to “the end” as Len’d been, & so I don’t know what’s normal compared to what he’d gone through before last week.
He told Mattie that he didn’t feel sick & that he was really hungry. He wanted a huge dinner, but that he’d better take it easy because he hadn’t had a decent meal in a while. He felt stronger, but was tired after walking around the room a few times. It was more than he’d done for a while, & she wasn’t surprised at his tiredness.
Over the two days that followed, he rapidly improved. He was up & walking with just a cane by Wednesday, & his eating was almost back to normal. He’d never been a super heavy eater, but he did like certain foods & had always eaten heartily what’d been placed before him. Now he was eating almost as much as he used to, & Mattie finally admitted that he could possibly be healed.
They went to the doctor’s office Thursday morning, & the doc’d been amazed! He couldn’t speak when he saw Len walk in with a cane & without any help from Mattie. He asked Len all sorts of questions about he was doing & about his symptoms. Then the doc arranged for him to have some tests done. Amazingly, he was able to get him in right away in Surrey. Even though the trip always made Len tired – he & Mattie live in Abbotsford – they decided to go right away. Appointments are usually made waaaay in advance, but I guess God wanted them to get in immediately.
Of course the final results aren’t in, but no one – the doc, the specialists, or anyone else – could see any sign of cancer in Len. He’s convinced he’s healed, & Mattie’s convinced he’s healed. Everyone who could agreed that he looked much better than he had in months, & he had more colour on his face. I’d never seen him before, but I thought he’d been merely a very thin man who was pale & who looked tired until I’d heard the story.
In the car on the way back to Agassiz afterwards, my friend confirmed everything Mattie had said & told me that she had never seen Len look so good. He already had cancer when she met him, & he had looked much worse when she paid him & Mattie a visit a few weeks ago. She hadn’t had a chance to speak to him before the service, or to tell me anything about him before the service.
Today I’m praising God for healing Len & for God’s work in everyone. He does work in each of us, regardless of whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we see it or not. I look forward to finding out the official results of Len’s tests. I’m sure he’ll have to go back in about 6 months or so to make sure the cancer hasn’t returned, but I’m trusting God to keep Len cancer free. I’ve always loved stories like this, & I always praise Him for them! It reminds me of His power & grace. If He had no grace, He’d just leave Len in his misery. If He had no grace, we’d all be dead after our first sin. However, He gives each of us many chances to trust in Him & to turn to Him. He’s always there, whether we see it or not.
Anyway, I’ll post the results of Len’s tests when I find them out. My friend’ll tell me when she knows, whenever that’ll be.
