During my cancer journey, God blessed me with abundant evidence of His presence with me, with probably more signs and miracles than I could recount or than I even recognized.
In addition to the three I’ve chosen to write about below are the literally countless “ordinary” miracles that were occurring almost daily—miracles such as my changing belief about humanity; my witnessing the very best in people as unselfish and caring; having people make meals for us, drive our kids to their sports and activities, go on doctors’ visits with me, call in favors from others on my behalf, shave their heads for me in support, give up meals and fast as they prayed for me, take a dirty basketball shoe and fly it halfway around the world to send me pictures and notes of hope and encouragement; having doctors’ appointments go smoothly and be pain free, being blessed with a prayer dialogue with God as rich as I’ve ever had, experiencing a connection and openness with others I’d never experienced before, being a bolder witness for Jesus than I’d ever been, and being totally convicted that God is REAL, ACTIVE, and LOVING because I experienced it.
Now these may not technically be miracles, but they impacted me as much or more than any miracle ever could. These were signs that God was watching out for me through the care and love of others. What rich blessings God poured out on me!
The Power of Prayer
I was nervous about my first chemotherapy, and I was really worried that I would vomit. Sorry to be gross, but I’d prefer to have a broken leg than suffer from nausea.
After I received my first chemo treatment, Barbi and I went to the home of our friends Charlie and Karen Koeller. (Yes, this was the Karen who went on our appointments with us.) She and Charlie had prepared a nice dinner for us—which I was unable to eat because nausea had begun to creep in. We gathered our plates and went into the family room. While Barbi, Charlie, and Karen chatted and ate, I was encouraged to just lie down on the couch and rest. It was around 7:00 p.m., and I was tired from my day of chemo, so I put my plate down and closed my eyes. As I did, I began to relax and fell into a deep, comforting slumber, and with that slumber my symptoms of my nausea subsided.
I must have dozed off for only twenty minutes or so, but it was a deep rest. I felt somewhat conscious of being there with the group, somewhat aware of my thoughts, yet in a satisfyingly restful state. When I woke up, I felt refreshed and rested—and hungry! I gratefully ate the chicken and salad Charlie and Karen had prepared. The rest of the evening passed uneventfully. Barbi and I said our goodbyes and returned home to sleep.
The next morning my mom called to ask if I had noticed anything unusual the night before. I remarked, “Funny you should mention it. Last night, around 7:00 p.m., we sat down to dinner with the Koellers, and I was unable to eat because I was feeling nauseous. Then I drifted off into this perfect, restful sleep, and when I woke up, my nausea and symptoms had gone away. Why do you ask?”
My mom excitedly explained, “My friend Stan asked his friends in Minnesota to pray for you, which they did. These friends like to lay hands on the person they are praying for. Since you were in California and they couldn’t lay hands on you, one of them laid down on a table as a stand-in for you. Then the others laid hands on him and prayed for your healing.”
“That was nice of Stan. You said they did this last night?” I asked.
“A little after 9:00 p.m. in Minnesota.”
I suppose it could be a coincidence that my nausea left me at the same time seven brothers and sisters in Christ were praying over my proxy a few time zones away, but it takes a lot of faith to believe in that coincidence. That’s the first miracle I wanted to share.
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.
James 5:14
Another time I was lying down on my son Spencer’s bed. The three boys and I said our nightly prayers together, and after telling them a story (part of our nightly ritual), I drifted off to sleep. While I was sleeping, I felt an unmistakable, deep depression at the foot of the bed, as if someone were sitting at the very end of it. Startled, I sat straight up, but no one was there. I looked at the boys’ alarm clock, and it was 1:00 a.m. I got up and started walking down the hall to our bedroom when, to my surprise, I bumped into Barbi in the hallway. “Did you just sit on the end of Spencer’s bed? I felt something and woke up.”
“No,” she said. “But I fell asleep in the loft, and something just woke me up.” We both noticed it was 1:00 a.m.
That was odd. For twenty-five years now, the nightly ritual has been for Barbi and me to watch some TV together and then go up to bed around 11:00 p.m. It was highly unusual for us to have fallen asleep in separate parts of the house, me in the boys’ bedroom and Barbi in the loft. But asleep we fell, and we both awoke at 1:00 a.m.
The next day when we dropped Colby off at pre-K, his teacher, Mrs. Hypock, pulled Barbi and me aside. Intently, she asked if we had felt her praying for us last night. We looked at her quizzically, and she continued. “I woke up at 1:00 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I thought, ‘Who can I pray for?’ and thought of you.”
Barbi and I looked at each other, “Yes!” we exclaimed. “Both of us were awakened at 1:00 a.m.,” I said, “and it felt as if someone actually sat on my bed.”
Mrs. Hypock smiled. “I visually hold people in my arms when I pray for them.”
You’ve got strong arms! I thought to myself.
Again, I suppose it could have been a coincidence that both Barbi and I were awakened by a physical presence at 1:00 a.m. in different rooms in the house at the exact time that Mrs. Hypock was praying for us, but—again—it sure takes a lot of faith to believe in that coincidence. That’s why this is Miracle #2.
God’s Emissary
Now Miracle #3.
One of the most threatening aspects of chemotherapy is the weakening of your immune system. Reduced immunity means greater difficulty fighting off infection. That’s why chemotherapy patients can’t be around people who are sick. Chemo patients can’t afford to catch something that their body might be unable to fight off.
I made it successfully through my chemo treatments without any hospitalizations—until the tail end of my fourth month. I had been coaching and helping my sons’ baseball teams and still maintaining a full workload. In fact, things had gone along quite smoothly for me with both family life and work—up to this point. Over one weekend at the end of that fourth month, while my oldest son Austin’s Little League team was earning a spot in the Tournament of Champions playoffs, I was headed toward the hospital with a fever that wouldn’t subside…
This is an excerpt from Trusting God with Cancer, by Rob Raban.
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