PRAYER FOR HEALING

Dear Friends and family:
At what age does someone stop praying for the healing of another? I don’t think I’ve ever heard the answer. We are told to love one another, and I think that the act of loving another is more of a healing salve than can be prescribed by any physician.
I have been close to a number of friends and family who have passed on. I did see and understand something that was decidedly different about them. Some were fearful, afraid to shut their eyes in the waning time they had left, for fear of what tragedy might be set them. Some were friends who placed no faith in God or salvation. One man I worked with years ago told me, while he was healthy and not in any fear of his life, that if there was a God ok, but he owed him nothing and lived just fine without him. He died suddenly on the operating table while undergoing exploratory surgery. I so remember his funeral. It was short and abrupt. There was no peace or happiness in that place that day. Neither he nor his family sought God.
Another friend, remarkably at the same company, suffered with cancer for about a year and a half. His name was Bob. Bob was a humble man and what set him apart was his tremendous faith in God. We talked for hours about the cancer, but mostly we talked about God and what Jesus Christ meant to him and to his family. Bob was a born again believer. He came in to work daily, although the pain must have been excruciating. When finally he passed on, is was a quiet and peaceful time. His funeral was one of hope and love as we all knew that Bob had gone to be with the Lord, and we would see him again one day.
A Pastor commented once that when a baby is being born, going through all the pressures of contractions, it most likely would think that it was dying. After all, the baby never knew anything else besides its mother’s womb. But then there is a bright and shining light as the doctor helps deliver the baby in to the world. Born to a new experience, alive and full of hope. Is that what dying is like? Are we born in to a new life, as promised by God’s Word? If so, then why should we worry?
There is a time when each of us will face that time in our lives when either ourselves or someone close will pass on over. If we have experienced that joyful time of accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior it will be a time of rejoicing. There came a time in my own life when my father was extremely ill. His time left with us were measured by hours and then by minutes. I sought wisdom on how to pray. A peace came over me as the answer made itself known. I know today that my parents are both enjoying heavenly places and that someday I too shall see them again.
Please be in prayer for our friends and relatives as we all face uncertain times. Christ is our victor and in Him our faith is well placed. Please remember my cousin Claire Larson and her husband Roger.
In Christ,
David Hedlum