From Death to Life A Personal Testimony

I re-read this post for the first time in over five years…my dad has now been cancer free for five years. What a God we serve. Dad went fromstage 4 cancer to cancer free in six months. What a God we serve. I know this isn’t everyone’s story and I know I won’t understand this side of heaven why it’s not but I do hope you’ll read on….

This morning , prior to writing this, I attended Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.  It is an amazing service as you can tell by the thousands of people who fight Houston traffic to come to church on a Sunday morning.   They could have slept in or spent the morning on the golf course but instead they are here.  Why?  Because in this church there is a feeling of anticipation, there is an excitement, a genuine expectation that God is about to do something great.  This particular morning, Dodie Osteen is speaking and what a testimony it is. 

In 1981 she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given two weeks to live.   She didn’t just survive, she is now 78 and telling her story to countless others in hopes that they might find the same healing that she did.  As I write this, my Dad is also diagnosed with Cancer.  We are all in Houston so that he may undergo chemotherapy and radiation.  I listen closely to the story.  It was around Thanksgiving when she was diagnosed.  She had dropped to 89 pounds and her skin had a tint of yellow.  She described herself as appearing with the body and face of someone well into her nineties.  When she went to the doctor they admitted her to the hospital where she spent nearly a month.  She went home on December 10th, 1981 with the doctor’s prediction heavy on her heart.  She wanted to be out of the hospital. She wanted to be at home but not just for two weeks.  She wanted to see her children marry, to gaze upon the faces of her grandchildren.  She wanted to live.  The doctors had a different diagnosis.  They said regardless of any treatment they tried, two weeks was the most she could hope for.  They couldn’t even find the main tumor her body had so many– so she went home. 

On December the 11th, she and her husband (father of Joel Osteen and then pastor of Lakewood) literally got on the floor on their faces in prayer before God.  He anointed her with oil and they prayed and believed together.  They prayed that the cancer would be cursed of God, shrivel up and die never to return again.  They prayed that God would grant her a long and abundant life of which cancer would no longer be a part.  Then she surrounded herself with pictures and reminders of when she was young.  She wrote letters seeking forgiveness for any harsh words she had said or wrongs committed.  Prompted by the verses “Let there be no unforgiveness in your heart” and “whenever possible live at peace with those around you,” she sought to forgive all those who had hurt her in the past as well.  She wrote a list of scriptures about healing and prayed them over herself each day.  Reading them reminded her of the promises of God that are available to us.  He is faithful to fulfill His promises.  However, just as we must claim the promise of salvation by confessing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we must also lay claim to these promises of health and abundant life through belief and confession of our words.  Our words hold the power of miracles in them, because God’s word not only holds the power to save but to heal on Earth as well.  It is, “A lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105 KJV) 

Why do I write about healing from cancer?  Because, it is about healing and we all need healing.  Our children desperately need healing.  Our families are desperately in need healing.  And Satan, who is here to steal, kill and destroy, would love nothing more than for us to live a life of defeat – a life as the victim not the victor in Christ.  We must remember that Christ has already won the battle.  We are only to claim the prize.  But so many of us, with our thoughts and words (myself included), speak defeat over our families without ever realizing it.  It is a self-fulfilling prophesy that we were never meant to live.  It is with these truths on my heart that I promise, from this day forward, to seek the Lord’s will diligently in prayer.  I pray that my family might live victoriously the life God has called us to and humbly ask that He rise up a nation of great warriors from the wounded youth of our county that my children will truly be a light in a world so filled with darkness.