Monday, April 15, 2019

For the terminally ill

Image by PDPics from Pixabay
This week we'll be praying for the terminally ill. I hesitate to use the word "terminal" because miracles happen every day. I can speak from experience to a degree because I lost my first husband to colon cancer and then I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Although my cancer was treated aggressively and I was told it was curable, I still went through the stages that one does when facing the possibility of the end of life. I'll share some of those personal experiences, but I also want to point you toward some wonderful sources for your questions that can explain things a lot better than I can.

The first question, I believe, is "why me?" Unfortunately, I can't answer that; only God can. He may reveal it to you, but He may not.
My husband told his doctor, "I don't want to die."
His doctor said, "Of course. Nobody wants to die, but we're all going to. Only God knows when."
God is sovereign. He will get you through this.

I think it helps to understand the stages of grief that we all go through, the patient and his/her loved ones. Once we find out that we're ill, we start grieving and morning the potential future loss of the person. We may go through all of these stages, or only a few. We may not go through them in order and we may revisit some stages multiple times and stay in different ones for different lengths of time.
The question, "Why does God allow sickness?" is one that is often asked by non-believers, but even Christians when personally faced with an illness ask this also. I found a great article about it:
Please share it with someone who's seeking answers.

“Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, 
praise his holy name. 
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 
who redeems your life from the pit and 
crowns you with love and compassion.”
Psalm 103:1-4

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Let's pray for someone we know who is facing a potentially terminal illness. I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
instagram @archadia27
facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

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