My mom goes to her oncologist’s office every Thursday; her treatments are in 3-week cycles. The first week she gets the chemo, and the next 2 weeks they do different tests to monitor her health between treatments.
When my mom was diagnosed and her oncologist told her there were 3 enlarged lymph nodes that looked like the cancer had probably spread to, I knew it hadn’t. When he came out of surgery and told us he had taken 12 lymph nodes that were about 10x the size that lymph nodes should be, I knew they wouldn’t find cancer in them.
Me, my siblings, and my mom right before I launched.
“And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.” (Mark 11:22-23)
So that’s how I prayed. I felt a little pretentious, maybe even pompous, declaring that my mom’s cancer be taken up and thrown into the sea. More than that, I was declaring that it had no authority to invade anywhere else in her body…that’s what I was prompted to pray, honestly.
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words,” (Romans 8:26)
When your mom’s life is threatened, you don’t think straight. I just prayed what was coming out of the deepest parts of me.
My niece, Nataly, with me and my mom
And then pathology results came back, and it hadn’t invaded anywhere else.
I hadn’t doubted in my heart that exactly what I said would come to pass, I had confidence in the Lord and confidence that I was praying and declaring the things I was praying and declaring in the Spirit…and it happened. I don’t know if I’ve ever labored in prayer for anything that meant more to me than my mom, but I know that prayer is powerful.
Thursdays here in Romania, we split up around the city and go to 3 different places to pray with/for people. In small groups, we go to local parks, a local university, and the oncology ward of a hospital in Targu-Mures.
Two weeks in a row, I’ve been blessed to be in the group going to the hospital.
"CLINICA ONCOLOGIE MEDICALA"
Week one, I walked boldly into the hospital rooms of warriors. Maybe some of them had forgotten they were soldiers, but they were reminded that day. I brought with me the confidence of Mark 11:23, and I prayed victory over their bodies and declared that the men and women battling in Romania the same war my mom is battling in America belong to God, their Creator, Healer, and Redeemer.
I can’t stand next to my mom, hold her hand, and declare victory and strength over her – but I know other people can and are. I’m not positive the women I met that first day at the hospital would have had that if God hadn’t sent me here for that purpose.
The name of this battle is cancer, but it’s still a part of the one war between Light and darkness, and the victory has already been won through Jesus Christ.
What a sweet parallel for Him to give me this ministry. 6,000 miles away from my beautiful mom, I am still battling for her and with her, and her fight and victory are strengthening soldiers here for battle, and I get to be part of it and carry confidence in Christ as my crown into this warzone, because I’ve SEEN Him work in this.
