“When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass through fire, you will not be burned; the hard trials that come will not hurt you.”—Isaiah 43:2 (GNT) 

God created us to be in community. He places brothers and sisters in Christ to be prayer warriors for us. I witnessed this very thing last week. It was such a powerful experience, I wanted to write about it and how it impacted me while it is still fresh on my mind.

Last Monday was my dear friend Melody’s surgery for her pancreatic cancer. God had laid it on mine and another friend’s heart to organize a small group of friends to pray over her Sunday. After each of us had prayed, she said a prayer for her husband.

Here she is preparing for a long and arduous surgery, and she is praying for her husband. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room (men included). We were all wiping our eyes listening to her heartfelt prayer. She wasn’t praying for healing; she was praying for husband. This is the selfless woman of faith that she is.

When believers in Christ come together with sincere petitioning to God, He bends down and listens. Earnest prayers in the name of Jesus touch His heart in the heavenly realms. This is what I witnessed in that room with other brothers and sisters in Christ praying over Melody.

God heard our prayers. Not only did God provide a nurse prior to her surgery that was a pancreatic cancer survivor (20 years ago), but the surgery went as expected as well as her being discharged Friday afternoon. She had been looking at a one week stay. When I spoke to her Thursday afternoon, you would have never known she had such a difficult surgery 3 days prior. She had joy in her voice knowing she was getting to go home earlier than expected.

How we look at life is how we are going to look at our problems. If you are negative and pessimistic, you are guaranteeing your day will be the same. Choosing to be positive and optimistic despite her scary surgery as Melody did, is how I want to live. Would I have the same attitude as her? I can only hope and pray, I would cling to my faith as she is doing trusting God to get her through it.

I am witnessing her staying aware of God’s presence during this difficult time. I know if she can do it with her health issues than I can surely do the same when things go awry with my mother. Such as the 4 am phone call I received Friday morning that my mother had fell and an ambulance had taken her to the emergency room.

Not quite the way I was wanting to start my day, however, I am choosing to live more like Melody by focusing on God’s provisions rather than the circumstances. On my way to the hospital, I heard a song which inspired the title of this post called, Don’t Fight Alone, by John Reddick. God was telling me, He was with me and I wasn’t alone.

I saw God’s hand the entire day. From being discharged by 5:30 am to her getting into the orthopedic doctor right after lunch. When I walked into her room to take her to her doctor appointment, she was not wearing her sling. Not just that, she had hidden it from me. I eventually found it stuffed in the seat of her walker. Rather than get on her about it, I felt peace knowing the doctor would either tell her she needed to wear it or not.

Thankfully, he said her clavicle break was so small if she wasn’t comfortable wearing the sling it was okay. Basically, other than falling on it again, she couldn’t make it worse. Thank you, Jesus for bringing awareness to all of Your sprinkles of joy in my day.

At the end of my long day on Friday, God blessed me with another song by Austin French, God is Good (All the Time). As I listened to the lyrics while writing this post, again I thought of Melody. When I saw her unloading out of the car on Friday, there was a peace in her face that surpasses all understanding and a joy that is with her even when her days are hard. This is the kind of faith I think we all desire to have…at least I do.

In our weakness, we are forced to depend on God…or not. As long as I have breath in my body, I pray to my Heavenly Father knowing He hears me. Isaiah 43:2 reassures us that we are not alone. God is with us during our trials.

Father God,

I approach You with expectations knowing You hear my prayers. You are the Master Healer,  who heals minds, bodies and souls. Thank You for brothers and sisters in Christ who are prayer warriors. I ask for my eyes and heart to be sensitive to the prayer needs of others. I lift those up to You who are feeling lost and alone in their struggles. May You put people in their pathway to share Your love for them, so they know they aren’t fighting alone in their battle. I pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

May Verse

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”—James 5:16.

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