Prayer works.
Some will stop reading now.
Some will realize they need to hear this. Some will know it works.
A friend was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer about 18 months ago.
“Six months maybe,” the doctor said. “But we can try aggressive treatment. We might be able to push it to a year.”
She, of course, agreed. It wasn’t just her own destiny that worried her. She has an adult son, 47, with Down’s Syndrome. Additionally, in mountain language, she was a “widow woman.”
Who would take care of him?
Understandably, she was distraught. She emailed all her friends and posted on social media, pleading for prayer.
We all began praying. Churches assembled their congregations for special prayer for Peggy.
While we prayed, she endured aggressive treatment for months. She continued treatments, making little progress and asking for prayers regularly.
Then… The day came when Peggy sent emails to her prayer warriors then posted on social media: “I had a body scan this week. The doctor called today and told me that I am completely cancer free! Thank you for your prayers. God heard and answered.”
In the book of James, it says “the prayers of the righteous availeth much.”
Now, let me say this: Prayer doesn’t always heal. My dear friend, Walt Ehmer, chairman of Waffle House, died of pancreatic cancer despite our fervent prayers. I often called him and prayed for him over the phone. Losing Walt was one of the most devastating losses of my life.
But this I believe: People are not healed without prayer.
Christopher Hitchens, a brilliant writer, was a firmly avowed atheist. He often wrote about his disbelief in God in national magazines. The day came when Hitchens was diagnosed with a horrific form of cancer. An Alabama preacher reached out to him. The two became close friends but Hitchens refused to change his beliefs.
“Don’t waste your time praying for me,” he wrote to readers. “I still don’t believe in God.”
Bravely, he wrote about the ugliness of his journey to death. He died as he had lived. A non-believer in God or prayer.
I have found that my prayers for small things are often answered. A few months ago, Tink and I were in Nashville to attend the Grand Ole Opry with our friends the Isaacs, who are members. It was the October evening of “The Opry Goes Pink” in support of breast cancer awareness.
I had carefully planned the pink dress and shoes I was going to wear. We were staying with our friends, Darrell and Stevie Waltrip. On Saturday, before we went to lunch, I discovered that I had left the pink slip that went under the dress at home. The dress was decorated with large, three-dimensional flowers on it. However, there were thin margin between the flowers. I tried on the dress without the lining. You could see straight through it.
“Oh no!,” I moaned woefully. “What am I going to do?”
I asked Stevie but she had nothing. “Let’s go to a store,” I said to Tink. When he prepared to pull out of the avenue that leads from the Waltrips, the traffic was two miles long.
Instead, we turned in the opposite direction. Tink stopped for gas and, with heavy heart, I prayed for help. Into my mind came the words, “Go to a dry cleaners and see if they have a non-paid item.”
We were facing a tiny shopping center with restaurants and a gym. We drove around and found nothing.
Tink said, “The only thing I can think of is to go to a dry cleaner’s and see if there’s something that has been left.”
“Tink! That’s exactly the answer I got when I prayed!”
We looked up and there, to the left, was a dry cleaner’s. I ran in there and found a slip that was perfect. The owner sold it to me for $10.
Prayer works.
Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of the Southern Stella Bankwell series. Please visit www.rondarich.com to sign up for her newsletter.