The First Miracle in our family

Of late, I have been overwhelmed with God’s grace and goodness in our lives because of the miraculous healing of my husband Bob on August 4^th, 2012.  This is not the first time that God provided a miracle in my family.  In December of 1989, our oldest son Jimmy was diagnosed with a rare cancer called Diffused Histiocytic Lymphoma.  It was at least a stage 3 or maybe 4 and the outlook was not good.  The prognosis of this cancer was very bad at the time as it usually occurred in men over 50 and It was usually fatal.   He began the usual treatment the United States offers right away.  Jimmy was the youth minister in our church, an outstanding young man who was reaching young people for Christ and he was my beloved son.  We were stunned when the results of his biopsy came back with the results of being cancer.  I really struggled with this as I could not believe God would allow this fine young man to be stricken with such a deadly disease and I was angry.  This was the beginning of a battle between myself and Satan.  As people would go visit Jimmy in the hospital they were stunned because as they went to offer their condolences to Jimmy, they would leave the hospital encouraged by him.  He would always say he didn’t know what God was going to do but that he knew God was not finished with him yet. He had a lot more faith than I did. 

A strange thing started happening during all this time, we were told about a physician in the country of Greece who had good results treating people with cancer.  We were told by at least four different sources about this guy and none of the four had any connection with each other. We investigated this doctor and the procedure to go there for his treatment and we prayed about whether Jimmy should go to Greece for this treatment .  I was overwhelmed with doubt.  One minute I would pray and feel God’s peace and the next the devil would tell me that Jimmy was going to die if we sent him to Greece and so I would go from faith to the depths of despair from one minute to the next. At last I told Jimmy I could not discern  God’s will in this situation but would instead pray that He would reveal His will to Jimmy and we would support whatever God led him to do. 

God spoke to Jimmy’s heart and he felt led to go to Greece.  A requirement of going to Greece involved sending a sample of his blood to the doctor in order for him to evaluate if you were a good candidate for treatment.  Jimmy asked his oncologist to prepare his blood but he said the treatment was quackery and refused.  He then asked his surgeon, Dr. Tebby Thames if he would prepare it and he agreed so we were able to send it to Dr. Alivazatos.

We did not have the money to pay for him to go but through the efforts of friends, strangers, and our church, the money came in.  He left the end of March and did not return until the end of May.  It was a very hard time for me.  Remember that this was before cell phones or skype and it was so expensive that he could not call us.  We had a pre-arranged time where we would call him once a week and he would stand by the telephone in the hotel lobby and wait for our call.  In between times the devil and God fought for control of my thoughts.  Finally one Wednesday God spoke to my heart and told me that He loved Jimmy even more than I did and that I was going to have to make the decision to trust Him or not.  He said you will never have peace until you do.  I closed my eyes and visually placed Jimmy in the palm of my hand and raised him to God and gave him to Him.  I said God I know you love him more than I do and that you only loaned him to me as he really is yours and I really do trust you whether he lives or he dies.  I know that if you take him you will bring me through it.  Finally from that moment on, I had peace and I could finally pray, “Thy will be done”.  The struggle was over.

The miracle is that it has been 32 years since that time and Jimmy has never shown a sign of ever having had cancer.  He has a lovely wife and three outstanding children and is a son to be very proud of.  For a long time I kept track of all the people we knew who received the traditional treatment our country has to offer since then who have died and it was so many that I finally quit counting. 

I wanted to write this down because I am afraid as the years passed I began to forget to thank God daily for this wonderful event in our family.  I know I was changed back then but I am not sure I fully understood how big the real miracle was.  I wondered why God spared Jimmy and I am proud to say that many people have been influenced by the good God has done through him.  His children are doubly blessed because even though they were not even alive when God touched our family with the first miracle, they did see their grandfather at death’s door restored to life after a heartfelt prayer asking God to send us a miracle and restore Bob to us.   I can hardly talk about what God did for Jimmy or for Bob without breaking down because it so touches my heart with the memories.    Many people never see this kind of miracle in their lives but we have been blessed twice.  God is so good.