(Read Hosea 4)
“After college, I went to nursing school, and during my clinicals, I had a patient suffering from colorectal cancer. I was assigned to be his weekly student nurse. So I walked in, and he was with his daughter, and the first thing he said to me was, ‘Are you a Christian?’” What a pivotal moment for a young nurse just starting. It was common ground and a comfortable conversation for my friend.
(A) was introduced to me by a mutual friend from church. She added, “I just thought that was a very interesting question because it’s not what most people ask when they first meet you. He wanted to know if the person who was going to be taking care of him believed in the power of prayer and healing.”
Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;
save me and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.
Jeremiah 17:14
The Prophet Jeremiah carried a weighty message with him. It was a message that would face opposition and rejection. God gave Jeremiah the ability to see the dire consequences of the Israelite’s wrongdoings, envisioning the downfall of Jerusalem and their exile to Babylon.
Jeremiah wrote about a series of remarkable personal experiences where he received instructions to convey God’s prophetic warnings to the people. We are also called to show unwavering faithfulness in our divinely assigned responsibilities. It is crucial not ever to be disheartened by the apparent futility of our endeavors. Like Jeremiah, who was always faithful, we too are called to persevere with the assurance of healing and the deliverance of the eternal reward that God has prepared.
(A) had been exposed to a variety of Christian believers in her life. Some were traditional, some reserved, and some were more “flamboyant” in faith. One man in particular had a similar background to her and was deeply interested in learning more about my friend. “Then he said, ‘I know you’re not going to church now, but there’s a really great church 20 minutes away from the hospital in Asheville.’ And so I thought, okay, maybe I’ll go there.” Strange and wonderful things always happen when God invites us.
(A) listened and followed God’s call. “Something happened in me. The Minister wasn’t preaching brimstone, but it seemed as if he was speaking directly to me. I wound up on the altar, and at that moment, I knew I had made the decision to become a Christian. I didn’t understand what that entailed. I just knew that his words moved me such that I don’t even remember walking up to the altar. I just was somehow on the altar.” Shortly after, she met (J), who would eventually be her husband for 27 years.
“After we got married, we started going to Bible Studies, and the first study I did was called Experiencing God by Henry Blackabee.”
“That’s the same study we’re doing!” I interrupted (A) in mid-sentence.
Experiencing God was a pivotal Bible study for (A). “It helped me understand that God’s really working and He’s all around, but we don’t hear Him speak audibly the way the donkey spoke to Balam.” Smiling, she said, “But sometimes I’ve looked at our cats and literally said, okay God, can you just tell the cat to tell me something so I know what I’m supposed to do here? You made the donkey talk, so I know you can do it.”
For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 2:6
God’s wisdom comes from a variety of sources and angles. He doesn’t display it for His benefit but for us to use, grow, and save us. What we do with it is another story. “While living in Kentucky, a neighbor came over with some kittens for us. A few days later, upon arriving home from a sporting event, ambulances and fire trucks were in front of our house and the house next door. While looking out the window, I could see the paramedics taking out a covered body.”
It was the woman who brought over the kittens. She had taken her life. “A little while later, 13 families decided to do a progressive dinner for the husband and his children. He was a little reluctant, but afterward, he said that was the first time he had seen all three of his children laugh and smile in two or three months. But that made me realize just the value of a little interaction with somebody could one day have been transformative. I had no idea she suffered from depression, and she had a history of alcoholism.”
“It really got me thinking about chronic illness, people who suffer in silence.”
As (A) told me her story, I jotted down a side note: Suffering brings out the Christ in us. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because it mirrors Christ’s life, maybe it’s because it reminds us how fickle and temporary our lives are, or maybe because it allows God to use our suffering as a model and flicker of hope for others. We learn in the valleys comes to mind.
The entire time of our conversation, (A) was so composed, confident, and passionate; it was a demonstration of her deeply entrenched faith. Whether a day, week, year, or lifetime, it was as solid as anything built on rock.
She continued, “Christmas Eve came. I was in the shower, and I felt a lump in my upper left breast. After the holidays, I finally got in, and the doctor said we didn’t know what it was, so we agreed to have it removed. It was stage 4 (3 + 3), but he didn’t get it all, so he essentially put a hole in a hornet’s nest. Even with their recommended treatments, I only had a 7% chance — 7, not 97. The doctors did some tests, and my pet scan lit up like a Christmas tree. The doctor pulled my husband aside; he said that I had to start on several strong and toxic chemotherapy drugs. When my husband asked how long I would have to be on them for, she said, ‘two years or until she passes.’“
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Hosea 4:6
When (A) began her treatment, she looked nothing like what you would expect a stage 4 cancer patient to look like. She was fit, agile, and an active runner. Not long after her first few rounds of treatment, she couldn’t even get her clothes on.
“I wound up going back and forth to Louisville for all this treatment, and eventually I told (J) that the treatment was going to kill me before the cancer did. At this point, I had already had a bilateral mastectomy. I had sutures. My chest looked like a war zone.” (A) spent a few months in a health clinic in Mexico where they treat the entire body.
“That time was one of my most cherished times. They taught me a lot of things. Mind-body spirit medicine. They taught me how to cook food properly and the benefits of eating lots of raw vegetables and fruit, basically eating God’s diet. What it did was it opened my eyes to how messed up everything was back at home. Before going to the clinic in Mexico, I noticed that many of the nurses at the hospital where I was were morbidly obese. I felt the Lord saying to me, Please don’t entrust your care to these people.
