the power of healing prayer.......................

     This past Sunday morning during service, a pastor friend of mine cheerfully shared a great testimony of God's grace and healing power in a difficult situation.  I believe that sharing the wonders of the Lord's ability to circumvent and supersede the pronouncements of doctors, psychologists, and other very learned and professional people, gives us hope and the possibility of having futures that others have declared dead.  Because HE is the God of resurrection, healing, and the supernatural. Yet, sadly in our world, and even in His own body the Church, we hold on more to the pronouncements of man than onto the declarations of God and His Word.

     The story actually began several years ago, when he needed an operation on his shoulder.  As part of the natural process of nurture and care during the recovery period, he had encountered a particular nurse.  She fit the visual imagery of what you would want in that noble profession.  She was full of cheer, caring, and gave off the radiance of nurture that just made you feel that you were going to get better, just by being in her very presence. 
     Knowing that this man was a pastor gave her the openness to share with him about how as a single mom of two home schooled children she would drive everyday 120 miles round trip to give her nursing job all she had to give.  Fortitude, and a strong spirit were words that easily come to mind as he heard her share the information about her life.  To top it all off, she shared how that it was her faith in Christ that she knew was the real source of her ability to overcome the situations that accumulated together would easily have waylayed many other people.
     It was during this session that she also disclosed that in spite of her current disposition, it was this morning that she learned that she had cancer.  The sheer weight of this foreboding bomb seemed to clear the atmosphere of all light, and warmth.  In the momentary void, both reassured each other that God was the God of the impossible.  That only He alone could work things together for good for those who loved Him and were called according to His purpose.  This they both knew wasn't some simple minded cheery way to put a spin on an awkward moment between two people just as a way of dismissing the weightiness of the burden. It was a declaration that even in the depths of darkness,  there is always a light of hope in Him.
     When the pastor got home, he told his wife about the emotional rollercoaster of his appointment.  She knew what to do about the situation.  They would pray for her.  And during the next session, she would lay hands on her and pray for her as a point of contact.  They would both do these steps of action, and allow God to do the rest.
     Time separated the appointments, and the nurse from their lives as the man's body healed.  Then just recently, this selfsame man had to go to the same hospital.  When he ran directly into a nurse whose face was covered with a large surgical mask.  Her eyes flashed recognition.  " Hello, do you remember me?" she said.  The pastor who sees many people in the course of life, tried to draw a connection with the cheery eyes.  " Not with that mask on your face!", he voiced with a smirky,light hearted grin.  She quickly removed it to reveal the happy face of the nurse who had cared for him a couple of years ago.  Both faces then lit up.  They exchanged pleasantries, and renewed the bond of their spirits again.
     The most joyous news that she had to share with him was that she had been cured of cancer.  God had healed her of the cancer that she had told him about.  She knew that she had been healed according to His word.  In the midst of all of lifes' problems she had been delivered from what the enemy thought would take her out as an obstacle just too big to overcome.  Yet, he didn't know that God had a different plan.  He placed a pastor and his praying wife on her path.  Right there, amidst a normal and routine of follow therapy examine. Only this time the patient was to become the nurse, who would help deliver the perscription and treatment of a different kind.
     God wants us to be healed.  Sometimes it is quickly, and sometimes it may take awhile, but whatever the way; give Him the glory for it when it comes.  And be sure to thank Him for it ahead of the delivery of the gift itself!