Say the words. Why is it so hard to do for us? As Christians we find it very hard to speak out loud about the things we believe to be true. "Jesus died to save you and give you eternal life." How many times have you said something like that in a casual conversation? Hmm...m..m, let's see...I'm gonna guess not often. How about "Jesus has healed me."? There's another phrase that you don't hear everyday. It is a statement of faith. One that takes nerve. A bold statement, that when made to others puts a target on your back. Now they will be watching you, keeping up with your illness....looking for you to be proved wrong. Waiting to say, "what a fool to think that a miracle had happened."
In the world of cancer treatment, doctors and nurses are told "set your expectations low. Then you won't be disappointed and may be pleasantly surprised. Because of the science, sometimes the faith has to be buried....optimism put aside. I feel for them all. I know they are hiding the fact that they are constantly hopeful, waiting for a drug to work, a scan to be clear. They never speak the words of faith because they can't. For any number of reasons, they can only speak the words of test results, numbers, physical evidence......the language of cancer and treatment.
But I can speak the words of faith...I do NOT, will NOT stay silent.
In church this past Sunday, I stood up and told 300 people about what has happened to me over the last 3 months. My church is a church that believes in the supernatural healing power of the Lord. I felt they needed to know how prayers were being answered, stuff was happening, "healing" was going on inside me yet again. I willingly put a target on my back, saying the words, declaring the works of the Lord. "The Lord sometimes heals in pieces" I say. My pieces have been dropping tumor markers, less pain, more energy, impressive scans. And we are trusting in His promises that all the pieces will fit together into life, health...complete healing.
For the longest time I believed I was supposed to be speaking about what God was doing for me. God had something else in mind. When I wrote earlier in this journal, I explained that I had figured out that God obviously wanted me to write things down first. So I have been doing just that for the past four months. When I sat in church on Sunday, and the recurring theme was "declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples" (Psalm 96:3)", I asked for a little time with the microphone and got to speak. They had been playing a CD from a healing church in California that was nothing but accounts of healings that were taking place, so the pastor and I knew the timing was right...God's timing was perfect, because I know had so much more of a story now than I did six months ago. It was such a blessing for me and I can only hope it brought glory to God.
Now it is my prayer to continue to have opportunities to have stories to tell for the glory of God's work. And, as always, there is a postscript to this story. In Monday's mail, I got a postcard from the church announcing March events. The scripture quoted on the postcard was Acts 26:16b:
"I've handpicked you to be a servant and to witness to what's happened today, and to what I am going to show you." If there had been any doubt in my mind about declaring His glory at this stage and time, the words of Jesus arrived on a post card the next day to let me know there was no room for doubt. I am a servant and a witness to all I have seen.
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