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~ by Pat Luffman Rowland

Prayerful Pondering

Monthly Archives: March 2015

The Interceding of the Great Physician

30 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in healing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

dramatic healing, encouragement, faith, God's power, God's presence, miracles, observation, power, subtle healing

Yesterday our pastor told about a man in our church family who went in to have an upper body x-ray, and for whatever reason, the x-ray camera was positioned lower than it should have been. Because of the error, an abdominal mass was found. There had been no symptoms of cancer in his body and except for the misalignment of the x-ray machine, the malignancy would have gone undetected.

The daughter of a close friend wasn’t even a year out from her first breast cancer surgery when she felt a lump under her arm while showering.  She had been closely monitored by several specialists yet she was the one who discovered a cancerous node. One physician told her he was amazed she could feel it.

The husband of another friend repeatedly had high PSA’s indicating the likelihood of prostate cancer.  There were several biopsies and none disclosed malignancy. Even so, he couldn’t let go of concern and decided to go to a cancer center for a more extensive biopsy. An aggressive form of cancer was found and had, in fact, escaped the walls of the prostate.

Two years ago I had surgery to remove a cancer from my face.  For more than a year I had been anxious about two tiny black spots below my eye. I had the area checked three times by two different dermatologists and told the spots were nothing to worry about.  Then a cosmetologist saw them and strongly urged me to get another opinion. I went to yet a third dermatologist who biopsied and diagnosed a melanoma, the worst of all skin cancers.

As I thought about these four different scenarios, it didn’t cause me to lose faith in physicians. Rather, I saw it as the sure evidence of God’s hand in the lives of His children. He took over where man was limited: He acted through an ill-positioned x-ray, guided a young woman’s hand, prompted a cosmetologist to speak out assertively, and kept concern gnawing until the right tests were completed.

The healing miracles of Jesus’ day were dramatic. The lame were made to walk, the blind to see, a woman bent over for 18 years made to stand erect, the dead were raised. There was no subtlety about any of those healings. Yet I would say to you the situations I’ve described are no less miracles.  Where highly skilled physicians missed disease, The Great Physician, Jesus, stepped in and called disease out.

Does this interceding happen every time? No, not as far as we can see. However, I do believe it happens far more times than we realize and certainly more times than we ever give God credit. It is never wrong to pray for the sudden miracle occurrences of Jesus’ day, but we should not fail to see His healings of today that only need a closer look.

Each person in this story had a good outcome and good prognosis. Jesus is never late.  To God be all glory!

Prayer and Samantha’s Surgery

02 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by Pat Luffman Rowland in God's answers to prayer

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

delays in prayer, prayer, receiving God's best, trust, wisdom

samantha and chloeSamantha, my 13 year old Siamese, had surgery 10 days ago to remove a cyst over her left eye. Samantha has always been an easily frightened cat and taking her to the vet is never easy for either one of us. But the cyst had been growing slowly over the past several months and it was time to have it removed before it got any closer to her eye.

I had dreaded this from the time we set the surgery date. I dreaded it because I knew it would traumatize Samantha and there was no way I could explain it to her. She is a house cat and used to being spoiled, not having unpleasant things happen to her. I had to take up her food and water the night before surgery and that meant no breakfast. She would be placed in a carrier (which spells “vet visit”), left alone in a place that frightened her, and wake up unable to stand steadily on her feet, and probably hurting. This morning’s return visit to have stitches removed meant more of the same. Samantha should not have pain this time, but it will require being sedated again because she is so out of control with fear that they would never be able to remove the stitches otherwise.

I am a sucker for animals and can’t bear to see them experience pain. I do everything I can to keep my own cats from being frightened or harmed and it hurt to have to put Samantha through the surgery and all that went with it even when it is for her well being.

On the way home from the vet’s office, I began to think of a personal parallel. There are times I don’t understand why things happen the way they do in my own life. This is especially so when I have fervently prayed about something and the answer isn’t what I had hoped. I’m sure if cats knew how to pray, Samantha would have asked to not have the surgery. She would have prayed according to her immediate needs: no fright, no pain, and no confusion. But to have delayed the unpleasantness of surgery would have caused her greater suffering in the long run. I can see that; she cannot. When God answer my prayers differently than I pray, it is the same thing; He sees what I cannot. He knows what will be best for me in the long run, and for that I am most grateful.  Grateful that He cares enough to sometimes withhold immediate blessings for ones of greater and more lasting value.

Scriptures that comfort when waiting for answers:

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8)

 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.  (Romans 8:28)

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The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 ESV

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

God has not given us a spirt of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:4-5

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

© Pat Rowland and Prayerful Pondering, 2010 - 2013.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pat Rowland and Prayerful Pondering with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Hope must be in the future tense. Faith, to be faith, must be in the present tense. Catherine Marshall
Everything over your head is under his feet. Dr. Tom Lindberg
What an excellent ground of hope and confidence we have when we reflect upon these three things in prayer--the Father's love, the son's merit and the Spirit's power! Thomas Manton
Our Christian hope is that we're going to live with Christ in a new earth, where is not only no more death, but where life is what it was always meant to be. Timothy Keller

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