God’s Amazing Gift

A young couple I will call Amy and Rob were a remarkable ministry team. She was outgoing, musically gifted, and deeply loved; he was a powerful preacher and evangelist. Together they led people to Jesus and trained others to do the same.

Then, suddenly, Amy’s right side became weak. She struggled to climb stairs and could no longer play the piano. Tests brought a frightening diagnosis: a brain tumor that would require dangerous surgery as soon as possible.

Our conference family united in prayer. Amy, understandably, was overwhelmed with fear, so my wife, Janet, and I connected her with our friend and prayer mentor Juanita Kretschmar. Juanita had spent years watching God work in answer to prayer, first as a missionary in Bolivia and later in ministry leadership in New York City.

Juanita helped Amy practice the simple “ABCs of prayer”: Ask, believe, and claim God’s promises. She also encouraged her to spend unhurried time with Jesus in confession, surrender, and listening prayer. Together they studied James 5:13-18 and prepared for an anointing service.

James 5:15 says that “the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” The word translated “save” can also carry the sense of complete healing or restoration. That does not mean we dictate when or how God must act. Physical healing may come immediately, gradually, through medical care, or finally at the resurrection. But we may thank the Lord now for healing, while entrusting the whole person—body, mind, relationships, and eternal life—to the One who promises to make us whole in His timing and way.

As Amy prepared, she asked God to reveal anything she needed to confess, and claimed the promise of 1 John 1:9. Peace replaced her fear. Then, as the anointing approached, she sensed some strength returning to her right side. At the service we thanked God for healing, even though the surgery was still scheduled for Monday.

On Monday morning Amy and Rob arrived at the hospital. Because she felt something changing, she asked the doctors for another MRI. They assured her the tumor had been clearly visible, but she persisted.

The new MRI showed that the tumor was gone.

God’s timing for Amy’s healing was not someday. It was now. She and Rob called Janet and me while we were away speaking, and the news swept through the conference like an electric current. We praised the Lord who heals.

But the story was not over. God still had another kind of healing to do.

I confessed my pride and self-protection, but I still did not feel peace.

A few days later I heard Amy share her testimony. It was beautiful, but one part was worded in a way I feared might offend some people. When we next spoke, I praised God with her and then gently raised my “small concern.”

She did not receive it well. Instead, she named several things I had recently done that had troubled her. I was surprised! After all, I was only trying to help! Because I believed she was wrong, I became defensive. Neither of us shouted, but the conversation was intense. We prayed before hanging up, yet we were hardly of “one accord.”

The Lord soon convicted me that I had been defensive. I apologized, but Amy responded by asking whether I had confessed my pride. That was not the response my precious self was hoping for. We prayed again, but true reconciliation still did not come.

Two weeks later I learned that Amy had told a respected leader in another conference how badly she believed I had treated her. I felt misrepresented and had no opportunity to defend myself.

Early the next morning I struggled with God. Janet and I were scheduled to help lead another anointing service, and I wanted my heart to be clean. I confessed my pride and self-protection, but I still did not feel peace.

Finally I placed my hand on Philippians 4:6, 7, and claimed other promises of forgiveness, cleansing, and peace. I asked, believed, and thanked God that He had forgiven me and given me peace—even though I could not yet feel it.

At that very moment, before 6:30 in the morning, my phone rang.

It was Amy.

God had awakened her early, too. She called to ask forgiveness and to make things right. I apologized again, and this time joyful reconciliation followed. At last we really were of one accord.

Ellen White describes the lesson perfectly: “For the pardon of sin, for the Holy Spirit, for a Christlike temper, for wisdom and strength to do His work, for any gift He has promised, we may ask; then we are to believe that we receive, and return thanks to God that we have received.” ¹She adds, “The gift is in the promise.”

Amy’s vanished tumor was a stunning answer to prayer. Yet the healing of pride, hurt, and a broken relationship was also a miracle. Prayer is not merely a way to ask God to change our circumstances. It is a relationship in which He reveals His character, searches our hearts, and teaches us to love.

More Than the Answer We Expected

Someone once called Jeremiah 33:3 God’s telephone number: “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” As we spend time with Jesus in prayer and Scripture, He shows us His love, grace, mercy, goodness, and truth. He also shows us ourselves, leading us to repentance, growth, and change.

Does God hear and answer every prayer? Yes. Does He always say yes to exactly what I request? No. If God wanted to punish me, He could answer every one of my prayers with an immediate yes! He knows what is best; I do not. In His wisdom He may say yes, no, or wait, or give something far better than I imagined.

At a recent camp meeting a young woman told me about health problems she had endured for years. After we prayed, she felt impressed to ask two friends and me to anoint her according to James 5.

When I arrived for the service the next day, she and her husband were nowhere to be seen. Then they appeared. Their faces were glowing, but it was obvious they had been crying. She could hardly wait to tell us what had happened.

While preparing her heart, she had brought to Jesus the anger and pain she still carried from childhood abuse. She believed God was leading her to contact the two men who had harmed her. That was her personal decision; direct contact is not always safe or necessary for forgiveness, and survivors may need professional support. In her case, both men broke down in tears, acknowledged what they had done, and asked her forgiveness.

She told us that an enormous burden had lifted. She had come seeking physical healing; now she had such deep peace that, whatever happened to her body, she knew God had already begun making her whole. We proceeded with the anointing, placing every dimension of her life in His hands. About a year later she wrote to say that she had also found effective help for her physical condition and was well.

That experience reminded me that God’s best answer may begin deeper than the need that first drove us to pray.

