January 2020 ~ Keep Praying

On Monday I was lying down while listening to the clamorous clicks of the MRI machine, when a thought ran through my mind “What if these scans report everything you’ve hoped and prayed for?”

Click click click

“What will you do?”

Click click click

“But, what if they’re the opposite.”

Click click click

“Will you still trust God?”

When I got out of the machine I wrote this:

Will you still trust God?

Will you still trust God when you hear the words, “You have stage four cancer.

You have no treatment options left.

We are here to prolong your life not to cure you.

The scans don’t look good. You have new brain tumors.

After all this treatment, you are still sick.”

Will I still trust God If these scans don’t look the way I want them to?

The answer is yes. With my whole heart I will.

I received news the next day that I have a new brain tumor and that the other one I had doubled in size. The two new ones are both two centimeters in diameter, which is larger than any tumors I’ve had in the past. But I already had Gamma Knife radiation scheduled for the 21st of January. So they will be able to treat the new one along with the old one. But because of the continued growth they are planning on starting me back on immunotherapy infusions every three weeks. In the past these infusions have come along with some very serious and damaging side effects.

The answer is still yes. With my whole heart, yes.

These past two years have been a whirlwind of ups and downs and I have learned that God is so incredibly faithful to us through it all. He has most assuredly proven himself to be a trustworthy God.

First and foremost

A God that would love me and care for me so passionately that he would send his son to be, “wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,” as Isaiah 53:5 says, is a God worth trusting. He gave his life for mine, suffered in my place, and then, if that were not enough, promised me healing. At the end of that heart-wrenching verse, Isaiah declares, “And by his stripes we are healed.” Through His suffering we are promised healing! What a good God we serve.

Secondly

God always wins. In my book the battle was won when he died on the cross. In that defining moment, he took on himself my sin, my sickness and the transgressions of this life. So no matter what lays ahead, no matter what is waiting for me on the other end, the God of heaven and earth is walking by my side. The Bible says, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:28-29‬). It is unbelievable that this all consuming fire, the God of a kingdom that cannot be shaken, is walking through this storm by my side. This is who I have fighting for me!

So why should I fear? “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Lastly

He has given me specific promises from heaven that he will heal me. I once received a word from an evangelist in Vietnam that told me, “Sister, God never lied to you. He has proven himself to you. And now, he is showing you how much he cares for you. He will bring to pass what he has promised. Now, is the time for you to say, ‘let me show you who I am.’ That’s all he wants, for us to approach his throne of grace with confidence.”

Hearing those words put to rest all the questions about the future God has in store for me. It gave me freedom to trust in those whispers of miracle healing.

A message to those that are praying for me:

Pretend with me for a moment that my doctors have just told me, “McKennah, it is a written-down-fact that God is going to heal you.”

Would we all not be jumping for joy, praising God, and running as fast as we could to that finish line? Would we all begin to pray like we have never prayed before, knowing that our prayers were going to be answered? There would be no hesitancy, no reluctancy, and no skepticism. We would all be confident in the confirmation of my future.

Can’t you see that although my doctors may never tell me these words the great physician has already spoken them to us in his word and through his Holy Spirit?

Why are we waiting on what man says to come before God boldly?

Jesus said it and it is so! Believe with me for a moment that God WILL heal me.

Pray with the confidence that your prayers can change the outcomes of our lives.

Why in the world would we rather believe what the doctors have told me than in what our all-consuming-fire-of-a-God has written out so plainly and so absolutely for us to see.

Please approach his throne of grace with confidence that He has already done what we asked in regards to my needs, as well as your own. Believe with me for a moment that God will heal you and I. Pray with that confidence.

My words are justified by what God says:

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (‭‭James‬ ‭5:16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬).

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬).

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed” (‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬).

WE ARE HEALED. Not, we might be healed... if it’s God’s will... No! We are healed!

"But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 30:17).

"He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24)

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (‭‭I John‬ ‭5:14‬)‭.

He heals us

He hears us

He forgives us

He sets us on high places

He renews and restores

He defeats all sickness and sin

He is so good to us.

My friend Angie reminded me of this verse recently:

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills” (‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬).

Please pray, my friends! God has given me such a faith in his promises but I would be lying if I said it was easy. At this moment I am fighting every lie from the enemy, every logical argument, every reasonable preparation for the future. Because they all defy what God intends on doing. I’m fighting so hard to hold onto hope. So please pray and stand in agreement with me in the faith of what God will do!

In this same way that I ask you to pray for my healing and your own needs, I have another request to bring before you. I ask that you would please lift up my Pastor, Bob Hernandez and his wife Coco. I am extremely grateful for the blessing that this family has been to me and my family ever since they returned from China as missionaries to take over our church. Right now Pastor Hernandez is facing some very serious medical complications and needs a miracle in his body. We stand firm that he is healed in Jesus's name. Please as well pray for strength, comfort and support for his wife, his daughters, and their families.

Thank you all!