Testimony During Illness

7/16/97 A Testimony During Illness By Ron Stump Background Information In April 1994, my daughter Rebekah was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). She underwent chemotherapy, many bone marrow biopsies, spinal taps, many, many days in the hospital, X-rays, pulmonary function tests, MRIs, cat scans, etc. In September 1995, after 17 months on chemo, while still on chemo, Rebekah relapsed. This time was even harder on us, because now we knew that the prognosis for Rebekah was not good. The doctors told us that she had only a 10 to 15 percent chance of survival and that our best chance was with a bone marrow transplant.

At the same time, Rebekah started an extremely intense regimen of chemo. Basically, the doctors threw everything at her that they could. A search was started in the National Marrow Donor Registry for a compatible unrelated bone marrow match. Approximately 6 months later, in April of 1996, Rebekah underwent a bone marrow transplant at the University of Minnesota Hospital Center in Minneapolis, MN. Some Thoughts on Prayer You may ask, "Why pray?" We have a God who is all knowing and omnipresent.

If He knows everything in advance before we even ask or think, why should we pray? He knows it anyway. The answer, I believe, is that prayer is really a relationship. God knows our needs, but desires a relationship with us. Christ died for us and for that relationship with us. A relationship requires communication, openness, and honesty, especially for the relationship to grow.

When a relationship is growing, one or both of the parties involved grows and matures. Benefits of Prayer. Prayer can give tremendous peace, even when your whole world seems to be falling apart. When you have been up all night, the Lord can give supernatural strength to make it through the next day, based upon prayer the night before. When there is nothing else that can be done, physically or even emotionally, prayer can give tremendous strength by just talking to the Lord.

The dark nights don't seem so dark, and you can make it through. Don't concentrate on tomorrow, next week, or the future. God gives the grace we need one day at a time, just as He gave manna only one day at a time to His children in the wilderness. We have to trust Him every day, one day at a time. God doesn't give grace for what might happen, He gives grace for what will happen.

Corrie ten Boom said that worry doesn't give any comfort or strength or add any benefit. It only takes away strength that you need. Prayer provides the conduit you need for the strength you need for the day. How Do You Pray? First of all, talk to God as you would your best friend, the person you know that you can tell everything and every worry to. This Friend is one who loves you greatly and accepts you as you are.

This prayer should be a quiet time, where you won't be easily disturbed; a time where you can concentrate, and pour out your heart, telling God all your fears. One thing very important though is to not blame God for whatever is happening. God loves us so much. He desires only the best for us, even though it may not seem to be the best for us (according to us). But remember, we don't, can't and never will, see the whole picture of what is happening in our lives and how it intertwines with everyone we meet.

But we know that whatever happens it is for our good and the ultimate good of God's perfect plan for our lives and the lives of those around us. You may come to a time in your life where, you have to physically, emotionally, and spiritually give someone or something up. You may have to say, "Lord if you take her, she is yours." You may have to mentally sacrifice her on the altar as Abraham did Isaac, and say, "God, You are in control, even to the point of death." When you totally give something to the Lord and there is nothing more that can be done, then all you can do is trust.

You must then trust God for the ultimate answer. However, this also means that you can't keep taking it back from God. He has it in perfect control and doesn't need our help. When we keep taking it back we are only robbing ourselves of the strength we need to make it through the day. Some Thoughts on Handling a Serious Illness How do you handle a serious illness? The first and most important thing to do is pray.

Get everyone you know praying. Get people in other churches and all around the country praying. Prayer can change things. God has provided the Holy Spirit to intercede with us, through Christ, who is our mediator and representative, straight to the throne room of God in heaven. It says in Revelation that our prayers become something physical.

They are incense physically poured out on the altar of God (Revelation 8:3-5). I had never thought of our prayers as being something physical, with an actual substance, but in God's throne room - they are. But these prayers need at least three important things in order to be heard. First, they must come from a believer. Only believers, have direct access to the throne room of God.

God can draw you to Himself so that you can have a relationship with Him, if you believe that He sent His Son to die on the cross for your sins. Second, that believer must be in fellowship with God. This means that ALL known sins should be confessed and turned away from. This time of confession is a time of cleansing for the person praying. In 1 John 1:9, we are told that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

" This time of confession may be what is required for God to have mercy on us and for Him to turn the situation around. The sin that we are confessing may be the reason for the affliction to begin with. However, this is not always true. Job suffered much, but did not cause his suffering by his sin. He did not sin, but was part of an angelic conflict on a supernatural level that he could not see at the time he was going through it.

In most cases we don't know why bad things happen to good people. But God does and He is in ultimate control. Once all known sins are confessed, ask God to show you further areas of your life that need to be brought into God's control. Once this is done, the prayer pathways are opened wide, both for petition and for receipt of God's answers. Third, everything possible must be done medically.

Find the best doctors and specialists you can. Talk openly with your doctors; ask them who or where is the best place to go. A caring honest doctor will tell you if somewhere else can provide better care. Also do your own research. There are tremendous resources available on the Internet, in local libraries, and by talking to others in similar situations.

Talk to your insurance company. However, don't necessarily take "no" for an answer. The insurance companies know the best places to go as well as you do. Often, an insurance company will have a patient advocacy group to help coordinate the care for a serious illness. Try to work with them, but not in an adversarial role, unless you absolutely have to.

Find out what other insurance policies your company has in effect. Sometimes you can be tagged onto another company policy for better coverage. Do everything you can to get the best care you can. This is difficult however, because of time considerations. If you can, try to step back to sort out some of these things.

If you can't, call upon a close friend to help coordinate the insurance and care research. If blood drives, or bone marrow drives are required, ask a close friend to organize them. Don't try to take on everything by yourself. Fourth, share your feelings, fears, and deepest thoughts with your spouse or someone else you can trust. You have to find a way to share the emotional load and vent some of the feelings and fears, you may be having.

It is not wrong to feel afraid, worried, etc. But you need to handle them in a beneficial way with someone who can share the load. Don't try to bear it all by yourself. Fifth, TRUST IN GOD, for His provision and His answers, IN HIS TIME. We may never get answers to "Why.

" Only God ultimately knows the answer to our "whys." We have to trust that He is just, that He loves us, and that He has our best interests at heart. We must remember that God's timing is perfect. We may never get all the answers we want. It may be a long time for healing, and there will continue to be times of anxiety, uncertainty, and fear.

You may not know if healing has truly occurred or if "whatever" is back. We will still have to daily trust God. God gives grace for today. Finally, continue to pray, confess sin, trust, and do it all over again each day. Our Family's Present Situation We are now a year and three months beyond Rebekah's transplant.

Rebekah received bone marrow from an unrelated donor -- a generous 31-year-old lady. The transplant was an extremely scary time for us. All of Rebekah's own marrow was radiated and her immunity system was destroyed. By God's grace, Rebecca came through the transplant very well. One hundred days after transplant, we came home to Virginia.

Rebekah continues to do well, thanks to God and the prayers of hundreds of people from all around the world. This month we had the privilege of meeting Rebekah's donor and hosting her at our house for a few days. Needless to say, there were many tears of joy. Concerning Rebekah's health, there are still issues we are watching, but we know that God is in control of all of our lives and Rebekah's too. We continue to pray, confess sin, trust, and do it all over again each day.

Our God is faithful.