Take a look. And I did. I looked.”
(A) referenced Hosea 4:6 during this part of the conversation. The message of Hosea 4:6 is clear to her as it should be to us: knowledge is essential for life. Without it, we are lost and headed for destruction. The knowledge that Hosea was referring to is not just any knowledge; it is the knowledge of God, His ways, and His truth.
Hosea pointed out that Israel failed to acknowledge the LORD as their God, and they rejected His knowledge. They did not simply lack knowledge; they actively refused it. Without understanding wisdom (God and His word), we are destined for destruction.
“After coming back from Mexico, I felt great. I was doing well and was in remission for five and a half years. After experiencing some new pain, it was discovered that I developed cancer in my interior left rib, directly on the right ventricle of my heart, on the lower ascending artery, even though I was on all these supplements and treatments. Both of my oncologists said that this cancer was notorious for going everywhere. Unbeknownst to me, during COVID, the cancer clinic began putting me on biosimilar chemotherapy. After some extensive research, I believe it was the combination of that drug plus the fact that it kept making me sick, which caused me to miss several appointments, and it just snowballed.”
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.
2 Peter 1:3
God has given us what we need to be healed. Never let your circumstances dictate what you can and cannot do. Peter’s purpose is to urge us not to waver in our beliefs but to live out what we know to be true. (A) embodies this belief in her personal mission.
“I always believed if I got this cancer, somehow I figured there’s gotta be an internal mechanism that will allow me to heal. When you go to a cancer clinic, you are told the cut, poison, burn approach. You’re given options of chemo, radiation surgery, hormone blockers, monoclonal therapies, and immunotherapies — the big money-makers. Nobody talks to you about food, IV Curcumin, or high dose vitamin C. If you cut your finger, you might go to the doctor to make sure something’s not broken or that there’s no tendon severed, but your body is the one that heals itself. If you break a bone, the doctor might reset it and give you something for the pain, but your body does the work. The body is what actually heals you.”
Do you believe that God is using you to speak to other people?
“Yes. You need to believe you’re going to get well. You need to give yourself peace, patience, and kindness. And you need to do the work in research and finding knowledge.”
(A) uses peer-reviewed studies, science, and journal speak (raging on the page) to combat her illness. “Once I started to really write out my raw, truthful emotions at that moment, my pain started to go away. It releases that coiled compressed energy on the paper. You get it out in a cathartic release. Since I’ve been doing this, my cancer markers have plummeted. That never happened before in five and a half years. God, take this. This is upsetting me. This is bothering me. You have the Eagle’s eye view, and I’m just looking at the one tree in the forest. You know what’s going on here.”
Every night before I go to bed, I write everything out, then I turn on some meditation-type or Christian music, or listen to Latin monks chanting or old hymnal music, and I just listen and quiet my mind and get it all out.
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”
Luke 18:4-7
During our almost two-hour conversation, I was blown away by (A)’s knowledge and passion. She referred to her faith as a catalyst for her thirst for answers, armor, and arrows to fight cancer — not just in her, but for others. She reminded me of the persistent woman in Jesus’ parable who pestered the unjust judge into action. “You have to look to continue and press on.”
The essence of Christ’s parable lies in the assurance that our God is not an unjust judge. He is a loving and just Father who listens to the cries of His chosen ones. Despite the odds stacked against her, the woman in the parable refused to give up. Jesus encourages us to pray relentlessly, to cry out to God day and night. It’s not about wearing God down but about aligning our hearts with His perfect timing and sovereign will.
“What I have noticed is, and this is why I say we’re treating cancer incorrectly, 30% of the time, it is diet, nutrition, and exercise. But the other 60 to 70% was all up here (pointing to her mind). Jesus healed every person every time they asked. He never said it’s my father’s will for you to be sick. He never said, no, I can’t heal you. You’re not a Christian.
(A) reiterated, “God’s people perish for lack of knowledge. God’s words have been hope and wisdom. Those are the words I felt God impress upon me because, without hope, you won’t survive. God made me a voice to help make people aware that there are many other ways.”
“I told God, I said, whether you take me or leave me is fine.”
“How can you help other people?” I asked.
“I hope that I will be able to instill hope in other people who have gone through this journey or are going through this journey and are scared to death. They need somebody to help, not tell them what to do, but listen. Somebody who’s already walked through this and has some semblance of what this feels like, what your emotions are doing to you, the sensations through your body, the pain, the numbness and tingling from the neuropathy.
And I’m just hoping to make more people aware of living and keeping their temples in such good shape so that the Holy Spirit can dwell in them and use them for God’s purposes.”
If an unjust judge can respond to persistence, how much more will our loving God bring justice, love, and healing for His chosen ones? He sees our struggles, hears our prayers, and answers them in His perfect timing. The delays we experience are not indicators of God’s indifference but opportunities for our faith to deepen and mature and for us to gain knowledge.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
James 1:5
Key Application:
- In our lives, we should prioritize understanding God’s Word, His principles, and His will for us. This involves regular reading of the Bible, engaging in study, and seeking wisdom through prayer. By actively pursuing spiritual knowledge, we equip ourselves to make wise decisions, discern right from wrong, and deepen our relationship with God.
- Be open to the plight of others and offer encouraging words and service. Reaching out, and extending knowledge and love will demonstrate the true, divine power of prayer and healing.
Where else in your life can you live out the teachings of Christ? Look for next week’s Devotion.