GOD NOT JUST YET PLEASE: MY PRAYER REQUESTS FOR COMPLETE HEALINGS

On February 29, 2024, I got my 3-month routine CT scans done.  My local oncologist had noted that there were some suspicious spots in some of my lymph nodes of my left lung, so she recommended a PET scan.  I had my PET scan yesterday.  My doctor had stated that my lymph nodes are lighting up indicating that there is activity present and more than likely the cells that are in the lymph nodes are cancerous.  She also mentioned that when comparing the CT scans from November 2023 to February 2024, there is an increase in the size and in the density of the tumor in my left lung. 

What can this mean and what are the specific prayers that I need:

When cancer appears in the lymph nodes, there is a greater possibility of the diseased cells metastasizing.  Typically, the brain is the first location to which lung cancer spreads, and when I was first diagnosed, my lung cancer had accelerated quickly (in a matter of 6-7 weeks) in size that it had deflated part of my lung and shifted its original position.  My local oncologist believes that the lymph nodes can be irradiated and that I can continue with my Tagrisso.  My fear is that the Tagrisso has stopped working to control the growth of my disease and that my lung cancer has now spread to my brain.  I am afraid that I have run out of Western medicine options of controlling the spread of my lung cancer.  

I have known about my lung condition for a little more than a year now and God has done so many miraculous things for me to be where I am at right now, physically, emotionally, mentally, and most importantly spiritually.  I am asking for prayers for physical healing because I do not believe that God is done with me yet in my spiritual and emotional growth and in my sharing of Jesus with so many others.  Since I have just found out how to really LIVE FOR CHRIST, I would like a longer time to practice it.  I would love to be able to fulfill the call that God had given me so long ago when he put on my heart to go to other parts of the world sharing his Good News.  Unfortunately, most of my life, I have been like Jonah running away from what God had called me to do, focusing just on my own self and my own glory. 

Now, God has put it on my heart to go to the different sister churches in the US or wherever in the world and encourage all my brothers and sisters to cling tightly onto God no matter what the circumstances are in our lives.  I just want to sing and dance and worship with them and love them as Jesus would love them as best as I can.  I want to hear their stories of struggles and pray and cry out to the Lord with them because Jesus is the only one who can provide them with not only the comfort but the healing as well.  Jesus provides more than the physical, emotional, and mental healing, which are all temporary.  He provides us most importantly the SPIRITUAL healing that all of us so desperately need.  As difficult situations occur, we must walk away in each instance determined to know in our heart of hearts that we have done all that God has called us to do and nothing more and that the rest is up to God to provide.  At these times, God is calling us to pray, trust him, and wait as in Exodus 14.

This is my paraphrase of what had happened before Moses told the Israelites that they only needed to be still in Exodus 14:13-14:

For many centuries, the Israelite nation was oppressed in Egypt.  They were very prolific, and God allowed them to grow in great numbers even as the Egyptians try desperately to oppress them as a nation.  God heard their cries and remembered his covenant with Abraham and decided to bring them up out of Egypt—the big Exodus.  So of course, God needed a leader, so he selected Moses to lead his people out of Egypt.  Moses did not feel confident in his leadership skills, so God also provided him with Aaron, his brother.  Moses and Aaron went before the Pharaoh to ask for permission to worship their God in the desert.  Of course, Pharaoh refuses many times so God plagues the country and the Egyptian people so much to the point that all of them were giving the Israelites everything—precious metals, gems, livestock, etc.—to quickly get them out of their hair!  God had led the Israelites out of Egypt and guided them as to where to go with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire to give them light by night.  God told Moses to tell the Israelites what will happen so that God would gain glory for himself through Pharaoh and all his army and that the Egyptians would know that he is the Lord.  Moses told the Israelites, and they did as God had commanded, walking around like they were clueless of where they needed to go.  Pharaoh then changed his mind about letting the people go and decided to pursue them.  Despite being told what would happen and despite the pillar of cloud and fire always being present before them, the Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord.  They complained to Moses saying that it would have been better to stay serving in Egypt then to die in the desert.

Exodus 14:13-14

13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Then God said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Move forward, raise your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water.”  The Red Sea parted, and the rest is history.

I have experienced many instances where I have done all that I could and though the situation was not yet resolved, I decided to no longer worry and stress but to just get down on my hands and knees in prayer.  In each of those situations, I had decided to be still and trust God to work out the details.  I basically just gave up “my control”, which I now understand that I never had from the start.  I know now that my Lord is the God of order, power, and love.  I must continuously pray for him to give me that trust so that I may rely totally on him, believing in his power to work out all things for my good and for the good of others.

I remember when I was married to my first husband, Keith, and I was thoroughly convinced that we could afford a new car.  I decided that I would try out what God’s word says about the different roles that men and women have.  The Bible says that I needed to be submissive to Keith’s decisions.  I am not to be a doormat, and God holds me just as responsible to express what I think, but ultimately man is the head of the household.  I went to Keith and after informing him that I believed that we needed a new car and that we could afford one, he said, “No”.  It totally crushed me, but because of the decision to test God with this, I just kept my mouth shut and I cried out to God in prayer.  At that time, Keith was on medical leave from his job at IBM because of his mental breakdown about a year and a half earlier.  A few months later, Keith gets a large check from Social Security as backpay for disability, and he asks me what kind of new car did I want to get.  We ended up paying cash for our Honda Accord.  About a year or so later, he gave me this car when we were separated.  I see now how God worked things out so that when Keith and I parted our ways with a divorce, God set me up with my Honda Accord, which was paid in full the first day we got it.  God is always true to his word.

I have seen countless times of when a sister in the church is struggling so much with her current life situation and though I might suggest some things or share what my convictions are, she does not see God working in her life in that way.  At that time, I have realized that all I can do is pray and beg God for providing her with the convictions that she needs to see God working in her heart and in her life.  Sometimes it is weeks, months, or even years later, but God shows me the changes in her heart and life.  Those times are such an encouragement to me that I praise God and I praise the sister for listening to God.  Then we watch how he miraculously heals the situation!

I understand that all these circumstances that happen in our lives are all temporary, but they can potentially have a greatly effect on our spiritual walk with God for all eternity if we allow them to control our view of God and of our lives.  I believe that is why God has so often warned us as seen in the first letter from Peter:

1 Peter 5:8-9

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Only God can fix any of this, so I am more adamant in prayer and in requesting prayers from others.  I pray that my HOPE is IN JESUS and in his power displayed in both my life and my death and that my hope is NOT in whether I live or die.  To God be the glory.  Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrEJc_QVFA4