by Andrea Hunter

(Excerpted from More Hope! Emerging from the Shadows of Breast Cancer)

  

Encountering cancer, we find it's a dangerous world. However we respond, and whoever we are, God wants to meet us in the midst of our pain - masks off, wounds exposed. We work so hard at trying to hide our weaknesses from other people that we often do the same with God. When we are under pressure, tired, sick, overwhelmed, sometimes a person emerges that is a "stranger" to us. We even hide from ourselves. As Debbie Driscoll, associate director of ELM, says, "You've got to get to know that stranger, baby!" But be encouraged, though our responses sometime surprise us, they never ever surprise God.

Getting real with God

Sometimes we feel like we need to clean up, appear stronger, more holy or forgiving than we are. We might declare God's Word one day with confidence and faith over our illness; the next we are spouting Scriptures frantically to appear in control or to gain God's approval. Thankfully, we can rest in Him no matter what. God's love, saving grace and mercy is greater than our biggest mistake, our worst attitude, or our deepest despair.

Relationship at the core of all healing

Our relationship with Christ is the cornerstone of our healing. Many of us have thought, "If I work hard enough, I might get rewarded with a 'healing'." Yet, it's really all about His sacrifice on the Cross and our simple act of surrender to His love. The enemy of our souls would love us to think of God as someone who we manipulate into doling out presents by offering sacrifices, by doing the "right" things: reading the Bible, praying, contemplating, listening, declaring. If we put together the right formula, we might just hit the healing jackpot! But that would make healing all about us. Reading the Bible, prayer, confession, and repentance are all good and necessary for our healing and transformation. However, they are part of the rhythm of a loving relationship, not coins in a healing slot machine.

God's intentions are already those of healing and restoration. One of His names is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals us. It is the Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom, which includes all manner of healing.

 

We are where Jesus is

People healed in the Bible sometimes made great efforts to get to where Jesus was. Even now, we all yearn to be taken to where Jesus is, forgetting that by His spirit He is always near; in fact if we have made Him Lord, He is in us. Beth's journey through the shadows [see video above], as she dealt with the ravages of chemo, robbed her of the strength to win God's attention through spiritual activity.

  

"After the early days following diagnosis, I had no vertical experience of the Lord's presence -- no amazing prayer times or visions. During treatment, I can count on one hand how many times I opened my Bible. The disciplines...[Scripture reading, Lectio Divina, listening prayer, etc.] were absent."- Beth Webb

Even had she wanted to, Beth could not have earned her healing by spiritual "activity." Let's release ourselves from performance-driven faith, and learn to rest in the finished work of the Cross.

Hope Redeemed

Each day is filled with uncertainty. When we confront the shadowlands of breast cancer, we find that the control we may have thought we had over our lives is illusory. In facing a life-altering condition we come face to face with our own weakness. Fortunately we also discover Christ's healing power and the certainties of the Word and the redemption of our entire lives at the Cross. Hope is built and sustained as we rehearse those certainties, meditating on them, embracing them while staying connected to God and community. Christ will resurrect the kind of faith that gives substance, life and reality to our most expansive and glorious dreams and our deepest and most God-birthed hopes.

  

I Cor. 14:3:...everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 

Healing prayer is prophetic, in that, as we pray for one another we are bringing God's "strengthening, encouragement and comfort" to the other. In this, there is healing.

         

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Jonathan Hunter