Anointed with oil

This is my dad.  He went to Heaven in January of 2008.  I miss him.  I absolutely love to think of him in Heaven with Jesus and wonder what he's doing.  It's one of my favorite things to think about.  But I miss him.  And I love him.  When he was diagnosed with cancer, I immediately dove into a season of intense and continual prayer for him. 

This is my father-in-law.  He went to Heaven in February of 2009.  I miss him, too.  I like thinking of him meeting up with my dad in that glorious place of reunion.  I love him, and when he was diagnosed with cancer, my heart was heavy for him in prayer.

This is me.  I am not dying!  But when I got sick, I got scared.  I am a nurse, and I knew that my symptoms were more serious than your run of the mill virus.  My heart was crying out, "NO!  I cannot be sick."  I didn't feel like I could pray for myself.  I felt like my faith was shot.  I felt weak.  I honestly felt like giving up before I could even get started with the fighting.

But fight is what we do when we are sick.  It is instinctual.  We long to survive!  We want to be well!  God created us in His image, and sickness is not part of His image.  There is no sickness in His kingdom.  If we have accepted Christ, then we are part of that kingdom, and we have kingdom work to do.  It's so much easier to do that healthy.  And so we fight!  Or we want to fight, but we just don't have it in us.  This is what makes the body of Christ, His church, so beautiful.  When you personally don't have the strength, the church can surround you and lift you up in prayer.

And that is what my family and friends and church did for me, and I will be forever grateful.  I really doubt I'll ever forget that Sunday that I dragged my eye-patched, limping self up to the front of the church and asked for prayer.  The pastors lovingly and faithfully anointed me with oil and prayed the prayer of faith over me according to James 5:14:  "Is any one of you sick?  He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.  If he has sinned, he will be forgiven."  Although I felt nothing happen in my body when I was prayed over, I made a decision that day after church that would change the whole course of things for me......................

to be continued.