When Nothing Seems to Change

Prayer also teaches us to persevere when no answer is visible.

One day Janet received a telephone call from a woman in our church whom I will call Ann.

“Today is my thirtieth wedding anniversary,” Ann announced.

Janet congratulated her, wondering why a woman she barely knew had called to share that news.

Then Ann blurted, “I want out! We don’t love each other. He is unfaithful, and I cannot take it anymore.”

She had packed her belongings and driven away. On the freeway she cried, “God, I know You hate divorce, but I can’t do this anymore. Tell me what to do!”

Just then she passed a billboard with enormous letters: “TURN BACK NOW—NEXT EXIT!”

“So I did,” she told Janet. “I came home, and I felt impressed to call you.”

Janet was no marriage counselor, but she silently asked God for wisdom. Then she offered to meet with Ann for 40 minutes each week to pray for her marriage.

At their first meeting Ann spent 35 minutes describing everything her husband was doing wrong. Janet realized they could not continue that way. She asked Ann to begin spending 30 minutes a day getting to know Jesus through His Word and prayer. Their weekly meetings would begin, not with complaints, but with praise and thanksgiving.

“I don’t have anything to praise God for,” Ann protested.

Keep praying when nothing seems to happen, and remain willing for Him to change you as well as your circumstances.

“Then we will start with the basics,” Janet replied. “Eyes that see. Arms and legs that work. Every evidence of God’s care we can remember.”

They began praising God, claiming His promises for the marriage, and interceding for Ann’s three adult children and their families, none of whom were walking with the Lord.

And what happened?

Everything got worse.

Her husband’s behavior deteriorated. Conflict engulfed her children’s homes. One family lost a job; another couple considered divorce. After nearly two years with no visible progress, Janet told the Lord, “I am so tired of praying for this family. I don’t want to do it anymore.”

But God impressed her not to give up.

Meanwhile, something had been happening. Ann had fallen deeply in love with Jesus. Her circumstances had not changed, but she had. Her face shone with joy, and she sang around the house.

Her husband noticed.

“You seem so happy,” he said. “Have you found someone new?”

“Oh, yes!” Ann replied. “May I tell you about Him?”

She told him how she had fallen in love with Jesus and discovered how deeply He loved her. A few days later her husband asked whether they could begin worshipping together. In time, God restored their love. They went everywhere holding hands and kissing like teenagers. Janet joked that it was almost too much!

More than a year later Ann was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. Many people prayed, and she was anointed, but this time physical healing did not come. Yet her sickroom became a chapel of praise. Visitors felt the presence and love of God.

Shortly before Ann died, her husband told Janet, “Thank you for praying so long with Ann for me and for our marriage. I don’t know how I could face this if God had not changed us both and healed our marriage.”

Soon afterward, all three of Ann’s children and their families were baptized and became active in the church.

Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26).

We must not give up interceding for those we love. My parents prayed for me through rebellious teenage years when I was rushing toward destruction through drugs. At 21 I surrendered to Jesus, changed my college major, and began preparing for the pastoral ministry that has now filled more than five decades of my life.

Our family also prayed for my brother Alan for decades. Our parents died without seeing the answer they longed for. But Alan’s daughter continued loving him and drawing him toward Jesus. At age 76 he accepted Christ during an evangelistic meeting. He died unexpectedly at home that very night. My parents did not live to see his decision, but they will see him in the resurrection.

Delay is not proof that God is absent. Sometimes the answer is taking root where we cannot yet see it.

The Prayer That Changes Me

Through years of prayer Janet and I have become more convinced that pride and self are at the root of many conflicts. One final story reminds me that prayer must begin with humility.

I was traveling when the principal of Fresno Adventist Academy called Janet. Our son Zac, then a junior, had done something wrong. He was suspended and already on his way home.

Janet went immediately to prayer. Why had he done this? What should she say when he arrived?

As she prayed, an uncomfortable question pressed into her mind: “Is there anything you have done that may have taught Zac that this was not a serious matter?”

Her first response was immediate: “I have never done anything like that, Lord!”

Still, the impression would not leave. Finally she asked, “All right, Lord. What have I done that might have influenced him?”

A memory came to mind. Her action had been different from Zac’s, but it involved the same kind of small compromise. She confessed it, received God’s forgiveness, and asked again for wisdom.

When Zac arrived, he slumped onto the couch, braced for a lecture.

“Zac,” Janet began, “when I heard what you had done, I went to God. I asked why you had done it and what I should say to you. The Lord showed me that something I did may have influenced you to think this was no big deal. I have confessed it to Jesus, and He has forgiven me. Will you forgive me too?”

Imagine the effect on a 17-year-old expecting to be scolded: His mother was apologizing to him. He fought back tears.

Zac is now a pastor who has served for more than 20 years, deeply in love with Jesus and passionate about leading others to serve Him.

The late C. D. Brooks once said, “I am very careful how I pray for humility. I always pray, ‘Lord, humble me in private so I won’t have to be humiliated in public!’ ” James reminds us that God “gives grace to the humble” and promises, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:6, 10).

Yet we should not become so preoccupied with techniques that we worry about praying “correctly.” Prayer is not a formula; it is a friendship. Ellen White wrote, “Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend.”² We may bring Him our wants and joys, our sorrows and fears. “You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him.”³

God longs for fellowship with us even more than we long for fellowship with Him. So call on Him. Listen. Surrender. Claim His promises. Keep praying when nothing seems to happen, and remain willing for Him to change you as well as your circumstances.

In that loving and learning relationship He gives amazing answers, power, peace, and joy.