September 1st, 2007 by admin

              This gave me hope, and as I studied other scriptures on healing, I was determined that if the Word of God was true then I would be healed. I saw that healing was in the Word of God for His people and the Word was truth. The Word is Truth. And if the Word is truth then healing is mine. I now had 3 keys to go on. First, it is God�s will for me to be healed. Second, if I trust in Him my leaf would be green. Third, healing and forgiveness are in a package together and come with salvation. This third key is actually illustrated when Jesus tells the man who is paralyzed that his sins are forgiven. He goes on to say, which is easier for me to say � �Your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk� (Luke 5:23). The illustration here is that it does not matter which one Jesus says, His people get both. Healing and forgiveness (along with other things I will not discuss here) are included in the salvation package. When anyone receives Christ, he or she will get it all.  With that in mind, I decided to draw a line in the sand and not have the surgery. I was going to believe God for my healing with my eye in tact.

             Remember that this is my journey, and like anyone, I have to decide for myself the path I take. Many great believers choose other pathways, and I do not condemn any for their selection. This just happened to be my path, and I would like to say that Missy and I were in full agreement with every step. I will not say that this decision was easy. I just did not have it on the inside of me to go through with the surgery. I was also willing to face any consequences if they came. I decided to believe the Word of God as God had revealed it to me and for my situation.

            As I was reading Psalms 103:1-5 about the benefits of the Lord, I noticed that in verse 3 that the Lord says that he forgives all of our iniquities and heals all of our diseases. What stood out the most from this was that it was in the same verse. I realize that man set up the verse structure of the Bible, but this was significant to me. A light went off in my head that made me think, if the Lord forgives my sins then he also heals my diseases. Well, I know that the Lord had forgiven me of my sins, and I knew that God had power to heal, but I never put them together in the same verse. Let me say it this way. I saw for the first time that if the Lord would not heal my disease then he also would not forgive my sin. Since they were in the same verse I could not separate them. They were a package deal: If God forgives then He also heals. I knew that it was impossible for Him not to forgive, so it must be impossible for Him not to heal. I saw that healing is a benefit of the Lord just as much as forgiveness. This was the third key in my faith journey. Healing is included in salvation with forgiveness of sins.

September 1st, 2007 by admin

            A few weeks later I got the report from the oncologist that no further spreading had occurred, and I should go ahead with the surgery to remove the eye. Well this certainly was a relief but now I had to make a decision on the eye. Was I going to remove it, or was I going to believe that it would be healed? The plastic surgeon in the meantime had called and told me that the surgery he felt was best for me after his research was the simple surgery of just removing the eye and felt that my recovery would be normal. I would have a prosthetic eye made and would learn how to live with it. He also left this up to me on the time frame of the surgery and told me to just call him when I was ready to schedule it. This was around the end of April 2006. I was not ready to remove the eye. I was not sure that this is what God had for me. Could this really be God�s will? Certainly, no one that I talked with could tell me that this disease was God�s will for me. On the contrary, people would tell me that this is not God�s will and that sickness and disease is from the devil.

            As well meaning as people are, it is easy for others to advise, but when it is your body and your life, you have to make the decision. You have to determine the will of God, and for me I needed to do it quickly. The doctors try and give history of others in similar situations that they can use as reference. In my case it came down to one other person who was documented in a British medical journal. I had a different case since I had two valves in the eye. The only case that was substantial was a woman in her sixties who decided to remove the eye. She decided on the surgery. Three years later, the cancer came back and she died. This was not very reassuring about the surgery that I had to contemplate. But what would be the consequences if I kept the eye?  Of course, there are never any guarantees. Ultimately, I needed God. I needed a divine answer. Should I remove the eye as one path of healing, or should I believe for healing with my eye in tact? I knew what I wanted to do, but this was a big decision and a scary one too. I told the doctor that I would call him when I was ready for the surgery and left it at that.

This is when I shifted gears and went back to the big question:  What is truth?