Everyday we make plans, we have our to-do lists, and our calendars. We wake up and have our coffee and our quiet time with God and then we set out to tackle the day as we should. That’s exactly what happened on September 11, 2017. It was just another day except Luke was running fever, coughing, and had an earache. I took Jake to school and came home, cleaned the house, ironed my scrubs for work the next day, while Luke slept. He even wanted Dominoes for lunch. He had a doctor’s appointment at 3:45. It was just another day, so I thought. God can change everything in an instant.
We have endured a journey that we thought we would never experience. During this journey with Luke, I have learned so much and God has changed my life in so many ways. I have a lot to share with you and plan very soon to share every detail of Luke’s journey but today, I feel lead to share with you about when God doesn’t heal. We hear so many testimonies about when God answers prayers and performs miracles but what about when he doesn’t answer prayers the way we want him to. That can be just as big of a testimony if not bigger.
We had thousands of people praying for Luke. People I have met and people I have never met. We had people from all over the United States. We even had some from the UK. The amount of prayers that were being prayed for the healing of Luke was amazing.
From the moment Luke was diagnosed with leukemia, I never doubted, I had complete faith that Luke was going to be healed, in fact, I believed Luke was already healed. I claimed his healing everyday. Luke never doubted, he would say out loud every day, “God is healing me, I am healed.”
I remember when we were first admitted the hospital, we stayed in a room where the windows overlooked the parking garage, where I would park everyday. Well during his stay, I had written on my back window, “God is bigger than cancer”. At the beginning of Luke’s treatment, he became very weak and just walking to the window from his bed everyday was part of his physical therapy. So, whenever he walked over to the window, he could see my car window. Well, early one morning, it was raining whenever he walked to the window and Luke said, “oh no, the rain washed the cancer stuff off of your car”, then he said, “I wish the rain would wash my cancer away. But God can wash it away, with his Holy rain!” I said, “Amen, thank you Jesus, Luke you are exactly right! God is going to take care of you.” And you know what, God did! He is taking care of Luke.
I felt like we were completely obedient to God through Luke’s journey. In Ephesians 2: 8-9 Christ told his disciples if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move mountains. Well, we had faith way bigger than a mustard seed and I believed with all my heart and soul that God was going to move this mountain called leukemia. He may not have moved that mountain, but he was moving mountains all around us and still is. In James 5:14, the bible says, “Is anyone of you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.” So therefore, Luke was prayed for and anointed with oil, yet he was not healed here on earth but many around him were.
I believe 100% that God is a God who heals and that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. As the bible says in Hebrews 13:8. However, I believe God is sovereign. God didn’t promise to heal all the sick here on earth. Does that mean that God loves some people less than others? Not at all. Does it mean we should stop praying for healing? No, quite the opposite! The bible encourages us to pray and ask in faith, knowing that God is, at the same time, love and sovereign.
If you are going through the valley of illness or know someone who is, be assured that God will not forsake you. He is right beside you every day, in good and bad times, in sickness and in health. He is upholding you. In Matthew 28:20-God says, he is with us always to the very end of the age. Psalm 27:1, the Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall, I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid. Psalm 46:1-God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in our trouble. Deuteronomy 31:6 says be strong and courageous, I will never leave you nor forsake you. We are NEVER alone.
We just must completely trust him in every situation of our life. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.
I remember when all of this happened, I started thinking and questioning. Why my child? Why Luke? Is this punishment for something I may have done in the past? But then I remembered, this child belongs to God. I started praying for Luke when I was pregnant. I released my child into God’s hands before I even met him. He is not mine. God has loaned him to me temporarily. Jesus loves him more than I do, If God has him, what can go wrong? Absolutely nothing but his divine and perfect will for Luke’s life. The first scripture God gave me was Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and to not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. H also gave me Proverbs 3:5-6, “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let our request be made know to God. I remember thinking, this is not about me right now, I just need to sit back and let God have his way. Like the song, “Oh MY Soul” by Casting Crowns, it says,” there’s a place where fear has to face the God you now.” That is so powerful. One more day, he will make a way. Let him show you how, you can lay this down, cause your not alone. It also says, there will be beauty where beauty was ash and stone. We must trust and completely surrender to God, wanting what God wants and nothing less.
Going through the rivers of difficulty will either cause you to drown or force you to grow stronger. If you go on your own strength, you are more than likely going to drown, but if you invite the Lord to go with you, he will give you the strength and be with you every step of the way. Luke was wonderfully made and knitted in my womb. God has our life planned out. God planned Luke’s destiny long before he was born. He planned it from the foundation of the earth. Just as he has all our lives. Psalm 139:16 says, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. God created Luke and all of us for his destiny, and Luke’s destiny is part of a plan that extends before and after us. We can trust God on that because he died for our sins just as it was promised and that is why we can fulfill our destiny.
So, no God did not heal Luke on earth, but he did heal him. He is healthier and happier than he ever could be. He is cancer free, we don’t’ always get to see the big picture but God’s goal is to get everyone to heaven however that may be, and He used my son to change so many! He chose Luke for a reason.
One of the biggest miracles of healing, which is promised to every believer, is the miracle of salvation, forgiveness of sins, and the promise of eternal life where there will be no grief, tears, sickness, or death. In Revelation 21:4, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall e no more depth, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. God healed Luke on May 24, 2018. Luke went home to meet Jesus face-to-face, the one who loved him most of all,
He is healthy, whole, and dancing in heaven. And because of the lives God has changed and is changing through Luke, many others will now be able to join him with Jesus for eternity.
Luke was wise beyond his years and has said several times that he was ready to see Jesus and his Papa. He would also make comments like, “God just can’t wait any longer to see this awesome kid!” and that’s why he was taking him so early. Also, at the beginning when we found out there was no other treatment for Luke, I researched a lot, gave him oils, vitamins, cannibal oil, used a biomat. I was willing to do whatever it took to keep him here. But one day, Luke took my hand and said, “Mom, no matter what you do, when God is ready for me, he is going to take me.” He had grown spiritually in so many ways, we all did, and he changed so many around us. I would get texts and emails all the time about what an impact Luke had on them. Through Luke’s journey, he brought many families closer together and brought many people to Christ.
We have more time with Luke ahead of us than behind us. We get to spend ETERNITY with him.
Now that’s a testimony! Even when it didn’t happen the way I would have liked it to. God is STILL good!
I encourage you to develop your communion with the Lord, abide in Him, and read and declare his word because He is the source of life! And that’s what counts in the end, our relationship with the Lord. A daily, deep, sincere relationship. God allowed His son to die on the cross for our eternal salvation!
