Pray Then Praise

Have you ever encountered a spoiled, whining child? One who begs and pleads to obtain what she wants, over and over and over again? One who exasperates her parents as she pleads for the desires of her heart? Consider the face of this child’s father. He is thinking to himself, “If she has asked me once for a pony, she has asked me a hundred times.”

I believe that our Heavenly Father must get equally exasperated with us. How many times have I stomped my foot and bowed my head, praying over and over for Him to heal my broken body? And as an honest confession, perhaps I have even exceeded praying for pleading and pouting. These descriptions would better describe my heart-felt, desperate cries.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:12).

My Petitions – Please agree in prayer with me:

-Destroy leukemia cells while rebuilding my immune system (for those of you who know much about cancer treatment, you know this is a real oxymoron for which to ask)
-Help my body to fight off harmful organisms and dangerous infections
-Return my spleen and liver to normal size
-Return enlarged lymph nodes
-Return all blood counts to normal
-Let doctors and other caregivers stand in amazement at God’s work through this treatment
-Prevent any drug reaction or side-effect

“Yet you do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2b).

Let our focus now shift to prayers of thanksgiving with pure hearts; believing spirits; and doubt-free thoughts.

"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:20-24).

God’s way of doing things requires patience. Making this treatment decision has not demanded hours or days or weeks, but months. I wanted to lack nothing as I made this challenging decision for myself. I wanted understanding and wisdom and knowledge and God’s peace. At times, symptoms, infections, or bad reports have taunted me and attempted to rush me to finalize this decision. At each of these intersections, I paused, prayed, and persevered in patience as I pursued the perfect plan (repeat that quickly ten times).

“But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4).

The Holy Spirit has truly enlightened me. The protocol I have decided upon is replete with research, conventional medicine, and complementary medicine. I believe God has all of the bases covered. As I have prayed and penned the protocol, the pages multiplied. I now have over 40 pages of typed material that contain the treatment approach I am going to begin.

One might ask, “Why did this decision take so long to decide upon?” You must remember that in recent months, I have been told: (1) I am in “end stage” leukemia; (2) Surviving any treatment will be a challenge; and (3) I need a replacement immune system. With statements such as these looming large in my memory, I was certain God’s involvement in this planning was mandatory.

I have peace about my decision. I own this decision. I have invested days and days of prayer time, research and writing this protocol. Let’s roll ………